L.

O: How can I utilise structure to create a

cohesive piece of description?
Similarities Differences
Do now:
“Write as a reader.”
1. What do you think this phrase means?
How can we apply it to our descriptive
writing?

2. Using the table on the left, what are the

similarities/differences between a film
and a description?
The most hotly anticipated work of the year….

Directed by…YOU!
What are we trying to
do here?
In paper 1, section B, we are trying to create a really
VIVID snapshot in time- as through we are producing
JUST ONE SCENE from our very own film.
We are trying to stimulate the reader’s imagination so
well, that they can SEE the movie, in their mind!

To do this, we are going to borrow some clever tricks

from our friends, the film directors…
 Film directors CONTROL what we see…
The audience is transported to an
earlier moment in order to
understand the relevance of the
This is no accident! We see things in a particular Refocusing on current moment or why a character
order, so the director can build up our opening shot. behaves the way they do.
understanding and play with our thoughts/feelings.
(This should feel very familiar as this is what we Attention is drawn back to original
analyse in Q3!) Flashback focus to show things have/have not
changed, during the scene.

Draws attention to an emotion or

One of the ways they do this, is through their use of Wide angle shot tiny detail that enhances our
CAMERA ANGLES and STRUCTURAL DEVICES. understanding.

Focuses the audience’s attention on a

On the right, are a jumbled range of names and Extreme Close-up character/object of later significance.
effects of various camera angles/devices, commonly
used in films. Can you join them up, on your sheet?
Shows the location/environment the
characters are in. Zoomed out to
Close-up show general surroundings. Helps
audience shape their expectations.
 In description, this might look a little bit like:

The snow was dancing like cotton wool in the light of

the street lamps. Aimlessly, unable to decide
whether it wanted to fall up or down, just letting
itself be driven by the hellish, icecold wind that was
sweeping in from the great darkness covering the
Oslo fjord. Together they swirled, wind and snow,
round and round in the darkness between the
warehouses on the quayside that were all shut for
the night. Until the wind got fed up and dumped its
dance partner beside the wall.

What sort of camera angle/technique is this?

• With your partner, decide which type of camera angle this is and justify your decision.
• Why might an audience be shown this?
• What will the audience think/feel, in response?
 In description, this might look a little bit like:

And there the dry, windswept snow was settling

around the shoes of the man I had just shot in the
chest and neck.
 
Blood was dripping down onto the snow from the
bottom of his shirt.

What sort of camera angle/technique is this?

• With your partner, decide which type of camera angle this is and justify your decision.
• Why might an audience be shown this?
• What will the audience think/feel, in response?
 In description, this might look a little bit like:

I don’t actually know a lot about snow – or much

else, for that matter – but I’ve read that snow
crystals formed when it’s really cold are completely
different from wet snow, heavy flakes, or the crunchy
stuff. That it’s the shape of the crystals and the
dryness of the snow that make the haemoglobin in
the blood retain that deep red colour. Either way, the
snow under him made me think of a king’s robe, all
purple and lined with ermine,

What sort of camera angle/technique is this?

• With your partner, decide which type of camera angle this is and justify your decision.
• Why might an audience be shown this?
• What will the audience think/feel, in response?
 In description, this might look a little bit like:

like the drawings in the book of Norwegian folk tales

my mother used to read to me. She liked fairy tales
and kings. That’s probably why she named me after a
king.
 
The Evening Post had said that if the cold carried on
like this until New Year, 1977 would be the coldest
year since the war, and that we’d remember it as the
start of the new ice age scientists had been
predicting for a while.

What sort of camera angle/technique is this?

• With your partner, decide which type of camera angle this is and justify your decision.
• Why might an audience be shown this?
• What will the audience think/feel, in response?
 In description, this might look a little bit like:

On the way back to my flat I called Daniel Hoffmann

from a phone box to tell him the job was done.

What sort of camera angle/technique is this?

• With your partner, decide which type of camera angle this is and justify your decision.
• Why might an audience be shown this?
• What will the audience think/feel, in response?
We are now going to try to emulate this
structure together…
Wide angle shot

Close up

Extreme Close up

Flashback

Link to opening shot

Independent attempt:
Write a SCENE from the film, including this moment. Follow the structure we have
been using.
Tasks:
1. Annotate your sheet with ideas for:
• Wide angle shot:

• Close-up:

• Extreme Close-up:

• Flashback:

• Link to original shot:

2. Try to write some of your

description- remember that in order to
SEE your film in their mind, the reader
needs to be given clear and well-
selected imagery, vocabulary and
sensory description!