Unlocking the Moviemaking Mind Read online

  Unlocking the Moviemaking Mind

  Tales of Voice, Vision, and Video

  from K-12 Classrooms

  Michael Schoonmaker and John M. Wolf

  ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION

  A division of

  ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

  Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

  Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education

  A division of Rowman & Littlefield

  4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

  www.rowman.com

  10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom

  Copyright © 2014 by Michael Schoonmaker and John M. Wolf

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

  ISBN 978-1-4758-0388-4 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-4758-0389-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN

  978-1-4758-0390-7 (electronic)

  TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Preface

  v

  By Michael Schoonmaker

  Introduction: Journey to Video Production in K-12

  vii

  Section 1: Addressing Social Justice through Social Studies and

  Science

  xi

  Telling Stories and Storytelling

  xiii

  1

  Instinct

  xv

  2

  Connection

  xxi

  3

  Nature

  xxv

  4

  Motivation

  xxix

  Video beyond Vocation

  xxxiii

  5

  Expression

  xxxv

  6

  Purpose

  xxxix

  7

  Solution

  xliii

  8

  Integration

  xlix

  Destination and Journey in Video Production

  liii

  9

  Reason

  lv

  10 Invention

  lix

  11 Resilience

  lxiii

  Part Two: Locks

  lxvii

  Behind the Camera, in Front of the Lens: Video and Self-

  Discovery

  lxix

  12 Boundaries

  lxxi

  13 Acknowledgment

  lxxv

  14 Paths

  lxxix

  Video and Voice

  lxxxv

  15 Listening

  lxxxvii

  16 Hearing

  xciii

  17 Perspective

  xcvii

  iii

  iv

  Contents

  18 Noise

  ciii

  19 Fringe

  cix

  20 Humanity

  cxiii

  Part Three: Unlocking the Moviemaking Mind

  cxix

  Media and Literacy

  cxxi

  21 Reciprocity

  cxxiii

  22 Empowerment

  cxxvii

  23 Transformation

  cxxxi

  The Mess Is the Message

  cxxxvii

  24 Motive

  cxxxix

  25 Confabulation

  cxlv

  Conclusion

  clvii

  References

  clxi

  Preface

  By Michael Schoonmaker

  Unlocking the Moviemaking Mind is an unfolding narrative about the growing potential of video production in K-12 classrooms. It is designed as a

  thought-provoking roadmap for teachers of all K-12 subjects who want to

  find effective and engaging ways to invigorate their twenty-first century

  lesson plans. It is written for teachers who have witnessed the natural

  fascination kids have for mediamaking and shares insights from a rapid-

  ly expanding population of K-12 teachers around the country and world

  who have already tapped into the power of visual expression in their

  classrooms.

  The book explores both the known and not-so-known frontier of K-12.

  Videomaking is designed to equip teachers to meet their unique chal-

  lenges and objectives, in their own ways. Findings are derived from a

  wide spectrum of activities over the past five years, including:

  • Updates to and reconsiderations of ideas from my book Cameras in

  the Classroom (2007). In this book I confronted the strange anomaly that nearly all kids entering school are fully functional readers of

  visual media, yet K-12 curricula were still hesitant to fully embrace

  visual media in learning environments. On top of this, “visually-

  ready” students were trapped in a holding pattern in terms of their

  lack of access to the tools of visual expression. They can “read” the

  visual media of others, but they are short of the necessary tools and

  skills to “write” their own visual expressions. Since then, there has

  been a slow but sure move on teachers’ parts to correct this educa-

  tional incongruity.

  • Test-flown perspectives first presented in my online column in

  School Video News. The column was designed to help K-12 educators

  expand and improve the use of visual media in classrooms across

  the nation. The teachers and students I came to know through this

  experience added exponentially to my knowledge base.

  • Fresh findings straight from middle school classrooms: “The Smart

  Kids Visual Stories Project”—a three-year study of the role of visual

  media in giving voice to the voiceless: stories, insights, and ideas

  for reform from students in an urban public school district.

  v

  vi

  Preface

  • Collaboration with my colleague John Wolf who has worked with

  me in many of the above endeavors and brings to this book a deep

  understanding of the convergence of humanity and technology,

  along with his true gift in finding order, however small it may be,

  in chaos of all shapes and sizes.

