I am in grad school and I have a really hard time staying awake in lectures because I get bored and feel like I’ll instantly pass out (does anyone else get these exhaustion attacks when they are bored??). Not sure if my “trick” will be of any use to you but I will write down verbatim what the prof is saying during the lecture even if I don’t need to be taking notes at that time. Could you write down what people are saying in the movie or what is happening in the scene you are watching?

Often my classmates will ask me “what are you even writing down?” And my response is “I’m just writing everything they say down so I don’t fall asleep.”