USING FILM AS A PEDAGOGIC TOOL FILM: Abstract Experimental Short Film by Anne Marie G. de Guzman (2021/Digital/Color/11mins 19seconds /Experimental) Invite the students to direct their attention to an experimental short film. YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YHIj3ZrZrA&list=PLVd1v0dLqSPwfE7I4741nrph4GjJ n70uM&index=3 4. PRACTICE (20 minutes) Instruct the students to open their notebooks and Student’s Worksheets. There they will find a series of activities (Comprehension Check), written tasks that (1) will assess their recall and understanding of the film and (2) evaluate their application of the terms for the discussion. Comprehension Check Instructions: MY POINT OF PERCEPTION Examine the various images found in the experimental film. It is best that you refer back to the actual video clips these images. Write your holistic perspective and partial point of view/s for each image. Example: PARTIAL POINT OF VIEWS I see people wearing masks. I see representations of the corona virus. The people who are wearing masks are walking very fast. The representations of the corona virus is floating HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE This part of the film shows that the busy people in cities who are wearing masks are all in danger of contracting the corona virus. In the image, the representations of the corona virus are floating and superimposed to express how this virus is just floating and can be everywhere around those people. 1. Partial Point of View/s: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Holistic Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 2. Partial Point of View/s: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Holistic Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 3. Partial Point of View/s: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Holistic Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 4. Partial Point of View/s: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Holistic Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 5. Partial Point of View/s: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Holistic Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 3. LECTURE/DELIVERY (45 minutes) ● Engage the learners with the following questions: What did you learn in the activity? The say that “a picture speaks a thousand words”, how can you describe this film’s capacity to communicate with you for you to think about your partial point of views and your holistic perspectives? How were you able to identify your partial point of view vs. your holistic perspective in each of the images in the film? Were the choices of subject, object, color, positioning and framing of the visuals aided you in further creating ideas and meaning for each image beyond their literal meaning? Which particular aspect of the film helped you to do so? Face-to-Face Learners: Will answer the teacher during the discussion in the classroom Online Learners: Will answer the teacher through the Discussion Board or Chatbox in their LMS platform. Modular Learners: Will write their answers in their Student’s Worksheets. USING FILM AS A PEDAGOGIC TOOL FILM: Abstract Experimental Short Film by Anne Marie G. de Guzman (2021/Digital/Color/11mins 19seconds /Experimental) State that in the film that the students just viewed, the cinematic property called Shot enabled them to be informed of meanings as well as construct meanings of their own. Explain further that according to film researcher and educator Nick Deocampo, “ a shot defines space. What we see and hear in a shot informs us with meanings far beyond what is written on script.” The ideas and meanings that we get from the shot are because of the images and actions that we either see or do not see, and this also includes the sound or music that is accompanied by the image or images. Emphasize that “The shot is the visual statement to viewers.” Ask the students to focus their attention to this image from the experimental short film It is best to use the actual video clip (Time Stamp: 6:10 – 6:29) ● Engage the learners with the following questions: What can you see here? Name everything that you can see that’s captured by the camera in this image or video clip. Face-to-Face Learners: Will answer the teacher during the discussion in the classroom Online Learners: Will answer the teacher through the Discussion Board or Chatbox in their LMS platform. Modular Learners: Will write their answers in their Student’s Worksheets. What is the setting of the image? What predominant color/s can you see? Can you observe the contrast of light in the foreground versus in the horizon? How can you describe the position of the cars? How much of the cityscape does this image allow us to see? And focusing on each of your answers, what feelings and thoughts have you formed while observing all of these separately and together while re-watching the video clip? Face-to-Face Learners: Will answer the teacher during the discussion in the classroom Online Learners: Will answer the teacher through the Discussion Board or Chatbox in their LMS platform. Modular Learners: Will write their answers in their Student’s Worksheets. Inform the students that all of their answers refer to the mise-en-scene of this particular shot of the film. Give the definition of mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is a French term, which means “place on stage”, and this refers to all of the visual elements shown in a theatrical production within the space provide by the stage itself. In cinema, filmmakers have borrowed the term and have extended the meaning to refer to the visual elements found in a film image. Point out to the students that by answering the previous questions, they are in effect analyzing