  And a final thought: Studying young moviemakers has certainly taught

  us how kids can use visual expression to enhance learning. But it has also

  helped us understand how deeply entwined humanity and visual expres-

  sion are at the heart of any moviemaking experience, be it professional,

  educational, or recreational. There is a child within every moviemaker,

  and a moviemaker within every child.

  Introduction: Journey to Video

  Production in K-12

  The undocumented life is not worth living. This sentiment—whether you

  agree with it, take issue with it, or just smirk at the Socratic reference—

  hy
perbolic though it may be, is a good reflection of participatory culture

  at the beginning of the 21st century. As information and communication

  technologies like smartphones, digital video cameras, and user-generated

  content sites like YouTube continue to evolve at a rapid pace, we’re pre-

  sented with further opportunities to document our lives, share our lived

  experiences, and actively participate in digital storytelling.

  Throughout this book we explore the possibilities for digital storytell-

  ing in the K-12 classroom. The findings are based on a multi-year re-

  search project that examined the outcomes and effects of digital storytell-

  ing in urban, public schools. Narratives from these experiences are orga-

  nized thematically and presented in a three-part structure. Each part is

  composed of numerous chapters as well as interludes that serve to syn-

  thesize and contextualize important information, ideas, and theories pre-

  sented throughout the book.

  Although this book tells a liner narrative from beginning to end, it

  isn’t necessary to read it linearly. Each part (described below) offers a

  unique set of useful ideas and stories, so feel free to plan your journey to suit your own needs or to jump around from one part of the book to

  another.

  WHY ARE YOU HERE?

  Maybe you’re an educator who’s interested in somehow incorporating

  video production into your lesson plans. Maybe you’re an administrator

  who wants to encourage her teachers to engage in classroom-based me-

  dia production exercises. Maybe you’re a graduate student who has an

  investment in constructionist, hands-on education. Maybe you’re a schol-

  ar who’s surveying the current literature on the use of contemporary

  technologies in the classroom. Or maybe you just liked the cover of this

  book and thought the title sounded cool.

  Regardless as to why you’re here: Welcome. This book is written from

  the point of view of two educators who have spent years thinking about,

  writing about, and researching digital media production in the K-12

  vii

  viii

  Introduction: Journey to Video Production in K-12

  classroom. This book is written for anyone with an interest in this subject.

  Educators will find useful information and convincing evidence for mak-

  ing the leap to using video production in the classroom. Similarly, educa-

  tors who have already integrated video production into their curricula

  will discover useful philosophies as well as practical applications for re-

  fining their techniques. Students and scholars can indulge in findings

  from experimental research pertaining to storytelling, participatory cul-

  ture, and media studies. And those simply with an interest in the subject

  will discover a tale of untapped potential, unlikely hope, and creative

  ingenuity.

  The prospect of introducing video production in the K-12 classroom

  can seem daunting at first. You may find that your mind is overwhelmed

  with questions at the very thought of it. What does it take to produce a

  video? What if I lack familiarity with the necessary technologies/vocabu-

  lary/skillsets? What makes a good video? What learning outcomes can

  video production help my students achieve? What if the school doesn’t

  have the budget/funds/infrastructure to support such an endeavor? And

  countless other ones, no doubt.

  While it is true that there are a great number of practical, institutional, and systematic hurdles to overcome in introducing video production in

  the K-12 classroom, there is an equal, if not greater, amount of something

  else that makes the endeavor worth the wager: Possibility. In short, video

  production in the K-12 classroom works. Students engaged in video pro-

  duction interventions display gains in self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-possession, and critical thinking. Students who are more confident are more

  likely to believe they can successfully undertake assigned tasks and, thus, fare better in school.

  While we know from research and experience that video production

  interventions work in K-12 classrooms when executed properly, we don’t

  necessarily know why. Using data collected from several years of field-

  work, Part I explores why video production seems to work so well in the

  K-12 classroom. We begin by investigating storytelling as the core of

  video production and exploring the relationship between storytelling

  and the human condition. We then lay out some important considera-

  tions for successfully implementing digital video production in the class-

  room. Finally, we present some tried and true methods and ideas for

  introducing students to video production as an educational resource.

