This is the Film Study unit for Holes based on the novel by Louis Sacher (for more on the novel, visit the novel study wikipage here)
INTRODUCTION
This guide has been developed and adapted using Walden Media’s excellent study guide, which is available from www.holes.com, to accompany Walt Disney Pictures’ film entitled Holes—based on the award-winning book by Louis Sachar. Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf), a young boy in the wrong place at the wrong time.
His bad luck finds him sentenced to months of detention at Camp Green Lake for a crime he did not commit, where unwittingly this unusual hero has the chance to lift a ‘curse’ that has afflicted his family for generations. Along with Squid, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, X-Ray and Zero, Stanley is forced by the warden (Sigourney Weaver), her henchmen Mr Sir (Jon Voight) and Dr Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) to dig holes in order to build character.
They have no idea why they are digging holes, and Stanley begins to wonder why the warden is so interested in anything ‘special’ found while digging. Each boy living at Camp Green Lake has a hard-luck story, some involving poverty, homelessness and illiteracy. Holes cleverly explores these sensitive topics along with issues of family, destiny, race, bullying and teenage alienation, without being condescending, through its strong and strangely humorous narrative.
Holes offers messages about courage, loyalty, optimism and perseverance.
STOP PRESS - click on the files below to relisten to my audio commentary on our close viewing of the film.
In this unit we will:
View the film
Complete a series of Formative activities
Expand our understanding of FILM ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
Review the film with technique commentary
Complete a final Summative Task
Here is the Trailer
Now let's view the film for the first time (at least in this class)
FORMATIVE ACTIVITIES (not to be assessed, but to be done fully)
IN order to understand any film as text, you need to be fully aware of:
PLOT - the events you see on the screen (you also need to be aware of the backstory)
SETTING and its relationship to events, characters and themes
CHARACTERISATION - who they are as individuals and how they relate to one another
THEMES - the main ideas of the film.
FILM TECHNIQUES - HOW the filmmakers have told this story
PLOT
After viewing the film for the first time, you are to write a short 50 word summary of the events in your own words;
Create a timeline for the EVENTS you see in the film - this will start decades before the days of Camp Green Lake;
Plot Techniques. There are two important techniques used in this film (and novel) to tell Stanley's story.
Flashback
Chain of Events
FLASHBACK DESCRIPTION
A flashback is a literary device used to show the audience something that occurred before the story. It is used to help us better understand what is happening now or to make us think differently about why certain events and decisions are occurring.
TASK: Find 5 examples of the use of flashback in the film. What effect does the use of flashback have in telling the story? What does Foreshadowing mean?
CHAIN OF EVENTS DESCRIPTION
Holes is a complicated story, spanning not only generations of Yelnatses but also numerous events and seemingly endless days of digging holes. The tangled plot, including countless flashbacks, presents a great opportunity to develop the ability to decode a written text or various story lines.
Download this PDF file and complete the activities on it.
Where are the events of the film set? For each location include a Google Map
Describe Camp Green Lake in some detail.
When Stanley Yelnats IV is there (ie the present of the film)
When Kate Barlow is there as a school teacher
Why did it change so much?
Describe some of the other key geographical features of the film eg God's Thumb, the bridge the shoes were thrown off etc
Why is the environment of each location in the film so important?
TIME
How many different time periods are shown in the film? Briefly describe each.
Why do you think the story has so many? Did you find it confusing? Why or why not?
CHARACTERS
In Holes many characters are linked by events from the past and by members of previous generations. These links become more apparent and important as the film progresses and help it to reach a satisfying climax.
Louis Sachar discusses his writing on the Allen and Unwin web site. He writes, "People often ask me how I managed to tie everything together at the end, but that wasn’t the hard part. I knew how everything was going to fit together. The hard part was laying out the strands throughout the story; of telling the story of Kate Barlow, and of Elya Yelnats, and Elya’s son, without it getting in the way of Stanley’s story. And then trying to make Stanley’s story interesting, when all he does is dig holes, all day, every day. How many times did I write, ‘He dug his shovel into the dirt’? http://www.allenandunwin.com/Teaching/trholes.asp
TASK: To explore characters and their relationships, list characters who appear in the film. Choose a main character first and write a descriptive statement to link them with another character, for example Stanley stands by Zero in many ways; Zero becomes a close friend of Stanley.
CHARACTER PROFILES ACTIVITY
We will work in small groups and complete a character profile for each of the main characters in the film. This will be done during class.cc
CHARACTER PROFILE GRID
Using some of the information and ideas from the activity, complete the character profile grid below. Download the file as a Word document and add to it as you go along.
Some important themes for Holes are: Fate and Destiny vs Free Will: One of the biggest themes in //Holes// is that Stanley Yelnats is a victim of fate and destiny instead of his free will. For example, Stanley gets convicted of a crime he did not commit because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He blames this on this great-great-grandfather and the curse on his family. It was not a result of his free will that he was sent to Camp Green Lake, except for the fact the judge gave him a choice of jail or camp. Questions: What are some other examples you can find where fate and destiny cause Stanley's problems or actions? Does he have any free will throughout Holes by Louis Sachar?
