Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
Frank Baker
media educator
fbaker1346@aol.com
Media Literacy Clearinghouse
http://www.frankwbaker.com
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
With the advent and popularity of YouTube,
Current TV, and similar venues, young
people have become media producers.
DIY (do it yourself)
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
Middle Ground: October 2006
Focus On Film:
Learning It Through Through The Movies
Who says movies aren't valuable instructional tools?
When students are engaged with the content through a
medium they love, they learn better and retain more.
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
What is your favorite scene from a film
and why?
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
Toto pulls back the curtain: Wizard of Oz
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
"Of all art forms, film is the one that
gives the greatest illusion of
authenticity...of truth...A motion
picture takes a viewer inside where
real people are supposedly doing real
things...We assume there is a certain
verisimilitude, a certain authenticity,
but there is always some degree of
distortion."
Annette Insdorf, film historian (author of Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust)
quoted in the documentary "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust"
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
"Movies are a door to knowledge-about society, about prejudice, about
history, about art --and teachers are
eager for someone to help them
make the link between education and
film."
Margaret Bodde, The Story of Movies/The Film Foundation
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
"nonprint texts are an essential part of
students' reading experience. . . . “
The National Council for Teachers of
English/International Reading Assn.
Standards for the English Language
Arts
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
National Standards for the English Language Arts
sponsored by NCTE & IRA
6. Students apply knowledge of language
structure, language conventions
(e.g., spelling and punctuation), media
techniques, figurative language, and genre
to create, critique, and discuss print and
non-print texts.
Source: http://www.ncte.org/standards/standards.shtml
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
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Analyze, evaluate, and construct meaning from
visual images; reflect upon and assess the
characteristics and merits of the work of others
Identify the basic principles of composition;
analyze, evaluate, and construct meaning from
visual images
Source: recommendations of ArtsEdge (the National Arts and
Education Network, a program of the Kennedy Center)
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
Media literacy advocates
that we teach
not only analysis of media,
but also
production of media
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
George Lucas
Director
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
So, what do we want students to
learn from film?…or, in other
words, why use film in the middle
grades classroom?
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
Heidi Hayes Jacob
Ed Consultant
“If video is how we are
communicating and
persuading in this
new century, why
aren't more students
writing screenplays
as part of their
schoolwork?”
Challenging Students: Film and
Media Literacy For 21st Century Learning
The languages of film:
Cameras:
lens
position
Lights
Sound (includes music)
Editing
Set Design
movement
Cameras
Lighting
Scene Analysis
Music
Scene Analysis
Editing
(post production)
Use of a dissolve
indicates
“passage of time”
Set Design
Techniques
In what ways does the
director use techniques
which make us, the viewer,
1978
Docudrama
believe what we see is actual
Civil Rights footage?
Techniques
Teaching Film
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Role of the scriptwriter
Writing scripts (website)
Storyboarding (Because of Winn Dixie)
Condensing and adapting
Historical contexts
Learning how to use the camera
Creating trailer and marketing poster
New Resources
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Lights Camera Education: united streaming
Story Of Movies: Film Foundation
Film School: Independent Film Channel
British Film Institute (website)
(Australian) Screen Education (magazine)
Reading in the Reel World: Teaching
Documentaries and Other Nonfiction Texts
The Director in The Classroom (book)
Great resource
Australia’s
SCREEN EDUCATION
http://www.metromagazine.com.au/metro/frm.htm?highlight=1
Michael Wiese Productions
Cameras in Narnia How the Lion,
The Witch and the Wardrobe
Came to Life
Michael Wiese Productions