  Part II presents evidence as to how digital video production can be

  used in the K-12 classroom to overcome those individual and systematic

  challenges and barriers common to public education. First we investigate

  the relationships between video production, self-discovery, and motiva-

  tion. Next we explore video production as a metaphor for voice and what

  it means for students to be able to articulate agency, to be heard rather

  than merely listened to, and to knowingly share meaningful parts of their

  existences with others.

  Introduction: Journey to Video Production in K-12

  ix

  While Part I offers tried and true strategies and Part II considers uses

  of video production to overcome institutional challenges, Part III offers

  some abstract ideas and considerations for successfully implementing

  digital video strategies in the K-12 classroom. These ideas are not merely

  academic; rather, they speak to a necessary mindset that educators

  should adopt when thinking about incorporating video production into

  their classrooms. We consider the possibility of thinking about video as a

  new type of literacy, proposing a radical reinterpretation of the tradition-al understanding of what it means to be able to read and write. Finally,

  we examine video production in the classroom as a dimension of human

  engagement that is sometimes necessarily uncomfortable and messy, en-

  couraging educators and practitioners to pay equal attention to process

  and outcome.

  Section 1

  Addressing Social Justice through Social Studies and

  Science

  “Ah, Richard”

  Yours is the pretty poem,

  (as befitting an inaugural,)

  portraying an America

  more in concert with the geography

  of “This Land is Your Land,”

  than with the separate songs

  of people who do not lie under

  the stitched together blanket

  of your Kumbaya words.

  What light you yield, what sights you point to

  as you skip across our continental expanse.

  You have found the voice, touched the hand,

  recorded the sound of Working America,

  but do not recognize our motley patchwork

  thinly covers a country not whole.

  There are gaping rents of sorrow,

  loose threads of violence,

  discolorations of disparities

  that tear at our very fabric.

  So Richard, sing your song of one America,

  but remind yourself a d
irge throbs below,

  just under your ability to hear it.

  —Mel Glenn

  xi

  Telling Stories and Storytelling

  It’s all about story. Or, more specifically, it’s all about storytelling: an effortful or automatic cognitive sense-making process in which we arrange, organize, and present a series of events that are reflective of our

  thoughts, perceptions, and life experiences.

  Storytelling can be classified as effortful, automatic, or some combina-

  tion of both. Effortful storytelling involves explicitly engaging in storytelling practices. Examples of effortful storytelling include creating stories

  intended for entertainment (TV shows, films, novels, etc.) or to teach a

  lesson (folklore, fairy tales, fables, etc.). Effortful storytelling may be thought of as classic storytelling, the kind in which we consciously

  choose to engage. There are defined times and spaces for effortful story-

  telling (bedtime, primetime, Friday nights, etc.), and, by and large, it is the type of storytelling that we will focus on throughout this book.

  However, there is another type of storytelling in which we often en-

  gage that we also consider throughout this book. When compared to

  effortful storytelling, this type of storytelling is less obvious and the process by which we engage in it is often less conscious. On account of these

  facts, we may be less inclined to think of it as storytelling; it is, nonetheless, classifiable as a type of storytelling, and although it seems to exist apart from effortful storytelling, it does not. In fact, this type of storytelling borrows heavily on our understanding of story as it is informed by

  effortful storytelling. This kind of storytelling is called automatic storytelling.

  Automatic storytelling is the kind of storytelling in which we are engaged throughout the day. Stories that result from this kind of storytell-

  ing are fundamental to the ways in which we describe, characterize, and

  understand ourselves, others, and the world around us. We commonly

  don’t think of them as stories; rather, we’re more likely to label them

  beliefs, facts, or truths. Although less clearly discernable as a type of

  storytelling, this practice is arguably more important in stressing the in-

  herent link between our humanity and storytelling.

  To demonstrate this point, consider the following statement: I am

  white. On one hand, this statement is a mere classification of my race,