Helping Others (Friendship): Another one of the themes for Holes by Louis Sachar is helping others. While Stanley is at Camp Green Lake, the Warden and other adults do not really encourage the boys to help each other dig their holes. She wants a certain number of holes dug each day and a certain depth. Stanley learns throughout his experience that to survive, you must help others or rely on others' help. Questions: Where you can find examples of this Holes theme throughout the film? Does Stanley make any true friends at Camp Green Lake?
Belonging to Peer Groups, Belonging in the World:
Even though the experience at Camp Green Lake provides many struggles and dangers, he actually starts feeling like he belongs somewhere. Questions: When do you notice Stanley's opinion of himself starts to change? When do you think he feels like he is belonging in the world or with the other boys at Camp Green Lake? What is the sign for him?
SOME MORE QUESTIONS TO RESPOND TO
1. Why does Stanley Yelnats have such bad luck? Why do things not go his way through most of the film? (Hint: Think about the curse.)
2. How does Stanley Yelnats change throughout the film? Does he only change once the curse is broken or is he changing throughout? (Hint: Think about his actions before he carries Hector up the hill--has he changed?)
3. Why is Hector (Zero) such an important character? When did you realize who he actually was? (Hint: Think about the curse and the story that is told in the past.) 4. Why does the Warden have the boys digging so many holes? Is it for character-building? Who is she a descendant of? (Hint: The story from the past helps explain the Warden's motivation and her heritage.)
5. Choose two of the other boys at Camp Green Lake whom you think are important to the story. Describe their personality and how they relate to Stanley and Zero.
There is some interesting information in this PDF guide. Read through it carefully and take note of the ideas that you think help you understand the film better.Ignore the last page. You do not have to do the activities.
FILM TECHNIQUES
Use the information that I gave you as we were re-watching the film. Also, take note of the technical language used in film technique analysis that you did with Ms Fechner in Term 2. Read through this powerpoint again to refresh your memories.
"Holes is a film that explores what happens when friendship, loyalty and courage become more important than greed, bullying and exploitation.”Discuss what you think this statement means using plenty of examples from the film in essay form.
You will need to refer to each of the key areas of study that we have discussed in this unit:
PLOT - the events as we see them in the film and the events as they unfolded in chronological order
SETTING - the place and time(s) that the film is set in and how it affects the story
CHARACTERS - who the characters were and how they related to each other throughout the film.
THEMES - there are 6 key ideas in the topic question. Use each as the basis for your essay paragraphs - we will discuss this in class.
FILM TECHNIQUES - not only talk about the 4 things above, but mention the techniques the filmmakers used to tell this story and explore these key ideas. This includes VISUAL and AURAL (sound) techniques. Referring to the commentary I made on the 2nd viewing will help here.
WORDS: Between 600 - 800 DRAFT: Monday June 6 DUE DATE: Friday Week 6 Here is the link to the QUOTES page of the IMDB entry on Holes. This is useful for including your quotes in the essay. IMDB Quotes page
This is the Film Study unit for Holes based on the novel by Louis Sacher (for more on the novel, visit the novel study wikipage here)
INTRODUCTION
This guide has been developed and adapted using Walden Media’s excellent study guide, which is available from www.holes.com, to accompany Walt Disney Pictures’ film entitled Holes—based on the award-winning book by Louis Sachar. Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf), a young boy in the wrong place at the wrong time.
His bad luck finds him sentenced to months of detention at Camp Green Lake for a crime he did not commit, where unwittingly this unusual hero has the chance to lift a ‘curse’ that has afflicted his family for generations. Along with Squid, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, X-Ray and Zero, Stanley is forced by the warden (Sigourney Weaver), her henchmen Mr Sir (Jon Voight) and Dr Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) to dig holes in order to build character.
They have no idea why they are digging holes, and Stanley begins to wonder why the warden is so interested in anything ‘special’ found while digging. Each boy living at Camp Green Lake has a hard-luck story, some involving poverty, homelessness and illiteracy. Holes cleverly explores these sensitive topics along with issues of family, destiny, race, bullying and teenage alienation, without being condescending, through its strong and strangely humorous narrative.
Holes offers messages about courage, loyalty, optimism and perseverance.
STOP PRESS - click on the files below to relisten to my audio commentary on our close viewing of the film.
In this unit we will:
Here is the Trailer
Now let's view the film for the first time (at least in this class)
FORMATIVE ACTIVITIES (not to be assessed, but to be done fully)
IN order to understand any film as text, you need to be fully aware of:PLOT
- After viewing the film for the first time, you are to write a short 50 word summary of the events in your own words;
- Create a timeline for the EVENTS you see in the film - this will start decades before the days of Camp Green Lake;
- Plot Techniques. There are two important techniques used in this film (and novel) to tell Stanley's story.
