Media Education Resources
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Social Studies
General Learning Outcomes
Production project ideas
Film viewing/discussion
Listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to discover thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences.
An open theme video project is another exercise in creative writing. Students may be asked to explore a subject dear to them through a fiction, documentary or experimental format.
Instead of a winter Haiku -- ask for a one minute impressionistic video without words (use music and sound) describing winter?
• Talk about what students watch (video, movies and TV). Do the productions reflect their thoughts, feelings and experiences? If not, why not -- allows discussion of who produces and why.
• Watch a movie or video together about a child in another country, city, or setting. What are differences and similarities? What thoughts, feelings, themes are universal?
Listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print, and other media texts.
• A classroom version of This Hour has 22 Minutes is a different way to look critically at how the news, movies, TV is presented. Not all critiques need be written.
• Students can also make their own movie review shows (either serious or spoofs.)
• Focus on film language. The director must make many decisions with regard to each shot (lighting, angle, etc). The decisions made determine the meaning the director tries to impart; however, students are active watchers and interpret the production based on their own experiences and ability to "read" TV, movies, etc.
Listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to manage ideas and information
• Video can be used to collect, organize and present information as an alternative to written or oral presentations.
• Video requires advance planning and organization to decide where, when, in what order, why and how each shot will be made.
• Practice watching critically to learn how to manage the collection of information from film, video and TV. How real is real?
Listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance clarity and artistry of communication.
• Simple exercises allow students to experiment with different aspects of communicating by video.
• Video projects encompass listening (team effort and or collection of information), reading (background for documentary or fiction), write (script, storyboard, shot list, titles, etc), View (especially an edited projects requires students to watch and then select best takes) and represent (putting it all together on video.
• Critical watching is key to enhance clarity and artistry of communication. An important component of critical watching is to watch a variety of productions, from a variety of sources. As in studying literature the aim is to present quality productions that will stimulate and challenge the student.
Listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to celebrate and build community
• Video projects are an excellent exercise in group work, as production teams require that students take on a variety of roles and work cooperatively to produce the final project.
• Watching (and discussing) movies, videos and TV programs as a group (or as individuals that share the same experience) contributes to building community.
• Each year, Freeze Frame offers films from around the world not normally available in Canadian movie theatres. It is an opportunity for students to see a variety of quality productions while taking advantage of the collective experience of seeing a movie in a theatre. Post-screening activities allow students to further explore the art of filmmaking.
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