Short Films for Secondary Teaching

This set of resources is suitable for use in the classroom for teacher delivery to students or to be used independently by learners at home to develop their understanding of the 3Cs and 3Ss of film  (story, sound, setting, colour, character and camera) through the medium of short films selected in partnership with the British Council. Each lesson contains a downloadable PowerPoint Presentation which includes embedded content from the film and accompanying activity outline with related activity sheets.

Resources in this collection:

1. Teaching Character (11-16): British Council Shorts

Offside | Jimmy Dean | 2015 | 21 mins

The only girl on the football team, 11-year-old Kirsty notices her Dad talking to the coach. Told that she won't be able to play with them anymore more she is forced to come to terms with the changes that are happening to her body. With no mum to turn to and her dad unaware, Kirsty tries to figure it out herself in this delicate portrayal of a girl's coming of age.

Curriculum links: English, PSHE education, Film Studies

2. Teaching Colour (11-16): British Council Shorts

Mr Madilla | Rory Waudby-Tolley | 2012 | 8 mins

An imaginative animation documenting a series of eccentric conversations between a young filmmaker and a spiritual healer whose beliefs and ideas on the universe are wonderfully brought to life through the filmmaker's vivid, multi-coloured drawings.

Curriculum links: English, Art and design

3. Teaching Sound (11-16): British Council Shorts

WAR | Nilesh Bell-Gorsia | 2015 | 5 mins

Two rival gangs prepare to meet on the roof of an estate with unpredicted results in this clever comment on modern gang culture.

Curriculum links: PSHE education, Film Studies, Media Studies

4. Teaching Setting (11-16): British Council Shorts

Two Seas | Orlando Cubbitt | 2014 | 15 mins

A teenage girl is returned home by the police and threatened with being sent to Tehran by her worried father still grieving the death of her mother. With good exam results, all the girl wants to do is study marine biology and so runs away to the sea to think, only to be followed by her father and brothers. A touching drama delicately exploring a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood.

Curriculum links: Art and design, Drama, English

5. Teaching Story (11-16): British Council Shorts 

Saturday | Mike Forshaw | 2015 | 15 mins

On 15 April 1989, in one of the worst sporting disasters in Britain, 96 people died and hundreds were injured in a crush at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield during a football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. This film affectingly tells the story of a family in Liverpool whose son Mark sets off for the match, never to come home. Told through the eyes of his younger brother Liam, whose day becomes intertwined with events at the stadium, the film sensitively reflects on how a normal Saturday changed the lives of so many.

Curriculum links: English/Literacy, Citizenship

This resource includes