Chapter reading & film viewing

The first film to view is 'The Legacy of Greece'.

I thought the information in the film was clear and easy to understand and follow. It gave points in a precise manner and didn't dwell on one point too much or too long.

The images shown however, did not always correspond with the narrative, and the choice of images seemed fairly limited. Pictures of classical buildings in England were shown before explaining why they were relevant and how they had been influenced by the Greeks. I felt that I was seeing repetitions of very similar pictures throughout the film.

As the images and talking weren't always the same, I had to watch it through once to see and hear everything, and I then watched it again to make notes, this of course took up more time than expected. I was also pausing the film to catch up on writing down my notes.

I found the part about restoration and reproducing the sculptures very interesting. I would like to find out more about how this is done, and how the restorers come to their conclusions and decisions about colours and patterns.


The first textbook section to read is Chapter 4, The Greeks and their neighbours.

Having realised that this first chapter was about 100 pages long, I had been quite daunted and put off reading it.

Once I did start, I had gotten about 12 pages in without making any notes at all. Due to the size of the chapter, I did not want to make too many notes in case I just ended up re-writing it, but I had taken this too far by not making any.

I struggled to identify the key points and subjects to note about during these first few pages especially as they were about the culture and history of the Greeks and not so much about the art. I was not sure how much cultural information would be useful and relevant to me. I re-read these pages to make general notes rather than any specific points.

I soon realised that a chapter this size is too much to read all in one go. After a couple of hours my eyes were hurting and I started to feel I wasn't actually taking in the information. However, I was concerned that leaving it for another evening might mean I lose my train of thought. I need in future to allow two evenings for reading, ideally not too far apart.

Having already watched the film and seeing the subject in a quick summary, reading the chapter seemed laborious and the wording to be long-winded.

Hopefully for the next unit, I aim to read the chapter first to gain the in-depth knowledge and then watch the film for more of a summary of the key points. This should also prevent me from having to watch the film twice as I will have already made notes on the majority of the subject. The film may just offer some alternative viewpoints for me to consider.