Virus

• Sound On/Vision Off.
• Before watching the film, cover the video screen and ask pupils to listen
• Play the film and pause at those shots depicting the interior or exterior of the building. Using the Spot the Shots worksheet for recording, ask pupils to describe what they see, paying particular attention to colour. How is colour used to create atmosphere or suggest emotion and mood?
• With a Spot the Shots worksheet, look for examples of close-up, medium shot, long shot and point of view shot. Note links between the shot and the story event.
• Note all the moments in the film when the camera moves (pans, tilts, tracking shots and zooms). Discuss what effect these camera movements have on the storytelling.
• Complete a 'Tell Me' Grid Analysis of the film and discuss as a group.
• Show the opening minute of the film and ask your pupils to spot the linking content/idea in the various shots.
• Discuss what can we tell about the main character Andrew’s relationship with Amber, his girlfriend. How does the filmmaker indicate this?
• How many different kinds of camera are used in the making of the film? What effect does that have?
• The story is told in ‘real time’ (everything actually happens in the space of six minutes). What effect does that have on the dramatic tension?

• In groups, ask the class to make a list of all the thriller/horror stories or films they know. Then ask them to list the features they have in common. Then ask them to compare this film and work out what makes it different in the way it makes you scared.
• Count/list how many electronic devices or machines are shown in the film. Discuss what point the filmmaker is trying to make here.
• ‘Our addiction to technology will be the death of us.’ Have we become too dependent on digital media? Do they make us more vulnerable to attack, both on a personal and national level?
• CCTV cameras now record our every move. Does this make us more secure, or is the loss of personal freedom too high a price to pay?

WRITE

• Imagine you are a newspaper or TV news reporter called to the office building the next morning to cover the story. Write and/or present a news item about the event.

FILMMAKING

• Plan and produce a short film based around the premise of a camera left filming, unknown to people.
• Edit a trailer for ‘Virus’, using the conventions of a horror trailer. Or can you edit it in another style – like a romance?!

DRAW

• Using drawings or still images from the film, re-create it as a comic-strip and ask pupils to add thought bubbles to the characters.

DRAMA

• The film is very dramatic, and the narrative is conveyed without the use of dialogue. Re-enact the events of the film as if it was a stage-play, conveying the characters’ thoughts and feelings through body language.

STEM

• Explore the use of the internet as a modern means of communication.
• This film utilised the most modern technology available in 2002. All these years later, what has changed? Research the development of a key technology over the past 20 years.