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Habitat

Marcel Barelli, 2016

A playful look at different types of housing across the world. In a surreal series of small tableaus with no speech and few sound effects, a snail tries out many different styles of “house”.

Clip Details

Genre: Documentary

Country of Origin: Sweden

Medium/Content: Colour, Sound, No Dialogue, 2D Animation

Clip Length: 02:00

Classroom Activities

  • Sound On/Vision Off. Pupils should listen to the film without the visuals. What sounds can you hear? Pupils should draw everything you hear on a piece of paper or in a jotter as they listen.
  • Ask pupils what they think is happening? Write a short description/paragraph about what they think is going on.
  • Watch the full film with visuals. What kind of film is this? Does it remind the pupils of any other films/stories?
  • The whole film is shot as a long shot of the snail. Why do they think the director chose to compose it this way? What is the effect on us as the audience? What are we focusing on?
  • How does the director show emotions? Which habitat do the pupils think was the snail’s favourite? Which was the snail’s least favourite? How do they know?
  • Ask the pupils to make a list of all the different kinds of homes they can think of. What would be their favourite and why?
  • What makes a good home? What things are essential in a home? What things do they like to have in their home? What things can they do without?
  • What if? Pupils create a storyboard for an alternative creature in the narrative. Pupils should decide what creature the film could feature if the snail wasn’t the main character. What other creatures have a home attached to them? Would any animal have as much comedy value as the snail? Would different kinds of homes need to be used?
  • Think of a story about a young snail trying to find the perfect home using some of the habitat ideas to add to their story. What would the moral of their story be?
  • Make a short documentary about what things live in the playground/school. This could feature spiders, snails, slugs, bees, caterpillars, beetles etc.
  • Draw a new still from the film. What kind of house do the pupils think the snail could live in? If it was part of the original film, what would it look like? What would be in the background to make it feel similar? How would it be laid out (long shot, medium, close-up)? What colours should they use?

Clip Details

Genre: Documentary

Country of Origin: Sweden

Medium/Content: Colour, Sound, No Dialogue, 2D Animation

Clip Length: 02:00