2. Starter Task Think back to watching ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.
Your task is to write down key moments in the film that stood out for you.
You can do this in the form of a timeline, a mind map, storyboard or extended bullet points.

3. Characters Take another double page.
Key characters: Bruno, Shmuel, Gretel , Herr Liszt, mother (Elsa), father (Ralph), Lieutenant Kotler, Pavel, grandmother, grandfather, Maria (maid)
Draw circles on your page to represent these characters and their relationship to each other.
In each circle, write descriptive words/phrases and information about that character.

4. Shmuel
Bruno

5. Learning Intention
I can comment on the main concerns of the film, make inferences from key scenes and discuss my reaction to the text.
LIT 4-04a

6. What key themes and concerns about life are explored in the film?

7. Theme Task
Your task is to read the cards and decide which statements describe themes in ‘The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’.
Discuss moments from the film that help us realise these themes.

8. What key themes and concerns about life are explored in the film?
Children should not be made to suffer for the mistakes of adults.
The unjust and indiscriminate mistreatment of the Jews.
Prejudice is senseless and is a learned action rather than automatic feeling.
Innocence and evil can exist side by side
The hope that friendship can overcome division.
Ignorance of the evil around us in the world can lead to devastating and tragic consequences.

10. Learning Intention
I can identify how the director uses media techniques to reveal the main themes and concerns of the text.
LIT 4-08a/ 4.18a

11. Essay Question
Choose a film that has an effective opening sequence. Describe what happens and then go on to describe how the sequence relates to the film as whole.

12. Chapter 1

13. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?
The opening credits
“Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.”
John Betjemen

14. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?
The opening credits are playing
We see Bruno with his friends
Close up of the red from a Nazi flag as it pans out to reveal the whole of the flag
Music is in minor key
Contrast – music changes to major key
Movement – pretending to be airplanes – airplane noises
Symbolic of the danger that lies ahead – the dangerous and terrifying impact the Nazi party had on people – the blood on their hands combined with the music which sets an unsettling tone
Lack of awareness of children – naivety of Nazism
They have seen fighter planes – aspire to be a part of the war
Evil and innocence and exist sided by side

15. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?
Bruno runs past with his friends as people are being forced out of their homes and in to vans
Music again changes to minor key
Low-key lighting
Colours muted, browns and greys
Sound of dogs barking, soldiers dialogue of ”Move!”
Direction – soldiers pushing the Jews out of their homes
Camera stops tracking Bruno and focuses on scene of Jews

16. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?
Introduction to Gretel
When Bruno arrives home he hears the news that they are moving
Long shot of Gretel in her room
Props of her playing with her dolls
Dialogue: Life is not so much about choices but about duty.”
Her innocence and youth, she is also unaware of the harsh reality of war – effective for the film as a whole because…
Children should not be made to suffer for the mistakes of adults

17. Chapter 5: 22 mins

18. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

19. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

20. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

21. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

22. Chapter 6: 29 mins

23. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

24. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

25. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

26. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

27. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

28. Chapter 10: 55 mins

29. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

30. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

31. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

32. Starter Task
Look at the notes that you made last lesson on the scene where Shmuel and Bruno meet in the kitchen.
Your task is to write a paragraph on this scene explaining what happens and how media techniques help the viewer to learn about character, relationships and themes.
Use the starter sentences on the board to help you with your paragraph.

33. Chapter 11: 1 hour 2 mins

34. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?
Bruno begins his apology to Shmuel.
Camera shots of Bruno now also include the fence
Shows that Bruno is now aware of the divisions between them.
Shows the personal division between the boys as a result of Bruno’s betrayal.
Shows that Bruno is also victim of Nazi prejudice albeit in a different way.
Sadness that the boys’ friendship is being affected by decisions they have no control over.

35. Shmuel accepts Bruno’s apology.
Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?
Shmuel accepts Bruno’s apology.
Close up camera shot of the boys shaking hands.
Shows that the
boys’ friendship
surpasses the
physical divide
AND the symbolic
divisions between
them.
Sense of happiness that the boys own goodness overcomes the prejudice around them.
But also unease as the friendship surely can’t survive these odds?

36. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

37. Chapter 13: 1 hour 15 mins

38. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

39. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

40. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

41. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

42. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

43. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

44. Describe what is happening.
Name the technique and how it is being used.
What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?
How does the viewer respond?

46. Learning Intention
We will revise how to plan and write an effective critical essay on ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.

47. Essay Question
How are the characters of Bruno and Shmuel and their relationship used to convey the main themes of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’?

48. What is the aim of a critical essay?

49. What should be included in an effective critical essay?

50. How are the characters of Bruno and Shmuel and their relationship used to convey the main themes of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’?
Introduction:

51. How are the characters of Bruno and Shmuel and their relationship used to convey the main themes of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’?
For each Paragraph
S- State what aspect of character or the relationship is being examined in this paragraph?
T- How is this conveyed through media technique?
A- Analysis of what this reveals about character, plot, setting, theme?
R-How does the viewer respond?

52. Paragraph 1

53. Paragraph 2

54. Paragraph 3

55. Paragraph 4

56. Paragraph 5

57. How are the characters of Bruno and Shmuel and their relationship used to convey the main themes of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’?
Conclusion:

58. Final Thoughts… We can reflect on the film’s main themes and concerns.
What are we left thinking about the film’s key issues of division, prejudice, childhood, injustice at the end of the film?

59. Learning Intention
We will understand how to write an effective paragraph analyzing media.

60. Studying Literature…
Studying a media text is similar to the way that we study a literary text.
In a written text we look at how the writer uses literary techniques such as word choice, imagery and sentence structure to convey the plot, characters, themes and mood
of a text to the reader.

61. Studying Media…
In media texts we look at how the director has used the languages of media such as cameras, sound, music, mise en scene to best convey the plot, characters, themes and mood of the text to the audience.

62. Using S.T.A.R. for Media Texts
The statement is the introductory sentence of a paragraph. It should include reference to the question & the scene being studied.
The textual evidence for written texts would usually be the quotation. For Media texts, it involves a detailed description of how the media language is used.
Analysis explains the effect created by the technique and how this develops the viewer's understanding of character, theme, atmosphere and so on...
The response is the final sentence of the paragraph and must restate how the feelings of the viewer relate to the original question.

63. In the opening scene of the film the director, Mark Herman, introduces us to the main character. He is Bruno – a young boy of eight who lives in Nazi Berlin. We see the camera tracking Bruno playing with his friends in the streets with the mise en scene revealing the Nazi flags and swastikas in the background. The long shots of his movement pretending to be a plane combined with the close-up on Bruno’s laughing face makes it clear he is happy with his life and enjoys playing with his friends. However, as Bruno and his friends pass by the Jewish ghetto the camera remains on the Jews in their ragged and dirty clothing. The children playing is incongruous in the setting of Nazi Berlin and introduces the viewer to one of the key themes of the film, the sinister notion that evil co-exists with innocence in our daily lives. The audience wonders how this young boy can exist in a place that is associated with cruelty without being aware of its brutality.

64. The relationship between the boys reaches its horrifying conclusion when Bruno enters the camp as an act of loyalty to help find Shmuel’s father. However, the director shows the viewer in a number of ways that the boys short-lived friendship is not to last. The mise en scene of the setting showing the growing storm symbolizes the danger facing the boys and also creates a darker and more ominous mood. As the boys are herded into the gas chamber, the director films at the eye level of the boys making it seem claustrophobic and highlighting their insignificance and vulnerabililty. Ultimately though, the director shows us that the boys’ deaths are insignificant as the final image of the film focuses on the door to the gas chamber and slowly tracks backwards to reveal the piles of abandoned clothing; each item representing a Jewish life lost to this dark period of history. The theme of the injustice of the Holocaust is made brutally clear in the final moments as the viewer realizes that the anguish they feel for just two boys should be felt for all 6 million Jewish deaths.

65. Learning Intention
I will demonstrate the skills of writing a critical essay on media.