paper planes - acmi · 3 acmi education resource paper planes paper planes robert connolly, 96 min,...

Paper Planes Robert Connolly, 96 min, Australia, 2014

Children’s Week 2015 Education Resource

2 ACMI Education Resource Paper Planes

CONTENTS

PAPER PLANES 3

Before Visiting ACMI* ............................................................................................... 3

What kind of film is Paper Planes? ......................................................................................... 3

The story behind the movie .................................................................................................... 3

Questions and Activities ......................................................................................................... 4

Prepare for Your Visit ............................................................................................... 4

After Visiting ACMI .................................................................................................... 5

Reflect on your visit to ACMI .................................................................................................. 5

Initial response to the film ...................................................................................................... 5

Narrative/story ....................................................................................................................... 5

Characterisation ..................................................................................................................... 6

Themes.................................................................................................................................. 9

Further Activities .................................................................................................................. 10

Robert Connolly: Screen It Ambassador .............................................................................. 11

This resource has been written by ACMI educator Susan Bye.


PAPER PLANES

Robert Connolly, 96 min, Australia, 2014

“It is something that everybody identifies with because everybody has made a paper plane.”

Paper Planes tells the story of 12-year-old Dylan, a country boy with lots of energy and a

passion for making and flying paper planes. After proving his paper-plane-flying prowess in

the national competition in Sydney, he travels to Japan to compete in the world

championship. For Dylan, winning is less important than being able to share his adventure

with his father.

Before Visiting ACMI*

What kind of film is Paper Planes?

Examine a range of Paper Planes film posters and advertisements. (There are some great

ones online.)

- What information does each provide about story, character, themes?

- If students in the class have seen the film, they can evaluate how successfully each

of the posters represents the film – but make sure they don’t spoil the story for others.

Learning how to communicate your response to a film, book or play without retelling

the story or delivering spoilers is an important skill to develop.

Show the trailer.

- What age group/audience is the film is targeting?

- What are some of the techniques used in the trailer to ‘sell’ the film?

The story behind the movie

Watch the opening of the Australian Story episode Fly with Me (31 August 2009), about

Dylan Parker, an Australian paper plane-throwing champion. Due to challenging themes

(brain tumour diagnosis), we recommend you only screen the opening section finishing with:

“And yeah it really did take over my life, and I didn’t care 'cause it was so much fun.”

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s2675360.htm

Students can also watch the Behind the News report on Parker and his friend James

Norton’s program for schools: 23 June 2009, ep.17,

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2600958.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s2675360.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2600958.htm


Questions and Activities

Discuss:

- Who has made a paper plane?

- Did it fly?

- Did anyone teach you how to make a paper plane?

- If so, who?

- If not, how did you come up with the idea for your design?

Hold a paper plane competition:

- Make a championship paper plane in 3 minutes.

- Find a space to race them.

- Make a record of the most successful designs. (You can then compare your class’s

experience with the designs that are most successful in the film.)

*These activities can also be used effectively after the film screening.

Prepare for Your Visit

Paper Planes is a feature film and has been made to be screened in a cinema to an

audience.

- Find out about the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI):

www.acmi.net.au

Discuss:

- Have you visited ACMI before? If so, what did you do when you visited?

- Who knows where it is located? (Federation Square)

- Who enjoys going to the movies?

- What are the benefits of watching a film at the cinema?

- What kind of behaviour is required at the cinema?

http://www.acmi.net.au/


After Visiting ACMI

Reflect on your visit to ACMI

- What was the most special thing about going to the Australian Centre for the Moving

Image?

- What new things did you see/learn/experience?

- What did you already know about or had done before?

- What did you see/learn/experience that surprised you?

Initial response to the film

- Which aspects of the film stand out? Which scene was the most memorable?

- How did the story make you feel? Did it make you happy, angry, upset or sad? Why?

- In groups think about the message of the film. Join together as a class and share

your thoughts.

- Support your answers with examples from the film.

Narrative/story

Narrative structure

Film narratives are usually organised into three sections, beginning, middle and end.

Beginning – The main character or characters are introduced at the beginning of the story.

In Paper Planes the main character is Dylan.

- How is he introduced?

- What other important characters are we introduced to in the beginning?

Middle – A complication or problem arises that must be resolved/worked out.

- What are some of the problems that Dylan faces?

End – The story concludes as the problem is solved.

- How does Paper Planes end?

- Were you surprised by this ending?

- How else might the film have ended?

There are 2 main stories in Paper Planes – Dylan’s attempts to win the paper plane

championship and his relationship with his father.

- How does the ending bring these two stories together?


Plot

Plot describes the events that keep the story (narrative) moving.

- What are the main events (plot points) in Paper Planes?

- Work in groups and identify these key events.

- Compare each group’s findings and then try to come up with a whole class

description of the plot. (Summarising/précising is a great skill to develop.)

Kids as heroes

Robert Connolly made this film because he wanted to tell a story where kids were at the

centre of the action. He wanted it to be a film for kids about kids.

