CBC Archives

Play the third clip from Bright Lights, Political Fights: The Canadian Film Industry on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. Ask students to describe the viewpoints of the producers interviewed. Ask them how the audience is directed to consider these viewpoints.

Direct students to the remainder of the topic Bright Lights, Political Fights: The Canadian Film Industry. In groups of four, students will view the site and take notes so that they can adapt the message they see for different audiences and different purposes.

Each group will create a script for a short film using excerpts from clips from this site, with the option of adding their own voiceover. One-third of the class will make a film script to persuade a politician to support the Canadian film industry, one-third will make a film script that will persuade Canadians who do not see Canadian films to see this one, and the last section of the class will make a film script for a director they want to persuade to forget about making it in Canada, and go to Hollywood.

Allow students to read one another’s scripts or have students present them to the class. Lead a discussion of how the students adapted messages from the site for each audience and purpose. Ask: What techniques did you use to convey your messages? Ask the rest of the class: Was this group’s work effective? Why?

For homework, students can view a documentary and take notes on the persuasive devices used: what techniques were used to encourage the audience to adopt a specific viewpoint?