Look Inside: Lights, Camera, Marvel! | Turn Superhero Movie Nights into Meaningful Learning

Hey everybody, welcome to the Waldock Way. I'm Jessica and today's video is going to be a look inside our brand new Lights Camera Marvel which is exploring the art of filmmaking through Earth's Mightiest Heroes. So this is our newest installment of a movie guide. So we have Lights Camera Learn which is just a large genre. We have a Holiday Magic one and now we're going to go through the Marvel Universe with 30 different Marvel movies. Let's go ahead and take a look inside. So here is the overview. Like I said, there are 30 different movies. Each movie has a different mini lesson topic so you can see kind of the overview of that here. You're going to get a welcome page which is going to kind of tell you a little bit about the guide, why watching movies matters, how it's going to work, etc. Then there is a beginner's guide to watching movies where we're going to go through kind of just a very quick overview like the framework of a film and who we follow and why and what it's really about and the look at the story. You know, the sound and music which is an invisible storyteller, editing and pacing, symbolism and visual cues, performance and acting choices, genre and tone, and how to watch a movie like a critic but not lose the magic. I've also included open-ended discussion questions. So basically these are like 10 open-ended questions for any film that's specifically about like the stories, the characters, and the themes. And then 10 open-ended questions that you can ask about any film that are specifically about filming choices and techniques. After that, you've gone through kind of the introduction. We're going to get straight to the meat. Each of the 30 films has this setup and it is amazing. I'm so excited to do this with tweens and teens. I will say all 30 of these movies are rated PG-13. You obviously know your kid best but just keep that in mind. So I have put them in Marvel Universe chronological order. However, they can absolutely be watched in any order that you choose in your home school. So the first movie we have is Captain America the First Avenger. We have a little bit of background. We have the director, the genre. Obviously a lot of these are going to be superhero but this one is specifically superhero historical fiction and action. The year it was released, the runtime. So you know that this is a two hour and four minute movie. The rating again, they're all PG-13. Then we have some viewing tips and a mini lesson. So this mini lesson is going to be all about color grading for era and tone. And the viewing tips are going to kind of help you know what to look out for. So for example, notice how the Brooklyn scenes film feel warmer and softer than the Hydra scenes. Watch how lighting and color change during key emotional moments. Pay attention to whether hopeful scenes appear brighter than battle sequences. Observe how Hydra technology is visually distinguished from the allied equipment. So just some things to kind of pay attention to. Watch out for these as you're watching. Then let's talk about the mini lesson. We're going to go into color grading for era and tone. We're going to talk about color grading and we're going to talk about how the story moves through different things, what to look for, how the palette's going to shift, that kind of thing. Next, because these Marvel movies all have such strong themes, I thought it would be a great way to start really digging into themes. So there's a theme spotlight for everyone, all of them different. The theme for this one is true strength comes from character, not physical power. And so we're going to talk about how that is shown and spotlighted through the movie. There's also a fun fact for each of them. So for example, some of these fun facts are like about the actors or the producers or just how it was filmed, just something kind of quirky. So to create the pre-serum Steve Rogers, the filmmakers used advanced digital effects to shrink Chris Evans' body in early scenes. His performance was mapped onto a smaller body double, allowing the character to appear much smaller while maintaining his facial expressions and realism. So again, just kind of a fun behind the scenes fact. We have discussion questions here. These discussion questions are going to specifically be like about the movie and what you did or didn't see when it came to color grading and the era and the tone and how you felt and what you might change, like specifically about ways that you could have, you know, enjoyed the movie or changed the movie or what you learned from it. Then we have two think deeper questions. This is what I'm the most excited for with tweens and teens, because if you've been homeschooling older kids, you know, those rich, deep conversations are hands down the best thing about homeschooling them. And I feel like these questions are perfect for that. So for example, in the Captain America, the first Avenger, we're going to ask what qualities truly make someone worthy of leadership in today's world. Now they really aren't too focused on like the movie itself. We're just going to take maybe like that theme spotlight, and we're going to talk about it even deeper. So how should we respond when authority asks us to compromise our values? So we're taking that movie that we've watched, something fun we've done with our tweens and teens. We're really diving deeper into these conversations. And obviously there's no wrong answer. It's just to have a great deep conversation with your kids. So let's go ahead and look at all of the movies that are included. We have Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor The Dark World, Captain America The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, Avengers Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America Civil War, Black Widow, Black Panther, Spider-Man Homecoming, Doctor Strange, Thor Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame, Spider-Man Far From Home, Spider-Man No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor Love and Thunder, Black Panther Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumanium, and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. There's also included, because I thought this would be really fun, a Stan Lee cameo. So like spot Stan, because out of the 30 Marvel movies included, he is in 23 of them. So it's just kind of a, as you watch, have your kid fill out like where he was, what he said. I also included an answer key just in case they miss them. So you could be like, oh, let's go back and find that scene. There is a final project for creating your own superhero movie after having watched 30 of them. And then I've also included a kind of movie critic piece of paper graphic, if you will, where they can write, you know, when they watched it, the title, the director, the year, genre, length, what it's rated, the main actors, a memorable quote, a quick summary, their review, the themes and symbolism, their favorite character or part, their least favorite character or part, the notes and thoughts they might have, and then like an overall score, acting and performance, plot, design and effects, the structure and flow, and its engagingness. This, a lot of this is kind of based off of the things that we're already talking about. So that's why we have like the themes and the symbols because we're going to have talked about the theme spotlight. You can have your child do this for every one of them. You can have them do just one of these for their favorite. That's up to you. These are just extras because I really do feel like the conversations are more than enough. And then I've also included movie night tickets just for extra fun. So for example, on Friday nights or Saturday nights, when we're going to do family movies, I will just kind of give this to Emily as a way so that like she knows what we're doing because obviously I don't have, you know, like worksheets or anything to give her. And I want to make sure that we are definitely getting it done. So each of the movies has a just kind of fun movie night ticket included. I printed mine on cardstock and I will just, like I said, be giving these to Emily or leaving them like on the table with our homeschool stuff for the day. Like when we get done with everything else, we're going to watch this movie.