- In what other films are the kids the heroes?

- Make a list as a class.

- What similarities does Paper Planes share with these films?

- How is it different?

Characterisation

Dylan – the protagonist/main character

- What is Dylan like? (Brainstorm with single words to get the discussion underway.)

- Is he a successful main character?

- Do you care what happens to him? Explain and give examples.

- What do we learn about Dylan as the story unfolds?

- What does he learn about himself?

- What does he learn about others?

- How has his life changed by the end of the story?

- In groups, use the prompts provided on the sheet on the next page to focus on Dylan.

Other characters

- As a class, make a list of other significant characters in the film.

- Work in groups and choose a character for each group.

- Focus on the key features of this character and his/her role in the story.

- Use the Character Development sheet to organise the response.

- Join together as a class to discuss and extend your ideas.


Character Development

Dylan

BEGINNING

END

What do you know about Dylan at

the beginning of the film?

What more do you know about him

at the end of the film?

Provide an example that explains what he is

like in the beginning.

Has Dylan changed by the end of the film?

Explain your answer.


Character Development

Name of Character: _______________________________

BEGINNING

END

What do you know about this character at

the beginning of the film?

What more do you know about the character

at the end of the film?

Provide an example that explains what the

character is like in the beginning.

Has this character changed by the end of the

film? Explain your answer.


Themes

Creativity and imagination

Kimi tells Dylan that winning is not important but rather “It’s about making something

beautiful and surprising.”

Discuss this idea.

- Do you agree?

- What have you made, done or experienced that was beautiful and surprising? (You

might remember a fantastic piece of play in a sporting game, a special artwork, a

brilliant song, a waterfall or a rare bird or animal.)

Meeting life’s challenges

- What challenges does Dylan face?

- Considering these challenges, why does the paper plane competition become

so important to him?

- Dylan’s story has a happy ending.

- Would it still have been a happy ending if Dylan’s plane had not flown the

furthest? Explain.

Community

Dylan has an enormous amount of determination but he needs help to follow his dream.

- What are some of the ways that Dylan finds help and support?

The international competition is more about bringing people together than it is about winning

and losing.

- What does Dylan learn from his time in Japan?

Jason has no sense of community.

- How do we know this? How does this affect him and his life?

Bullying

Dylan is bullied by two different boys during the story. This is a serious issue and its

treatment in Paper Planes offers an opportunity for class discussion.

- How does Dylan deal with each of these situations?

- What happens?

- Why does Kevin accept Dylan’s offer of friendship but not Jason?

- What does this tell us about Kevin?

- What does it tell us about Jason?

- Why doesn’t Dylan report Jason for his violent behaviour?

- Why is staying silent the wrong thing to do?


- Imagine you are Dylan’s friend and want to help him out. Visit the Bully Stoppers

website where you will find information to help when you or someone you know is

being bullied:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/students.aspx

- In groups, consider the best way for Dylan to respond to Jason’s bullying.

Further Activities

Championships

Now that you have seen the film, spread the word about how much fun it is to fly paper

planes.

- Hold a whole school paper plane competition

- best flyer – longest distance

- best flyer – longest time in the air (aloft)

- most unusual design

- most beautiful paper plane design

- Before: Predict which plane will fly the furthest and which will stay in the air the

longest. What reasons can you give for your conclusion?

- After: What factors contributed to the success of the winner?

- You could film the event, conduct interviews with the contestants and create a news

report or short documentary about the competition. For information, tips and advice

on filmmaking, check out the Film Production section of the Screen It resource:

https://www.acmi.net.au/media/1915126/screen-it-teacher-resource-kit-2015.pdf

Celebrating Surprising Skills and Talents

- What unexpected (or silly) skill or talent do you have or wish you had?

- What kind of competition could you create around this skill or talent?

- longest daisy chain, best or scariest mask, craziest costume, biggest bubble…

Dylan’s mother taught him to make paper planes.

- What skill or talent has a friend or family member shared with you? Maybe you could

pass it on by sharing it with someone in your class.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/students.aspx

https://www.acmi.net.au/media/1915126/screen-it-teacher-resource-kit-2015.pdf


Robert Connolly: Screen It Ambassador

In Paper Planes, director Robert Connolly celebrates the joy of creating something beautiful,

and highlights the importance of young people having the opportunity to express themselves.

In 2015, Robert demonstrated his commitment to the creativity of young people by agreeing

to be an ambassador for Screen It, ACMI’s national moving image competition for Primary

and Secondary students. Each year students have the challenge of creating a live action film,

animation or game in response to a theme. The theme for 2015 was Change. Entries for this

year’s competition have now closed but the theme for 2015 will be announced soon. In the

meantime, start honing your moving image skills. Be inspired by the 2014 winners:

http://www.acmi.net.au/acmi-channel/2014/screen-it-2014-winners/

http://www.acmi.net.au/acmi-channel/2014/screen-it-2014-winners/

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