1. Gothic Animation: Genre
To understand and apply the codes and conventions of gothic genre
Key Words
Codes and conventions
Gothic

2. Gothic Features
Using your homework, think about the different features of gothic genre
Discuss the features of gothic genre in pairs
Share your features with the class

3. How many features can you spot in the opening minutes of Van Helsing?
Gothic Features
Wild and remote places
Dark and gloomy settings
Family curses and dark secrets
Supernatural powers
Secret passages
Nightmares
Heroes and heroines in danger
Wicked tyrants and witches
Spooky effects with ghosts
Dual worlds
How many features can you spot in the opening minutes of Van Helsing?

4. Binary Opposites
A man called Claude Levi-Strauss said that narratives contain binary opposites.
Good versus evil
Hero versus villain
Can you name any more?

5. Using these pictures, explain what you think nature means

6. The Opposite of Nature? What would the opposite of nature be like?
Discuss your ideas with the rest of your table.

7. What do these photos tell you about the ‘other’ world?

8. Gothic Genre & Opposites
The gothic genre has always contained opposites. One famous example is in Jekyll and Hyde Does the film Coraline contain opposites? Can you name any?

9. To which genre does the following image belong?
How do you know?

10. Mise-en-scene The following factors help us understand what genre is:
Setting
Props
Hair/make-up
Facial expression
Body language
Colour
Lighting
Together these factors form part of mise-en-scene.

11. Low-Key Lighting
Horror films tend to be filmed using low-key lighting to build a macabre, scary and mysterious atmosphere

12. High-Key Lighting
Whereas romantic films tend to be filmed using high-key lighting to build a happy, safe and calm atmosphere

13. Lighting
Which of these shots is filmed in high-key lighting and which is filmed in low-key lighting?
Shot A
Shot B

14. e.g. – Shot A and B are filmed at night but create opposite moods
Lighting
Which of these shots is filmed in high-key lighting and which is filmed in low-key lighting?
Shot A
High-key lighting
Shot B
Low-key lighting
REMEMBER – Lighting does not always depend on the time of day the scene occurs
but is about the mood and atmosphere the director wants to create
e.g. – Shot A and B are filmed at night but create opposite moods

15. Complete your family media consumption questionnaire
Home Learning
Complete your family media consumption questionnaire
Due: Next lesson