Film Education -

Activity 1: Film of the book

The aim of World Book Day is to make everyone feel excited about books and reading. There are lots of suggestions on the official World Book Day site of how you might like to do this and here we suggest some approaches using film as a stimulus too.

The purpose of this starter activity is to encourage students to reflect on the number of novels that they can identify that have been re-versioned as film texts. Start by showing the trailers for Private Peaceful and War Horse.

For discussion:

• How might an author of a book tell a story differently from a director of a film?
• What can a film version of a book add to your experience of a story?
• Sometimes film versions can be disappointing – why do you think this is?
• Make a list of all the films you can think of that were originally books. From those you have seen, which did you like and which (if any) disappointed? Make sure to give reasons for your answers.