An extra-terrestrial gets caught in the game of perspective.
To address the notion of stereotypes, before watching the film, ask the students to draw a flying saucer then compare the shapes with those in the film.
The short film “A different perspective” was selected at the Takorama 2020 festival organized by the Films pour enfants association.
Understand the story, the theme, express your sensitivity and exercise your critical thinking.
1-Who is the main character in the film?
An alien. He arrives in a flying saucer whose shape and sound are typical of flying saucer stereotypes.
2-What is the name of what the character has around his head?
A diving suit. It is a portable breathing apparatus for scuba diving or for astronauts inside their ships or for spacewalking.
3-The character hits his diving suit against something (2 min 33 s). What is this ?
The sun, the moon, another planet or star.
4-Is this accident possible in real life?
No, because this star is actually very far away.
The apparent size of objects depends on the distance between the viewer and what they are looking at. The further away objects are, the smaller they appear to us. It's the same phenomenon that causes us, when we are traveling by car, to have the impression that distant objects like a mountain or the sun are following us while the trees close to the road pass by at high speed. During the Renaissance era, artists invented a drawing technique to represent this phenomenon: perspective.
The author tells us from the title of the film “A different perspective” which means “a different perspective” that he is going to play with this phenomenon. Indeed, in a 2-dimensional drawing like that of the scene of the diving suit and the star, it is not possible to know whether the star is large and distant or, on the contrary, small and close; the author of the film acts as if it were a small object the same size as the diving suit.
5-What are the other scenes in the film that play with the ambiguity of close objects or distant objects?
The barking dog scene (45 s).
The alien places it on a distant mountain as if it were a pile of dirt right next to it.
The author reinforces the comedy of the scene with sounds. The intensity of the dog's bark is different before and after.
Rifle bullets ricochet off the distant mountains (58 s).
The dog becomes a giant dog (1 min 10 s).
The inhabitant saves the alien from drowning (1 min 28 s).
Created with the support of the French Ministry of Education and the French National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC).
Watching the film with the family, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in class.
