Activity

Watch through the five minute extract, Reluctant witness without any introduction. Ask students to note down any adjectives that they associate with the action or the behaviour of any of the characters.

After watching the extract, lead a short discussion exploring what happened in the clip and how the filmmaker used framing, perspective, music etc. to create a sense of tension.

Challenge students to translate a scene or couple of scenes of their choice from the extract (ie. Felipe being woken by Mrs Baines, Felipe running barefoot through London). Encourage students to think about how they will use language to create a sense of unease and tension. What information will they include - ie. will they describe the hallway and staircase in detail, or focus on the inner emotions of the boy? Whose perspective will they write from?

Allow students five minutes to write their short piece and hear a selection from the class.

Wrap this up with a quick discussion about the different ways in which writers and filmmakers create tension, using students' work as examples.

Some more ideas

• The extract ends with Felipe running into a policeman. Can students improvise what he might say?