Film Education

Films have been used for many decades as a means of connecting images with concepts, and the power of film to make an emotional connection is arguably greater than any other type of art form (Fisher & Frey, 2011). From a personal point of view, I could stare at a painting on a wall for hours on end and experience nothing, but when watching a film like “Philadelphia” or “Saving Private Ryan”, it is difficult not to get caught up in the story. The concepts and story-telling in these movies are so poignant and evocative that it is difficult not to develop an emotional bond with the characters, and this is why films are the greatest evokers of emotion.

In the UK, there are film clubs in over 7,000 schools, with over 200,000 students, watching, discussing and critiquing film on a weekly basis. Film clubs have many benefits, for example teachers could use educational programing and films to reinforce a piece of information that they have just given to the class. Children learn in many different ways so some children may benefit from watching a documentary or movie about World War II, rather than sitting down and reading a text book on it. Film clubs also show curriculum-based guides and offer masterclasses on film making, film reviewing and programming.

There are a vast amount of skills that can be gained in a film club to then later use in the curriculum as a whole. One example is that films clubs teach their attendees about story-boarding, which can help students in English and Literacy lessons, as it teaches them how to construct a story. It also could help teachers when introducing a new topic to their class.

The film industry and visual media has exploded over the past decade, and it is quickly becoming the leading cause in children’s learning at home. Just one decade ago, one television set in an entire household was considered to be a luxury, now however most homes have two, maybe three televisions in the household. Before this, students would have to go to libraries to rent books to get their information. This would mean having to travel all the way to a library, which in some cases may not be that far, however in others could be many miles away, to rent a book that a student would have to sit down and read which could take a very long time. This is the reason why television and film have overtaken books and textbooks as a means of distributing information, as they can condense 100 to 200 page books into 30 minutes of broadcasting. This condensing of time also makes it more enjoyable to a lot of people, so they take in more of the information because it seems relevant and fun. Speaking for myself, when reading a book, I can often get easily distracted or confused by some longer, hard to pronounce words, which can make me feel somewhat stupid, but when I’m watching a movie, big words and long monologues are easier to absorb because I don’t feel pressurized if I misunderstand a word or phrase.

However, not all movies educate or expose children to positive learning experiences. Violent and gratuitous movies have often sparked debate on whether or not they influence younger viewers to commit hostile and sometimes deadly behaviours. There were two studies conducted in the 1990’s by James B. Weaver III and Dolf Zillmann that were researching if frequent expose to violence in films would cause people to solve social problems with violent solutions (Harris, 1999).

The investigation used 53 male and 40 female with varying behaviour types, who were told that they were evaluating films in the video market. They were then exposed to 5 films over 5 consecutive nights, some films were innocuous, and some films were super violent movies that were laden with maiming’s and killings. On the fifth day, approximately 24 hours after watching the fourth film, the researchers told the participants that they gathered enough data on the video-rental study, but that they could participate in another project to earn a full college credit. An experimenter and helper presented the participants with various activities that would indicate whether or not they possessed certain interaction skills. The experimenter then graded the participants using words like “awful”. The students were then sent to a professor’s office and were asked if the new assistants should be given financial backing (Harris, 1999).

Weaver and Zillmann found that it didn’t matter which movies they had watched, they all reacted in a hostile manner towards the experimenter if provoked. However exposure to gratuitously violent films produced this effect without provocation by the experimenter. This shows that violent movies can escalate violent behaviour in both men and women and that the effect is not short lived, but can remain for some time after the viewing of the films (Harris, 1999).

Reference List

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2011). Using Video and Film in the Classroom. Engaging the Adolescent Learner, 1-10.

Harris, S. (1999). Science from Virginia Tech. Retrieved from Research: http://www.research.vt.edu/resmag/sciencecol/media_violence.html

http://www.filmeducation.org/