the image or video clip based on some the common elements of the mise-en-scene, which are lighting, framing and composition, props, setting and décor, color, costume and performance. And using them as reference for their analysis, they were able to come up with different meanings and interpretations. Emphasize this statement: The mise-en-scene in a film provides us with the visual information that creates an imagined world and the meaning/s of that world. ● Engage the learners with the following questions: Collaborative Discussion Give these instructions to the students. Partner up with a classmate and go back to the film. Based on the definition of the shot and the mise-en-scene, look for the parts of the film that includes the images from the previous Comprehension activity (Partial Point of View/s vs. Holistic Perspective); and try to answer these question: “What do I think is the visual statement of this shot? And how was it expressed through its mise-enscene?” Discuss, compare and contrast your answers from this question and your answers from the previous activity (Partial Point of View/s vs. Holistic Perspective) with your partner. ● Engage the learners with the following questions: What have you learned through your discussion with partner? Were you able to compare and contrast your ideas and opinions about the different images? Based on your sharing, were you able to observe how your classmate thinks and make sense of the images and how he rationalizes his answers? What did you learn from how he/she sees the visuals, and in turn sees the world? Did it somehow open you to different ways of seeing and thinking? Face-to-Face Learners: Will answer the teacher during the discussion in the classroom Online Learners: Will answer the teacher through the Discussion Board or Chatbox in their LMS platform. Modular Learners: Will write their answers in their Student’s Worksheets. Tell the students that what they just did during the collaborative discussion is to engage in Philosophy. What is Philosophy? Philosophy means “love of wisdom”, from the two Greek words Philo (to love) and Sophia (wisdom). We can also define it as the science that by natural light of reason studies the first cases or highest principles of all things. Let’s break down this definition. As a form of scientific inquiry, it can be described as an organized body of knowledge, it is systematic and it follows specific steps or applies specific procedures. With regards to the natural light of reason, it uses a person as a philosopher his or her natural capacity to think or his or her human reason, also called the unaided reason. Lastly, Philosophy is the study of all things; which enables philosophy to distinguish itself from other sciences because it is not one-dimensional or partial. Thus, a philosopher does not limit himself to a particular object of inquiry; making philosophy multidimensional or holistic. From that description of Philosophy, let’s now take a look at the two concepts Holistic Thinking and Partial Thinking. HOLISTIC THINKING vs. PARTIAL THINKING State that individuals can exercise both holistic and partial thinking. And what an individual is mostly inclined to do also generally speak about how the person views situations, events, places, things and people. Define Holistic to the students by starting with its etymology. Holism is derived from the Greek word ‘holos”, which literally means ‘everything’ and ‘whole’. Thus, Holistic Perspective pertains to the way of thinking and seeing that considers large-scale patterns in systems. Have you ever heard of the phrase “looking at the big picture”? If a person does that in a situation, his/her holistic perspective requires him/her to have an open mindset and an ability to get the general sense or impression on the situation. From here, define Partial point of view to the students. On the other hand, Partial point of view, emphasizes on specific aspects of a situation. This manner of thinking is an essential component of analytical thinking, as an individual zones in on certain areas or aspects of an issue in order to understand it. Emphasizes this statement to the students: Though partial point of view is useful, philosophy utilizes holistic perspective in making sense of problems and issues connected to human experience. Let’s take a look at this table that gives us brief contrast between Holistic Perspective and Partial Point of View Holistic Perspective and Partial Point of View Holistic Perspective Examines all aspects of the given problem or situation. Considers all aspects as important when arriving at conclusions. All aspects are synthesized to form a general overview of the problem or situation. Example: A police officer pacifies and then listens to both stories of two men who were punching at each other before making an official arrest. ● Partial Point of View Looks at only a limited number of aspects of the given problem or situation. Conclusions are made based on considering some, but not all, sides of the problem or situation. Example: A police officer immediately handcuffs Person A and officially makes an arrest, after he sees Person A throwing a punch at Person B. However, the police officer only decided to make the arrest based on what he initially saw, not knowing that Person B was the first one to provoke. Engage the learners with the following questions: Given the characteristics and examples of holistic perspective and partial point of view, which of the two approaches do you think is philosophy more aligned with? Expected answer: Holistic Perspective Philosophy operates on a holistic perspective, rather than a partial point of view because the latter only sees limited knowledge on the situation; which may lead to wrong conclusions.