Describing the Setting in A Movie

The Prompt

“Think of a movie you have recently watched. Describe the setting in this movie. In what part of the world does the movie take place? Is the movie set in the past, present, or future?  What is the landscape like? How does the setting contribute to the feeling and tone of the movie? What sights and sounds do you remember from the setting?” 

Thoughts Before Starting

This is a long prompt. While it is specific and each question or task can be divided into paragraphs, students with weak skills in writing or those with learning disabilities may read this and become intimidated by it. Some may stick to answering only one or a few parts of this. Some may never really get started on it. Others will take the “F” rather than tackle it. This is particularly true if it’s presented as a quick-write or warm-up. 

In the past, I’ve streamlined it. In part, many students who come to me are those that struggle with writing. Also, some struggled to write and/or organize paragraphs. Even for some, writing a compound or complex sentence is a task.

In the past, I modified this prompt by converting them into multi-sentence prompts. For example: 

• In what part of the world does the movie take place?  (students write a sentence)

• Is the movie taking place in the past, present, or future (again, students are required to answer it in sentence format). 

• What sights and sounds do you remember from the setting? (skipping the previous sentence in the prompt to primarily center the prompt on a descriptive sentences)

In some cases, I supply a template that’s divided into four or five parts. It will include a:

• Thesis section (1 paragraph)

• Supporting Information (2 and 3 paragraphs)

• Conclusion. (1 paragraph)

Still, considering that it’s given early in the school year and the students I tend to deal with have skills well below grade level, I tend to have students write a paragraph or two as a minimum. If given later in the year, then that’s when students will work with an essay template created for an assignment like this. 

That was about the students. What about me? 

The focus of the prompts calls for  a description and to be objective; however, one of the questions does ask for an opinion.

Admittingly, I haven’t watched a movie in a while. My entertainment has mainly been streaming TV shows and documentaries. Thus, I was a bit stumped on how to answer this prompt.  And then, my co-teacher had the students watched a modern version of Romeo and Juliet after completing a unit on the Shakespearean classic. 

The prompt is not asking for a review. The focus of the prompts calls for  a description and to be objective; however, one of the questions does ask for an opinion. As the prompt shows, these are a collection of questions three of the four questions are objective while one is subjective. In addition, when writing about a movie, you tend to write your likes and dislikes. Thus, it is an odd prompt to be placed in the “Descriptive” category. 

The Response to the Prompt

A movie I recently watched was the 1996 Baz Luhrmann's version of Romeo and Juliet ( titled as Romeo + Juliet ) This particular version is a modernized depiction of the famous tragedy. Instead of taking place in “Fair Verona” it’s set in Verona Beach -- a late 20th century beach town in a modern metropolis somewhere on the coastal United States. 

In this modern setting (well, 1990s setting) guns replace swords (interestingly named as swords in the movie). Also, clothing, buildings, and the presence of neon lights/ signs transport the viewer into a world that is all too familiar to them.

This fictional place appears to be the culmination of several places such as Venice Beach in Los Angeles, Miami and Brazil’s Rio De Janeiro. This is a far cry from the traditional medieval/renaissance setting of Verona, Italy where the play originally took place in. 

There are other interesting changes made in this movie when compared to the traditional story: 

• The Chorus of the prologue is replaced by a newscaster on TV, reading the opening verse. 

• The prince of Verona City is a city police chief. 

• Capitalism is much more pronounced through signs, businesses and buildings representing the wealth and power of the two warring families. 

• There’s a contrast between the haves and have nots with immaculate buildings next to dilapidated ones. Is this meant to show that the ridiculous war between the family has had a profound effect on the citizens of Verona Beach?

• Modern vehicles such as modified cars and helicopters are used. 

• The family feud is treated more like a modern gangland rivalry. 

• There appeared to be an ethnic difference between the two families in terms of how they dressed. The Montague wore Hawaiian shirts while the Capulets seemingly wore clothing to denote Hispanic origin (never mind that the head of the Capulet is played by an Italian-American and Juliet in appearance is as Caucasian as you can get). 

In terms of sights and sounds from the setting are concerned, it's loud. And that's not including the movie's soundtrack. The din in this movie is filled a lot of shooting and explosions. It's also loud with its jarring colors and neon lights, thus affecting at least two senses with its "loudness."

 There are traditionalists that will be offended watching this film version. They will believe that not setting it in the time it was written takes something away from the story. But, what many of these traditionalists fail to realize was that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was actually based on an older narrative and that the dialogue within the play had been modified to fit the audience of the time so they’d understand it. In this respect, placing this age-old story into modern times does help the audience relate to the story and to understand it, despite still keeping the Shakespearean dialogue in place.  (especially for the students who had just read the play). 

My Final Thoughts on the Process

I didn’t feel like I was writing an essay. Still, I felt I put in a lot of details and managed to put in an opinion at the end. In addition, I really didn’t follow the questions closely. Then again, I rarely do and just want to get the gist of what the prompt is asking. 

They have to start writing the moment they get the prompt. 

Also, as I wrote this (first in a journal) I had the luxury of taking my time to write this. In many cases, students don’t have that, unless it’s an essay project. This was a quick-write assignment that was more designed for students and emulated the type of prompts used in a standardized state test given each year in May. 

Whereas I had the time to plot this out and write a rough draft, students don’t have that opportunity. This is particularly tough when the students have learning disabilities and are placed in a special education classroom. They often don’t have the time or skills to pre-write to organize their thoughts before committing it to paper. They have to start writing the moment they get the prompt. 

As a special educator, I have the opportunity to extend their time and give them multiple days to complete the assignments. Or I may give the students a template with sentence starters to help them along and reduce the size and scope of the response by breaking them down into multistep questions that allow for short answers. 

I’ve given this prompt to students several times over the years. And, in my case, I broke it down to make it easier for the students to respond to it. In other cases, I may alter the questions to make it reflect a movie or short film we may have seen in class. Either way, the prompt alone can be challenging for students who struggle with writing.