Write, Design, Create

Overview

In this 60-minute first lesson of From Plot to Poster, students use a dramatic vintage King Kong reference image to explore how words, images, colour and layout create an adventurous, suspenseful mood. They will draft a short movie script and design a matching poster for a Year 5–6 audience.

Learning intentions

• WALT create a short movie script for a clear purpose and audience.
• WALT include key narrative elements: setting, characters, problem and resolution or cliffhanger.
• WALT select language and visual features to communicate mood and ideas.
• WALT plan an eye-catching poster using colour, imagery, scale, layout and contrast.
• WALT give and use feedback to improve our work.

Success criteria

• I can create a clear, engaging title.
• I can write a brief plot with a setting, characters, problem and resolution or cliffhanger.
• I can make my poster title match my script and include visual clues about the story.
• I can use colour, imagery, layout and contrast to create a suspenseful or adventurous mood.

Curriculum links

• Creating and presenting texts for a specific purpose and audience.
• Developing and organising ideas in narrative writing.
• Selecting language features, including precise vocabulary, dialogue and descriptive detail.
• Selecting visual features, including colour, scale, composition, contrast and symbolism, to communicate ideas.
• Communication, creative thinking and managing self through planning, drafting, revising and presenting.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Notice and wonder

Display the dramatic vintage King Kong reference image using the visual hook and notice-and-wonder slide. Ask: “What do you notice first?” and “What might happen in this film?” Invite students to identify the large cream title, bold red and navy colours, jungle imagery, dramatic scale and suspenseful adventure mood. Explain that today they will create an original movie idea inspired by these techniques, not copy the film.

2. 5–15 minutes – Identify techniques and brainstorm

Use the poster-techniques teaching slides to model how a poster communicates before the audience reads every word. Discuss title size, colour contrast, focal point, imagery, composition and mood. Students work with a partner to brainstorm a story idea and choose a tension prompt from the Creative Writing Tension Cards if helpful. They record a possible title, setting, characters, problem and resolution or cliffhanger on the script-and-poster planning worksheet.

3. 15–35 minutes – Draft and revise the script

Model a concise movie script opening on the script-writing example and success-criteria slides. Explain that a short script can include a title, brief plot summary, purposeful dialogue and simple stage directions, such as “The vines shake” or “[Mia whispers]”. Students independently draft their script on the worksheet, then reread it against the success criteria. Allow approximately 12 minutes to write and 8 minutes to revise for clarity, punctuation, stronger verbs and a suspenseful or adventurous mood.

4. 35–55 minutes – Design the movie poster

Show the poster planning and design instructions on the poster-design slides. Students create a poster on the second side of the worksheet or on plain A4 paper. The poster must use the same title as the script and include visual clues about the setting, characters or problem. Encourage students to make one feature dominant, use deliberate colour contrast, vary scale and leave clear space so the title can be read easily. Circulate and ask: “What should the audience notice first?” and “How does this image hint at the problem?”

5. 55–60 minutes – Peer share and check

Display the peer-feedback prompts on the peer-share and plenary slide. In pairs, students briefly present their script and poster, then give one specific strength and one useful suggestion. Each student completes a final check: title matches, plot includes the key elements, and the visual design creates the intended mood. Collect work or photograph it for the next lesson.

Resources

• the From Plot to Poster teaching deck
• the script-and-poster planning worksheet
• the Creative Writing Tension Cards
• Vintage King Kong reference image, included in the slide deck
• A4 paper or card for posters
• Pencils, erasers, rulers and coloured pencils or felt-tip pens
• Optional title-lettering examples and sketch templates
• Board or display screen
• Timer

Assessment

• Confer with students during planning and drafting: check that their plot includes a setting, characters, problem and resolution or cliffhanger.
• Review scripts and posters against the success criteria, focusing on purpose, audience, organisation, language choices and visual communication.
• Use the peer-share response to assess whether students can explain how a design choice creates suspense or adventure.

Differentiation

• Provide the worksheet planning template, word bank, sentence starters, title-lettering examples and optional sketch templates. Break the task into one box or decision at a time.
• Allow oral rehearsal before writing, speech-to-text, scribing, drawing with labels, or collaborative planning. Pair students strategically, including one group of three for a class of 27.
• For EAL learners, pre-teach setting, character, problem, resolution, suspense and adventure using the image and gesture; accept labelled drawings alongside developing sentences.
• Support students with dyslexia, dysgraphia or attention needs through reduced copying, clear check-ins, extra time, a quiet workspace and access to a ruler or visual checklist.
• Extend confident writers by adding a stronger hook or tagline, purposeful dialogue and stage directions, and deliberate visual symbolism, scale, complementary colours and composition that communicate the plot.