Film Education’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of Unicorn interactive learning CD-ROM is a curriculum-focused resource for Primary schools.
The Study CD-ROM offers a range of age-appropriate activities that aim to develop higher-order thinking and Literacy skills in children between the ages of 7 and 11. The disc opens with the film’s trailer, giving the resource a context and familiarising the pupils with the film. Teachers can choose to skip past the trailer if necessary.
Find out about the film, its key characters and plot by reading through the synopsis and introduction text. Begin the activities by clicking ‘Start’ at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. There are four sections on the disc: The Characters; Reading Pictures; Soundscape and Interactive Storyboard. These can be navigated in the main menu screen. Each section can be accessed throughout via the ‘Menu’ button at the bottom left of the screen.
The learning objectives for each activity can be accessed at all times, by clicking on the ‘Help’ icon located in the top right hand corner of the screen. To aid the learning process, pupils can use the notebook facility which allows them to retain their work. Activities comprise: In‘The Characters’ section; learners find out about the film’s key players and how they are portrayed on-screen.
‘In the Reading Pictures’ section; an interactive close-analysis activity whereby pupils look for visual clues in film stills. ‘Soundscape’; where learners explore about the importance of sound in film by creating their own Tintin soundscapes and ‘Interactive Storyboard’; using character artwork and background shots, pupils can create their own Tintin storyboard, then transpose their work into a graphic novel format. The resource also includes a Scheme of Work for teachers to download.
Let’s look at each section in more detail. Firstly The Characters. In this section, learners demonstrate their ability to work out how characters are defined on screen through images, words and pictures. Click on a photo to access a short character description and a reporter’s notebook where you can record your answers to the questions and prompts. Edit your answers until you are happy.
Your work can be Printed or Saved at any time. Access the other character shots by clicking on the map at the bottom left hand of the screen.
Reading Pictures. In this section, pupils will develop their knowledge of film language and how meaning is created on screen by annotating key shots. Scroll over the words in yellow to find out their meaning. Use the arrows to move forwards and backwards. Each image can be analysed byusing the magnifying glass to look closer at aspects of the shot. Add notes about the film language used to make meaning on the screen. Click on a sticky note and drag it to your chosen area. Write and edit your notes below the image. Save, print or clear your work.
Load a different picture by clicking on the images at the left hand side of the screen. Access the second part of this task by clicking on the arrow. This section asks you to choose your own images to analyse by grabbing shots from the film’s trailer. Watch the trailer and pause it when you see an image you like by hitting the square ‘stop’ tab.
Take a photo of your chosen image by clicking the camera. Your picture will be saved at the left hand side of the screen. Repeat this process three times. Now you can analyse these images as you did before.
Soundscape. Here, learners will answer questions about three very different sequences from the film. Then they will add sound effects to the image in order to create an effective soundscape. Click on an image. Answer the questions about your chosen image in the notepad. You can edit, print or save your work at any time.
Click on the arrow to access the Soundscape studio. Listen to the sounds provided in the sound bank below the image. Drag the sounds where you think they should go on the image. Use the volume controller to suggest whether your sound is in the foreground or background. Review your notes at any time by clicking on the notebook icon.
Interactive Storyboard. This section’s activities look at visual story creation by asking pupils to create and sequence their own Tintin storyboard. They can then export their creation into a graphic novel model. Once you have read the introductory notes, advance to the interactive storyboard section. The Interactive Storyboard section contains a range of background and character shots, as well as speech bubbles. These can be accessed through the controller panel to the left of the screen. Begin by selecting a background. Scroll through these using the right and left arrow keys and drag your chosen image into the viewer screen on the right.
Select a character shot in the same way. Add notes about your image at any time by typing into the box underneath the viewer. Double click on the character image to access the scaling tool if you want to make it smaller or larger. If you want the character to face a different way, click on ‘Flip the image’. Add text to the speech bubble if required.
When you are happy, press ‘Set’ to save the image, then click on the next storyboard box in the sequencer at the bottom of the screen. Repeat this process as many times as you like to complete your storyboard. You can go back to edit your storyboard images at any time by clicking on the frame and editing it in the viewer.
You can remove items from the shot by dragging it away, or start again by clicking the ‘New’ tab. When you have finished your storyboard, use the Load and Save buttons to save your work. You can Print your work as a storyboard or graphic novel using the buttons below your storyboard. Thank you for your interest in Film Education’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn interactive CD-ROM. Please send us your thoughts about the disc via email to primary@filmeducation.org