Film Study

LEARNING INTENTIONS

To view and analyse the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

To make connections between the journeys experienced by the protagonist and the personal transformation that results.

Film Study English Studies.pdf

Printable student workbook

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a 2013 American adventure comedy-drama film directed, co-produced by and starring Ben Stiller and written by Steve Conrad.
The film also stars Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, and Sean Penn.
This is the second film adaptation of James Thurber's 1939 short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", following the 1947 version.

The Secret Life of Walter MittyWhen his job is threatened, a daydreamer escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action.

Not seeing anything above? Reauthenticate

Who is Walter Mitty?

Label each section of the shot below.

What does each thing say about Walter as a person? (Use the boxes to explain.)

If you wanted to make Walter into a completely different character, what would you change in this shot to achieve this?

Analysing shots from the film

Think about:

Angle of camera
How realistic the shot is
What the shot establishes about who Walter wants to be

Think about:

•Background

•Foreground

•Setting

•Light and shadow

•What this shot says about Walter’s job

Think about:

What this shot says about the relationship between Walter and Ted
How emotion is shown
Body language and costume

Think about:

Why Walter is imagining this
What the ‘board’ relates to in Walter’s life
Why Walter would be in the centre of the shot

Think about:

Background
Foreground
Placement of each character
The direction Cheryl is facing

Think about:

Background
Foreground
Where the camera is focused and why
The size and placement of the magazine cover

Think about:

The direction Walter is looking in
Where the camera has been placed and why
The contrast between Walter and the photo

Think about:

The size of the shot and why it is this size
Walter’s placement in the shot
Why and how is this shot funny?

Think about:

How this shot establishes where Walter is
The difference between this environment and where Walter is from
The size of the shot

Think about:

Background
Foreground
Facial expression
The direction Walter is looking and how this affects the audience

Think about:

Where the camera is focused
Where the camera is placed
How a connection is established between these two characters

Think about:

Camera angle
Walter’s facial expression
Movement and action
Where the camera is placed

Think about:

Camera angle
Cheryl’s body language
What can and can’t be seen in the background, and what this might symbolise

Think about:

Camera angle
Shot size
Movement and action
How danger has been visually depicted

Think about:

What does this shot establish about the new location
What does the lens flare/light symbolise
Shot size

Think about:

Shot size
What is featured in this shot and why
Symbolism of the map

Think about:

Where Walter has been placed in the shot and why
Background
What the road might symbolise or say about the thematic message of the film.

Think about:

How the environment differs from Walter’s home
Walter’s body language and placement in the shot
How action is suggested

Think about:

Foreground
Background
Where the camera has been placed – whose point of view is this?
Midground

Think about:

Foreground
Background
Where things have been placed in the shot
How action is suggested

Think about:

The use of writing on the screen
Contrast between cake and weapon
Facial expression
Background

Think about:

The use of writing on the screen
Walter’s placement and actions
Shot size
The placement of the other characters

Think about:

The use of writing on the screen
Walter’s facial expression
The use of props to establish weather conditions

Think about:

The use of writing on the screen – why have the words moved apart like this?
Walter’s placement in the shot
Background

Think about:

Shot size
Camera angle
Walter’s placement and size in the shot
Environment

Think about:

Comparison of Walter to Sean in costume and body language.
Props used to establish the sort of person Sean is.

Think about:

How costuming, body language and facial expression has been used to show Walter’s transformation

Think about:

Shot size.
Light and shadow.
Symbolism of the setting sun.

Think about:

How costuming, body language and facial expression has been used to show Walter’s transformation?
Where Walter is looking and why?

Think about:

How this shot compares to the shot at the beginning that shows Walter on his computer in the apartment
The presence of other people
The different location

Think about:

Facial expression and body language
The way they lean in towards each other
Shot size
What’s in focus and what isn’t

Think about:

The symbolism of this cover
What this shot says about Walter
Shot size
Camera angle
Arrangement of the magazines

Walter Mitty’s Journeys

Plot Walter’s physical journeys on the map

•New York, United States of America

•Nuuk, Greenland

•Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland

•New York, United States of America

•Yemen (unseen in film but referred to)

•Himalayas, Afghanistan

•Los Angeles, United States of America

•New York, United States of America

Complete this table with a description of each of the journeys that the protagonist experiences in the text.

Challenges and obstacles

Some challenges Walter Mitty faces include:

Agonising over whether he should send an online ‘wink’ to Cheryl.
Getting on board the helicopter with a drunken pilot in Greenland.
Jumping into the boat from the helicopter and potentially facing sharks and freezing temperatures.
Running for the bike before the ‘horny Chileans’ can get to it first.
Braving a volcano so that he can find Sean.
Travelling into a restricted country (Ungoverned Afghanistan) where there are warlords and dangerous mountains.

Walter Mitty's transformations

Complete this table describing the protagonist at the beginning, middle and end of the narrative.

Describe Walter Mitty’s overall transformation due to his travel experience and the various journeys he undertook.

“What separates the people we are from the people we want to be?”

Reflection questions:

Is there a stark contrast between who Walter Mitty is initially, and who he wants to be (the type of person he is in his daydreams)? Why do you think this is?

Is there a significant difference between who you want to be and who you would like to be? Why or why not?

What do you need to do to overcome these obstacles? Do you think this will lead you to undertake a journey of your own? What type of journey?

Describe your initial understanding of the concept of travel and how it has transformed since viewing “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.

David Bowie – A Space Oddity

Ground Control to Major Tom

Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom

Commencing countdown, engines on

Check ignition and may God's love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Lift off

This is Ground Control to Major Tom

You've really made the grade

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control

I'm stepping through the door

And I'm floating in a most peculiar way

And the stars look very different today

For here

Am I sitting in a tin can

Far above the world

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles

I'm feeling very still

And I think my spaceship knows which way to go

Tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom

Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you...

Here am I floating round my tin can

Far above the Moon

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do

Drawing connections

Assessment: Interview with your teacher

You may use a scaffold to help you prepare for your one on one interview with your teacher. Dot points only should be written in a table next to each question.

In the beginning of the film, why do you think that Walter Mitty did not consider himself as having done anything noteworthy or mentionable (e-Harmony questions)?
What challenges or obstacles does Walter Mitty have to overcome throughout the film?
Describe the transformation that Walter Mitty undergoes during this film.
When Walter Mitty returns home from his journeys, what is the overall outcome? Do you believe that the overall outcome/transformation has been a positive one or a negative one?
What do you believe to be the most transformative type of journey that Walter Mitty undertook and why?
Overall, the film poses the question: what separates the people we are from the people we want to be? How does this question relate to your understanding of the concept of travel?
How has this unit shaped your understanding of the concept of travel and what role, if any, did this film play in developing that understanding?

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