[AvatarMew]

In my class we have to do a 30 minute lesson on anything of our choosing. I'm thinking of doing it on Super Sentai/Power Rangers.

How could I do this and make it interactive?

What could I talk about?
I was thinking about talking about the different motifs of some of the seasons and the inspiration for some of the mecha.

Could I bring in a mecha?

[Kiwami]

I assume your in middle/high school?

I'd say choose a different topic. It is something you love and you will have fun doing it, no question, but ask yourself if you really want to talk about this in front of your class. I wouldn't have wanted to do that and I loved my class back in the day. But there's bound to be some asshole who makes fun of you and the rest will join in because that's what humans do. Which sucks for you and your presentation.

If you think your class is different, okay. But remember, something like Sentai can be hard to evaluate for a teacher. The presentation itself matters a lot, true, but the topic plays a role too. And using an entertainment show could also tick the teacher into giving you a bad grade because he thinks the topic is useless. Not that it is, but the teacher could think that.

I would advise you to come up with a better topic. Sorry.

[Helios]

I agree with Kiwami, but I would recommend giving a lesson on tokusatsu in general and the history of the genre. Give examples of Godzilla, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman. Then you could mention how it's influenced America with the creation of Power Rangers and other Saban creations.

[EpsilonX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helios

I agree with Kiwami, but I would recommend giving a lesson on tokusatsu in general and the history of the genre. Give examples of Godzilla, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman. Then you could mention how it's influenced America with the creation of Power Rangers and other Saban creations.

I like this idea. It would probably be easier to write, more interesting for the class, and more informative in general.

[Kiwami]

Yeah Tokusatsu in general, as an art of filmmaking, would be a good topic. Don’t start too cheesy with things like modern Sentai or how Power Rangers was made out of it, focus on early examples of the genre like Ultra Q, Godzilla and Ultraman.

Don’t explain the movies (most people know Godzilla anyways) explain the techniques of the genre. There’s some great literature to read up on that topic and behind the scenes shots with dudes in suits or people making miniature cities and props could be really interesting. If you have access to a beamer or if your school has a whiteboard (which I’m assuming is part of a presentation in modern schools) you could even show short clips of people assembling the suits or how they make the effects. That should interest your class and the teacher.

And of course, as an "outlook" to where the genre was headed and is today you can give a short lesson on today’s Rider, Sentai and stuff. But I would keep that short and at the end.

But as I said, don’t make it too cheesy, I would leave toys and stuff out of this.

[Monsoon]

I'll echo the comments of the others here. I think a presentation on Super Sentai alone is awfully narrow and might invite ridicule. A presentation on Tokusatsu that goes into its history and techniques along with brief descriptions of multiple Toku shows (including how the Saban stuff happened) could be pretty cool. Everyone knows what Power Rangers and Godzilla are, and connecting them to filmmaking techniques that are over 60 years old could make for a cool presentation. And if you want to fanboy a little, you could go into specifics for recommended shows at the very end, heh.

[GreenPsychoRanger]

I'm a huge Tokusatsu fan. But I would never narrow down what kind of topic I would give an essay on for the above reasons given. So yeah, go with Tokusatsu in general, starting with some of the waaaaay back stuff and work up to modern Tokusatsu.

[TokuKnight89]

I agree with the others before me on this, but would like to stress a few possibilities as I have pondered how I would've done something similar:

A): If you want to give attention to Sentai, then you'll probably have to focus more on Power Rangers because that is what casual people will recognize. Sentai can easily get in there thanks to Shout's DVD releases, but don't make it too highbrow. Reference the differences between the two, like what PR kept and what PR cut (i.e.: King Sphinx and Dora Sphinx from Zyuranger).

B): Don't hesitate to give focus to Tokusatsu in general. Think of it this way, when Godzilla was ported-over, didn't they do new scenes with Raymond Burr to make it acceptable to American audiences of the time? Much of the same techniques: dubbing, cutting, and adding new scenes have been used by Saban and Disney with Power Rangers for years.

C): If intending to quote some of the Tokusatsu info from other sources to outline what you are trying to say, the August Ragone Sentai Trivia Videos on Shout's Youtube Channel would be a good start.

D): Consider the ages and maturity of the audience. Sentai can include more adult themes and might be too over-the-top for some people. Power Rangers is not championed by every single parent because of its subject matter and Sentai goes even further at times.

E): As what the others have said here, be mindful about the potential for ridicule. Most have no respect for Power Rangers, and Sentai would likely find itself subject to initial criticism because others will not see anything but Power Rangers to begin with.

F): If I were doing this, I would personally consider using a Powerpoint approach and taking the time to do each important detail. However, that is one of the most important aspects here: time! May have to consider what is more important in order to get the point across.

G): Images of toys, especially imaginative poses of your own if you have any figures might suffice better than bringing in a sample.

H): References to the real-world, including the various pop-culture allusions that writing and dialogue have made to other things might help ease people. For example, during the Wedding three-parter of Season 2, Eye Guy popped-out one of his eyes and said "Here's looking at you kid!" to Rita. This line was popularized by the classic film Casablanca.

This is my take on how to handle some of this. Don't listen to me in entirety as there are others with better ideas. If you are serious about this, then you'll have to consider how far you want to go with this.

[Guyver Spawn]

I feel like that you should do a topic on Toku in general, not just Power Rangers/Sentai. Toku is also more than just Kamen Rider and Sentai. You also have Moonlight Mask, Super Giant, Android Kikaider and the Metal Heroes shows too.

[Angel]

Despite what some of the others are saying, I don't think you should be worried about ridicule if you're talking about something you love. Like... I don't see it becoming a problem if you give a solid/interesting presentation, especially so if you're on good terms with many of your classmates as is. But hey, that might just be me. *shrug*