Script Analysis using Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama
by Carlie Parkinson Madsen
Objective:
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the Six Elements of Drama by analyzing a film.
** This unit was originally written to culminate in a film analysis, but can be used with a theatre production analysis just as easily**
Class Level:
Beginning (no prior experience needed)
Main Concepts:
Play analysis, plot structure, identifying themes
1994 National Standards:
CONTENT STANDARD 7: Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions.;
CONTENT STANDARD 6: Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing traditional theatre, dance, music, and visual arts, and new art forms.; CONTENT
CONTENT STANDARD 4: Directing by interpreting dramatic texts and organizing and conducting rehearsals for informal or formal productions.
Lesson Plans
Lesson 1: Plot Structure The students will demonstrate their knowledge of plot by participating in a group presentation of plot structure.
Lesson 2: Theme The students will demonstrate their knowledge of theme by identifying a theme for film presented in class.
Lesson 3: Diction The students will demonstrate their understanding of diction by performing a short Shakespearean puppet show.
Lesson 4: Character The students will demonstrate their knowledge of characters by completing a “Myspace” profile for a character in a play read in class.
Lesson 5: Music Students will demonstrate their understanding of music by performing a thirty-second melodrama.
Lesson 6: Spectacle Students will demonstrate their understanding of spectacle by designing scenery for “Spectacular, Spectacular”.
Lesson 7: Final Analysis Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the Six Elements of Drama by analyzing a film.
