The accompanying video to this essay is “Tempting”, a short film I directed in May 2007. The initial version was written by Stuart Thomas, shot by Philip Briggs, and edited by Sam Cunningham. On completion, I was overall fairly happy with it. It was a solid short that encapsulated a lot of the loony-toons sort of comedy I was shooting for, combined with a slight sense of morbidity. I liked it.
There were, however, a few minor problems I had with the film as it was. It used a few takes I wasn’t completely happy with, and a few shots were present that I wanted, in retrospect, taken out. The music also wasn’t quite right. I used Franz Liszt’s Totentanz and while it’s still there, it’s slightly remixed to fit the movement of the frame better. I also altered the ending in a tiny way: I added the sound of the actor choking back into the mix.
Since I’m already fairly familiar with this mode of literacy and this edit didn’t really “teach” me anything new, it’s hard to approach a reflection from those angles. Similarly, it’d be somewhat disingenuous to illustrate how composition with film and video differ from conventional writing. I won’t say those differences don’t exist, nor will I claim that I didn’t learn anything new in re-editing, since the very nature of creating is a learning experience.
But it would be a lie to approach it as something completely new. So, instead, I’d like to focus on implications of using this in education.
To be blunt, I think it’s a mixed bag, but certainly not something to oppose. A week ago, I agreed with Jack Nilles when he questioned teachers who taught something like this rather than traditional literature. I certainly agree with him; although the same sorts of critical thought is used in all of these modes, there is something real which is lost when the focus moves entirely away from literature.
It’s certainly important to consider student needs. The most interesting analogy I’ve heard so far is in dealing with the students who don’t know or care about literature, and never will. But, “say you’re in a business meeting and you’re making smalltalk with your boss or co-workers. Are you going to bore them with job-related conversations, proving that you’re so singularly-focused that you have no other interests in life? Or will you talk about a great book you once read, and the two of you can find some common ground?” Traditional literature has a place, and it’s rightful to consider its place to be at the forefront of language arts.
But modes such as video production can’t be ignored or shuffled aside. Let’s look at an area I love, and someday want to coach again: debate. The principles of argumentation and composition are vital to the field, and it’s an area that students need to know in order to succeed. The best way to understand a field (in this case, argument) is to understand it from multiple viewpoints. Consider the student who’s learned how to formulate a written argument, and an oral argument. The student can graduate into using multimedia or video production to learn a new avenue for argumentation.
From another perspective, there’s always adaptation. I obsess over this. It’s a wide field in which we look at how the stories which have been told for thousands of years become unique because the person telling the story is different. While traditional literature is great for one perspective in this, video production is a great second perspective.
I do have a great deal of experience in film/video production, and I won’t claim it should merely be an extracurricular. It has a vital place in our core classes. The video accompanying this isn’t just a piece of fluff; it’s an examination on the popular conception of junk food and health-consciousness. It’s a satire and a deconstruction. Asking students to take a similar broad idea and make a short movie about it is a key and valid avenue to understanding it.
The problem is in overcoming the luddite ideas against using it in school, or (even worse) using it with so many limitations that it becomes more harmful than beneficial. Last week in class we were talking about how many schools don’t have computers for all the students, and how many sites are blocked in so many districts. The implications to policy-makers is clear: there is an absolute benefit to using it as a large-scale educational aid and, quite often, the supposed down-sides are nothing more than unfounded fears on behalf of those setting the rules. It’s a real pity, because I’d love to teach narrative video production to students. Whether it’s a secondary course focused on production, or a unit within traditional language arts, there is a tremendous benefit to making use of it.
