Educational activity around the short film Rain shower
Use drawing in all its diversity as a means of expression.
Rain shower © Tomoko Takaya / Tokyo University of the Arts
TitleRain shower
ThemeAnimals, Rain
Genre & keywordsContemplative, cat, rain, Japan, street, sun
Age (for film)3-11 years
Duration05 min 10 s
DirectorTomoko Takaya
MusicJuri Ito
ProductionTokyo University of the Arts (Japan, 2015)
Describe then imagine.
The film depicts the wanderings of a cat in the rain. The title of the film in English “Rain shower” could be translated as “rain shower”; the original Japanese title means passing rain. This short film does not tell a story; it is a contemplative film whose object, like Japanese poems haikus, is to capture a place, a moment.
The opportunity to propose representing rain, in the form of drawing but also, why not, of sounds.
Explain to the children how the director of the film represents the rain in the film. Rain is represented by bright white dotted lines on a dark background. The drops running down a roof too (1 min 8 s). Transparent water is difficult to draw and the director chose to show the water shiny, as if lit by the sun. The background is dark; this creates contrast and highlights the white lines of the rain.
Describe different pictorial representations of rain throughout the history of art. Specify that Tomoko Takaya, director of the short film, is Japanese and differentiate the representations of rain in traditional Japanese art and Western art. Compare with the representation of rain in the short film. Students will use words for their description like: White lines, black lines, light, shiny, reflection, umbrella, drop of water, puddle, fog...
Print the materials for this activity...
The children will then choose how they want to draw the rain (white rain on a dark background, black on a light background, drops ricocheting on the ground, an umbrella...)
Students aged 9-11 will also be able to represent rain in the form of poems. Examples of famous poems and creations by students aged 9-11 on the Grenoble academy website...
“At the edge of evening a soft rain whispers. Each drop of water still seems to hesitate Then grows bolder. The numerous fingers of the downpour lightly drum the thirsty earth... » Rain, On the Edge of Time, 1990, Claude Roy (1915-1997).
Activity sheet written by: Christophe Defaye
