Encouraging young people to embrace the joys of reading this summer and develop their writing skills in a national film reviewing competition are key aims of a new teaching resource created by Into Film, an education charity supported by the BFI, and Pan Macmillan Publishers. ‘Summer Adventures - From Script to Screen’ invites pupils to enjoy a film from a list of recommended adaptations then read at least one chapter from the book that inspired it.
Associated literacy and creative activities include reviewing the film for the chance to win a bundle of books, re-writing a section of a chapter as a screenplay, and designing a book jacket for the movie tie-in. To assist students in these activities the resource contains worksheets and tips, including links to interviews with leading film critic Mark Kermode, and Millions screenplay and novel writer Frank Cottrell Boyce. Pupils who complete the whole resource will have the chance to win £500 for their school library or club.
The four recommended titles for secondary pupils are: The Great Gatsby (2013, 12A) adapted from F Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, Into The Wild (2007, 15), based on Jon Kradauer’s book about a young man’s time in the Alaskan Wilderness, All The Pretty Horses (2000, 15) based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name and Millions (2004, 12), an adaptation of Frank Cotterell Boyce’s amusing tale of two brothers who find £265,000.
The resource is free to download at http://www.filmclub.org/assets/pdf/Summer-Adventures.pdf Films are available free to order for all schools with an Into Film Club (www.filmclub.org) and sample chapters can be found on the Pan Macmillan website http://www.panmacmillan.com/ (see resource for specific links).
