1. World Cinema Unit
Surrealist Film: Lesson One

2. Aims: For students to investigate and define surrealism and respond to Un Chien
Andalou
Outcomes: By the end of the lesson students should be able to:
• Define some of the key features of surrealist art, photography and film;
• Define and give examples of Dada and the Roots of Surrealism
• Complete some initial research on Freud and The Interpretation of Dreams
• Respond to the first screening of Un Chien Andalou

3. How can you film a Dream?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpmdzHsC9-Y&feature=related
Quick Activity:
On a storyboard sheet try to storyboard either a dream you have had
recently; or a dream that a friend has told you about.
Try to be as specific as possible – include the key filmic elements –
camerawork; mise-en-scene; lighting; editing; characters; performance

4. Dada and the Roots of Surrealism
Surrealism was a cultural movement that had its roots in a previous art movement called ‘Dada’.
Dada is relevant to surrealist cinema as the aims and methods of the surrealists developed from
the work of Dada artists; many of the founder members of the surrealist movement were
associated with the Dada group.
Quick research task:
Google Dada; produce a mood board that gives a description of the Dada movement and also
gives some examples of Dada artists. What are your responses to the aims of the Dada
Movement, especially given what was happening in Europe at the time?

5. The Dada was a radical group of artists who had no real common stylistic identity, however they
shared an opposition to the First World War (1914-18) and the dominant culture of the time.
They wanted to create art that had radical political ideas as the main content, rather than craft
skills and middle class values.
The Dada were against the nationalistic, romantic and religious art of the time. They thought that
this art work ignored the reality of life for soldiers and civilians living through the First World War.
The spirit of Dada has been revisited over the years, most notably being its influence on punk in
the 1970s.

6. Marcel Duchamp Jamie Reid cover art for the Sex
‘Mona Lisa with a Moustache’, 1919 Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’, 1977

7. Research Activity:
Go to the web site www.surrealists.org
Create a mood board of surrealist works (they can be art, photography, multi-media, film).
Aim for a range of different mediums. Have examples of contemporary and historical works.
What are the artists trying to convey in their work? Do you think that their work is relevant
today?

8. Un Chien Andalou
On first watching the film note down:
Visual imagery that is memorable
Editing techniques that you think are effective
‘Surrealist films often have a dream-like quality; they depict unconscious
desires and fantasies that are normally repressed’. Can you find examples
from the film to agree with this statement?
Homework: go onto You Tube – print screen images from Un Chien Andalou
that you find interesting and provocative.