- Flashback
- Chain of Events
FLASHBACK DESCRIPTIONA flashback is a literary device used to show the audience something that occurred before the story. It is used to help us better understand what is happening now or to make us think differently about why certain events and decisions are occurring.
TASK: Find 5 examples of the use of flashback in the film. What effect does the use of flashback have in telling the story? What does Foreshadowing mean?
CHAIN OF EVENTS DESCRIPTION
Holes is a complicated story, spanning not only generations of Yelnatses but also numerous events and seemingly endless days of digging holes. The tangled plot, including countless flashbacks, presents a great opportunity to develop the ability to decode a written text or various story lines.
Download this PDF file and complete the activities on it.
SETTING
Respond to the following questions.
PLACE
TIME
CHARACTERS
In Holes many characters are linked by events from the past and by members of previous generations. These links become more apparent and important as the film progresses and help it to reach a satisfying climax.
Louis Sachar discusses his writing on the Allen and Unwin web site. He writes, "People often ask me how I managed to tie everything together at the end, but that wasn’t the hard part. I knew how everything was going to fit together. The hard part was laying out the strands throughout the story; of telling the story of Kate Barlow, and of Elya Yelnats, and Elya’s son, without it getting in the way of Stanley’s story. And then trying to make Stanley’s story interesting, when all he does is dig holes, all day, every day. How many times did I write, ‘He dug his shovel into the dirt’? http://www.allenandunwin.com/Teaching/trholes.asp
TASK: To explore characters and their relationships, list characters who appear in the film. Choose a main character first and write a descriptive statement to link them with another character, for example Stanley stands by Zero in many ways; Zero becomes a close friend of Stanley.
CHARACTER PROFILES ACTIVITY
We will work in small groups and complete a character profile for each of the main characters in the film. This will be done during class.ccCHARACTER PROFILE GRID
Using some of the information and ideas from the activity, complete the character profile grid below. Download the file as a Word document and add to it as you go along.THEMES
Some important themes for Holes are:Fate and Destiny vs Free Will: One of the biggest themes in //Holes// is that Stanley Yelnats is a victim of fate and destiny instead of his free will. For example, Stanley gets convicted of a crime he did not commit because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He blames this on this great-great-grandfather and the curse on his family. It was not a result of his free will that he was sent to Camp Green Lake, except for the fact the judge gave him a choice of jail or camp.
Questions:
What are some other examples you can find where fate and destiny cause Stanley's problems or actions?
Does he have any free will throughout Holes by Louis Sachar?
Helping Others (Friendship): Another one of the themes for Holes by Louis Sachar is helping others. While Stanley is at Camp Green Lake, the Warden and other adults do not really encourage the boys to help each other dig their holes. She wants a certain number of holes dug each day and a certain depth. Stanley learns throughout his experience that to survive, you must help others or rely on others' help.
Questions:
Where you can find examples of this Holes theme throughout the film?
Does Stanley make any true friends at Camp Green Lake?
Belonging to Peer Groups, Belonging in the World:
Even though the experience at Camp Green Lake provides many struggles and dangers, he actually starts feeling like he belongs somewhere.
Questions:
When do you notice Stanley's opinion of himself starts to change?
When do you think he feels like he is belonging in the world or with the other boys at Camp Green Lake? What is the sign for him?
1. Why does Stanley Yelnats have such bad luck? Why do things not go his way through most of the film? (Hint: Think about the curse.)
2. How does Stanley Yelnats change throughout the film? Does he only change once the curse is broken or is he changing throughout? (Hint: Think about his actions before he carries Hector up the hill--has he changed?)
3. Why is Hector (Zero) such an important character? When did you realize who he actually was? (Hint: Think about the curse and the story that is told in the past.)
4. Why does the Warden have the boys digging so many holes? Is it for character-building? Who is she a descendant of? (Hint: The story from the past helps explain the Warden's motivation and her heritage.)
5. Choose two of the other boys at Camp Green Lake whom you think are important to the story. Describe their personality and how they relate to Stanley and Zero.
STUDY GUIDE ACTIVITIES
There is some interesting information in this PDF guide. Read through it carefully and take note of the ideas that you think help you understand the film better.Ignore the last page. You do not have to do the activities.
FILM TECHNIQUES
Use the information that I gave you as we were re-watching the film. Also, take note of the technical language used in film technique analysis that you did with Ms Fechner in Term 2.Read through this powerpoint again to refresh your memories.
Holes Film study question (summative Task)
"Holes is a film that explores what happens when friendship, loyalty and courage become more important than greed, bullying and exploitation.”Discuss what you think this statement means using plenty of examples from the film in essay form.
You will need to refer to each of the key areas of study that we have discussed in this unit:
WORDS: Between 600 - 800
DRAFT: Monday June 6
DUE DATE: Friday Week 6
Here is the link to the QUOTES page of the IMDB entry on Holes. This is useful for including your quotes in the essay.
IMDB Quotes page