Teaching the screen

Marita Bullock

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    Michael Anderson and Miranda Jefferson's Teaching the Screen: Film Education for Generation Next, offers a new approach to teaching film theory and filmmaking to primary and secondary school students. Their main purpose is to foster a 'film learning' pedagogy that transcends the bifurcation of theory and practice, providing an account of how film analysis is integral to the filmmaking process, and vice versa. The book is divided into ten chapters, each of which surveys the intersection between film theory, filmmaking and teaching pedagogy. The ideas presented in the text are innovative and thought-provoking, particularly in their challenge to existing English curriculums that privilege written texts and analysis over film language and creative production. However, despite the authors' commendable attempt to radicalise film studies away from its current status as an adjunct to secondary school English, the book's conception of 'film learning' is limited by a traditional conception of film as a medium defined in terms of narrative. Before I discuss the book's problematic conception of film-as-storytelling, I will trace the aspects of the text that make it a worthwhile contribution to teaching pedagogy and film studies in the school context.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)46-50
    Number of pages5
    JournalMetaphor
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Keywords

    • Motion pictures--Study and teaching (Higher)
    • Motion pictures--Production and direction
    • Critical pedagogy
    • Literacy--Social aspects

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Teaching the screen'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this