Trailer

Students should read two extracts from chapter two/three: 1. Beginning when Pip is interrogated by Mrs. Joe on his return from the churchyard: 'I have only been to the churchyard,' said I, from my stool...I took advantage of a moment when Joe has just looked at me, and got my bread-and-butter down my leg.' 2. Beginning when Pip is alone in his bed 'Since that time, which is far enough away now...Upon which, he put down his head, blew a cloud of smoke out of his nose, and vanished with a kick-up of his hind legs and a flourish of his tail [chapter three]'.

Students should highlight any part of the text where Pip's thoughts are recorded. They should concentrate on two focus questions:

• what is Pip thinking?
• how might he be feeling?

Students should feedback their ideas to the group, and have two fully annotated extracts.

Main Attraction

Students should be introduced to different techniques directors can use to convey the feelings and thoughts of characters. Ask students how they think the director can convey this to the audience. Create a spidergram on the board of the students' ideas, ideally enabling them to use a range of formats, from standard writing techniques (e.g. the use of the actor's facial expressions, body language) to more filmic methods: the use of camera angles and shots to display a perspective/surrealism.

Ask students to look back at the first extract from their starter. Students should work in pairs to suggest how this scene could be adapted for cinema, thinking about all the techniques mentioned directly and more.

Ask students to feed back their ideas. What would the audience need to understand from this scene? Would this be achieved from these ideas? Might this improved upon in any way?

Ask students to write a short piece discussing the techniques used in the film, and their effectiveness in comparison to the same scene as depicted in the text. Students should concentrate on using contrasting connectives in their writing, and on using specific textual references (both to the film and to the novel) when completing this task.

Show students the final clip (with Pip in bed/stealing food etc for Magwitch and travelling to deliver it). The clip ends directly before Pip meets Compeyson. Ask them to take notes as before of techniques used by Lean.

End Credits

• What does David Lean do differently in this clip to convey to the audience Pip's inner thoughts? Ask students to evaluate how effective this clip is, and to give their reasons.
• Ask students to assess how useful it might be for students of Great Expectations to watch this particular clip, and to evaluate whether film adaptations can be useful for securing the reader's understanding of a character's inner thoughts.