The Art of Film

The Art of Film

Film is becoming a more popular art form among young students and more of them are beginning to gravitate towards pursuing the Art of Film in college.   It seems that most schools neglect to have film classes for high school students who have an interest in it.  Depending on the school's resources and also funding, they may not have a Film class available for students to take. Also, their may not be a teacher who feels comfortable enough or feel they are equipped enough to teach the course.  Let's say I was teaching at a school that didn't have a Film class, but I taught a Media Arts class.  I would like to, if only briefly, teach students about Film and perhaps give them their own assignment to create their own film.  

If I were to introduce Film to my students I would teach them about some of the most iconic figure behind the film industry and what role those people played in contributing towards the evolution of film.  I would introduce some key concepts and camera techniques such as Camera Angles (Bird's Eye, High Angle, Low Angle, Canted Angle), Camera Movements (Panning, Tilting, Tracking/Trucking/Dolly shots), Editing (Raw Footage, Rough Cut, Final Cut, Transitions).  

If possible I would want to designate time to show my students a film (Like Princess Bride for instance) and have they analyze and interpret different parts of the film.  Who are the characters?  What is the plot?  What are the motivations of some of the characters?  What is the setting?  What is the context?  If theirs not enough time to show the whole movie than I would just show some key scenes throughout the movie and just spend one class period and have a class discussion about what is going on in those key scenes.  

It would be interesting to have an assignment where students make their own short films about any concept or idea that interested them.  Students could take what they have learned and seen from movies and come up with their own unique ideas to produce their own film.