Silence

• Whose story is this?
• Do you think the mix of live action and animation is appropriate for this story? Why has the filmmaker chosen to use animation?
• Sound On/Vision Off. Cover the screen and listen to the soundtrack before showing the film for the first time. Listen, stopping before: ‘I was born in Germany.’ What does the dramatic music of the opening and the pronouncement, ‘This is my story,’ make the audience think the film might be about? Are there any clues as to when it might be set? How does the sound so far reflect the title?
• Play the first minute of the film and discuss what the pupils think the film might be about. Where and when is it set? Is it immediately obvious that this is a non-fiction film?
• Look for moments in the film that show the passage of time. Discuss how the filmmaker shows this (through images, composition and transitions). Identify the specific editing technique being used.
• Consider the use of music in the film. What does it add to the story (consider, for instance, the use of Grieg’s Piano Concerto at the start)? Is it appropriate? Look for instances of particular musical instruments being used (this could lead to a discussion about the ‘emotion’ of certain instruments).
• View the film focusing on the use of black & white and colour. When and why is each used?
• Using freeze frame or printed stills from the film, discuss how the filmmaker uses composition and design to direct the viewer’s attention to certain details.
• Screen the sequence where the child falls into blackness and the sequence of the ants being brushed away, then discuss what they might mean. Freeze the image and interpret what can be seen (for instance where the mother and baby blur into animation and the baby falls into darkness, and when the ants are on a white screen before being brushed away). What can you see in this shot? What do you think this means? What does it tell us about what is happening to the character? Suggest why the ‘white’ child falls into black and the ‘black’ ants are seen on a white surface – are we seeing things from two different points of view? Use this to lead into a discussion of how every element of a visual text carries meaning, sometimes symbolic as well as literal; and how visual images can be read just as other texts are.

• Use a ‘Tell Me’ Grid Analysis to look for patterns in the film (for instance the shape and image of archways and suitcases). Do they give any clues to the filmmaker’s point of view/opinion on the subject?
• Does this film remind you of any other films, books or stories? In what ways?
• Ask pupils to try to re-tell Tana’s story back after watching the film. What remembered elements are events in the story and which are character experiences? (Listen out for emotion words that relate to character).
• Create a timeline detailing each event from Tana’s life in chronological order. How is this order different from the way the story is presented in the film? Discuss linear and non-linear narrative, finding examples from other films or books.
• Read extracts from letters/diaries of Holocaust survivors. How do these compare with the way Tana feels?
• Show extracts from ‘Schindler’s List’ (Steven Spielberg, 1993). Compare the effect of the representation of the concentration camps in animation with the reality depicted in the film. (Choose the sequences carefully: the aim is not to distress the students but give them a point of comparison.)
• Research the experiences of childhood victims of the Holocaust and present these using PowerPoint. Underpin the more personalised facts and stories with slides that give a historically accurate view of the Holocaust and the causes/effects of it.

WRITE

• Tana has no voice until she is an adult. Write Tana’s journal in three stages: as a child in hiding with her grandmother; then as the child who goes to live with her aunt and uncle and becomes Swedish but is not allowed to talk about her experiences; finally, as the adult who reads her mother’s letters and visits Auschwitz.
• After her radio interview the local paper runs an article on Tana’s story. They include some historical detail to contextualise their article. Imagine you are the journalist and write the article based on your research.

FILMMAKING

• Insert an alternative audio – for example, the mother s voice – to consider interpretation of sound and meaning.
• Script an alternative voiceover or a parallel voiceover from the point of view of Tana’s mother.

MUSIC

• Create an alternative soundtrack with very different music.

DRAMA

• Tana is being interviewed on local radio. Role play as the interviewer and as Tana. Think carefully about the questions the interviewer may ask. What is the purpose of the interview? Who are the audience?

PSE

• Draft a World Charter to prevent atrocities like this happening again.