Developing Freeze Frames

Freeze frames are quick to create and can be used as stepping stones to more sophisticated drama activities and performances. This video shows a group of teachers on a course with David Farmer, developing a movement/dance piece from a sequence of three freeze frames about WW2 evacuees. It also shows how we used dance/movement to explore science themes.

Freeze frames can easily be used across the curriculum:

• Fairy tale tableaux are a good place to start – ask small groups to choose a fairy tale and create three still images (beginning, middle and end)
• Improve students’ vocabulary skills by asking them to illustrate a word or phrase in a story using a freeze frame
• Fun can be had making Ten Second Objects that turn from one thing into something else – for example Cinderella’s pumpkin turns into a coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen
• In Science, groups can develop a series of images showing the process of metamorphosis (e.g. caterpillar to butterfly or frogspawn to frog).
• Explore a work of art or documentary photograph by bringing it to life as a 3D Living Picture
• This drama lesson on refugees makes use of freeze frames to explore a real-life story
• For more advanced use of freeze frames with teen/adult students, take a look at this interesting analysis of a scene from Goodfella’s (R-Rating).

Read next:

• Starting with Freeze Frames