The animated short film On the Same Page is uniquely creative. A news reporter types an article for the newspaper. The reporter types, “There is nothing to report today.”
The reporter looks out his window. He sees a girl swinging like Tarzan. She lands in the window of the “Comic Section” across the street. The girl grabs the bottom of the exclamation point and throws it at the reporter’s window to get his attention. The reporter opens his window and many sheets of newsprint fly out in the breeze.
The girl comes over and knocks on the reporter’s door. She pulls him through the street. The buildings are completely wrapped in newsprint in a fantasy-like city. As the two walk, they journey through various parts of the “newspaper.”
On the Same Page
What’s Included
- Video Links
A page with links for finding the film - Two Activities
- The first is an organizer for students to list problems and solutions presented in the film.
- On the next organizer, students tell figure out the titles used in the film in a puzzle-like activity.
- Answer Keys
- Google Slides Version
You will also find a link to the Google Slides version of the organizers.
On the Same Page
The video tells the story of a shy newspaper writer who is whisked off by a neighbor into a magical journal through the comic section of the newspaper world. [3:50]
Film Summary
Weather Section
First, they walk by the “Weather” section. The building contains windows that reflect weather predictions: sunny, rain, a spring day, wind, and storms.
Entertainment Section
Next, they walk past the building that represents the “Entertainment” section of the newspaper. The windows turn into movie billboards with star ratings underneath. The movies have fun names with just slight variations of famous old movies such as Verticals for Vertigo.
Financial Section
When they reach the financial section, the girl removes two 4’s and uses them as a glider to sail across the steeply dipping line graph. The boy skateboards down the graph. Suddenly the line graph changes to a steep upward climb bringing the man to safety on the other side of the graph.
Sports Section
In the “Sports” section, the man races across a stadium picking up pages of newsprint as he goes.
Obituaries Section
Next, the man sees the “Obituaries” section which looks menacing and foggy. He stops with a grim expression on his face. The girl races forward trying to catch a piece of newsprint. She comes to the end of the path and falls. The man removes the letter A from the word obituaries. He climbs onto the A and flies down to rescue the girl.
Back at the Main Office
They fly back over the city to “The Daily News” building. As they look over the newspaper-covered city everything looks cheery. The “Weather” building shows a week of sunshine. The “Entertainment” building shows only 5-star movies. The “Finance” section shows a rise in stock prices. The “Sports” section features a picture of the reporter running across the field with the caption “Rookie becomes MVP.”
Did you miss the link for the handouts? Get the printable activities plus links to the Google Slides version by clicking on this button.
More Samples from the Teaching Writing with Animated Shorts Series
- Comparing Two Shorts with the Animated Short Distracted and Dear Alice
- Literature Skills with Crow: The Legend
- Problems and Solutions + Inference with the Animated Short On the Same Page
- Setting and Comparing a Short Film to the Novel Refugee with the Short The Box
- Character Change and Mood with the Animated Short One Small Step
- Details from the Story with the Animated Short Broken: Rock, Scissors, Paper
- Problem and Solution Chain and Theme with the Animated Short The Catch
- Your Course of Action + Comparing Two Films with the Animated Short Coin Operated
- Summarizing and Comparing Two Films with Miyako and The Monster Under My Bed
Check out all six products in the Reading and Writing Series. Units are also available as bundles.
Reading Series
