The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

Materials:
Pens or pencils
Resources:
Handout: Film Grammar: 
Any clip from an animated fi lm

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Cineliteracy
39
WORKSHEET: DECONSTRUCTING A MEDIA TEXT
Teachers’ note:
This exercise will help students to develop a deeper understanding 
of the language of the moving image. Groundwork like this will reap 
many benefi ts when they begin to tackle practical projects.
A fi rst step towards this understanding is to provide students with a 
framework for deconstructing an animated short and reading it as a 
moving image text.
Choose a short animation that you feel will engage the class. 
Ask the students to discuss the fi lm by considering each of these 
topics in turn. Don’t be afraid to rerun the fi lm or a sequence several 
times, looking at a different aspect of its construct each time.
Camera:
Consider the style of camerawork used in the opening sequence. 
Find examples of different shot types such as extreme close-ups, 
close-ups, medium or wide shots. Why were these types of shots 
used and to what purpose?
Colour:
Describe the colour palette. How does the use of colour relate to the 
story and mood of the fi lm? Do different colours and combinations of 
colour provoke different emotions and if so, why? If it’s a black and 
white fi lm, why did the director choose this approach?
Character:
How is each character introduced in the fi lm? What does his or 
her appearance tell you about their personalities? What do their 
gestures and movements tell us about their personalities and 
motives in the story? Are they like real-life people? If not, how are 
they different?

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40
The Teachers’ Animation Toolkit
Story:
How does the story begin? How does the story end and resolve 
itself? How does the storyline motivate the actions of the 
characters? Do you like the characters and can you identify with 
their story?
Sound:
What sounds can you hear in the animation? Can you hear sound 
effects? What is their purpose? Do you hear people talking? Why? 
Are there different ways the characters communicate with each 
other? Is there any silence? Is there music? What instruments can 
you hear? Does the music help tell the story?
Settings:
Where does the story take place? How do you know? Is it a