The 3 C’s and 3 S’s Framework for Analyzing Film Texts

    The 3 C’s (Colour, Camera, and Character) and the 3 S’s (Story, Setting, and Sound) are a powerful, controlled structure used for analyzing and discussing the components of film texts. This method promotes students’ holistic and critical engagement with film. Here are some major discussion questions for each category:

• Color

Are there any colors that play a significant role in the film?
How do these colors affect the emotions of the audience?
What might the filmmaker’s purpose be in utilizing specific colors?

• Camera

What types of shots are used? Can you identify them?
Whose VOICE is hearing telling the story?
How and when do the different characters’ points of view come through?

• Character

What the main characters look like Physically
How do they talk, and what do their conversations say?
What behaviors guide the narrative?

• Story

Here are a few guiding points to help identify some key moments in a plot:
What are the biggest events, and what is the reason?
Across how many months is the story told in real-time?

• Setting

Where is the story set?
What are the clues that tell you the setting and the time of the story?
How does the setting affect the plot or tone of the film?

• Sound

What kind of sounds can be heard?
How does the music affect the viewer’s emotional journey?
Are they used effectively, and if so, to what effect?

    These questions can be adapted to students’ academic levels and broadened to consider other facets of film analysis. It is adaptable and can be used for various educational purposes (i.e. lessons).

Use of the Framework in a Teaching Context

Listening Lessons

The framework application might come in a listening lesson where students analyze a short film that links to the topic of a learning sequence. During the lesson:

• Divide students into six groups and assign each group one of the six categories (Colour, Camera, Character, Story, Setting, and Sound).
• Give each group their set of questions based on their category.
• Have students view the film twice: first for general understanding and second for close analysis.
• In groups, students talk through answers and create responses together.
• The groups take turns sharing their findings, so the class has a solid understanding of the film overall.

    Furthermore, once students have been working with their descriptions, they can use their ideas to create a piece of writing a description of a film they have seen, or even a guided oral discussion to ensure that students are thinking critically about their ideas and collaboratively processing what they already know.

• Integration Lessons
  A 1-minute short film can be used as a visual warm-up to understand past learnings better and solidify knowledge for an integrative approach. Students, in groups, screen the film two times and note their analyses on posters. These posters hang for a classroom gallery walk, followed by a discussion, during which students can agree with someone or respectfully challenge someone else’s interpretation.
• Grammar Lessons
  This framework can also be adapted to teaching grammar. For example:
  Group A gets flashcards that contain questions, and Group B gets cards that contain short descriptive answers that are ultimately based on the film.
  Students share with a partner which questions match up with which answers and arrange them on the board after viewing the film.
  They elicit grammar rules and structures to form responses.

Specific examples include:
Adjectives describing physical appearance and personality
Teaching verb tenses – like the present or past simple – with responses about the story.
The part of the film chosen, the content, and the type of scene selected should relate to the linguistic objectives of the lesson to be coherent and relevant.

Significance of the Framework

    Adapted from the 3 C’s and 3 S’s framework created by the UK-based educational charity Into Film (2019), this is a highly versatile framework for improving students’ viewing ability. Viewing (along with reading, writing, listening, and speaking, considered the key five skills of the 21st century) is embedded in many modern curricula. This framework provides a pragmatic, growth-focused, novel approach to developing these competencies as part of cross-curricular aims and in preparing students for future academic and workforce pathways. 

    Integrating this framework into teaching practices allows educators to foster active, student-centered learning experiences that facilitate critical engagement with media texts.

(Source: Sophia Mavridi and Daniel Xerri — English for 21-century Skills)