DOCUMENT RESUME ED 132 582 CS 203 102 AUTHOR Mullican, James S., Ed. TITLE Focus: Film in the English and Language Arts Classroom. INSTITUTION Indiana Council of Teachers of English, Terre Haute. - PUB DATE 76 NOTE 49p.; The Indiana Council of Teachers of English is an affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English JOURNAL CIT Indiana English Journal; v10 n2 Entire issue Kin 1975-76 EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 BC-$2.06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Creativity; Elementary Secondary Education; *English Curriculum; *English instruction; Filmographies; *Films; *Film Study; *Language Arts; *Visual Literacy ABSTRACT The articles collected in this issue are devoted to the topic of film in the English and language arts classroom. Titles include "Film Study: Some Problems and Approaches" (Judd Chesler), "The Bev Basic Skill: Film" (Harold M. Foster), "Caveat Viewer: Developing Viewing Perceptions" (Edward S. Dermon), "Shreds and Patches: Improvised Textbook" (Dorothy M. Hill), "110 Volt English Teaching" (Jane Bales), "Stimulating Creativity in the Classroom" (Shirley J. Jones), "Films for Children" (Jill P. Hay), "I Basic Library of Short Films: 50 Suggested Titles" (Ken Donelson), "Teleteach and the English Class: An Interview with Lewis Paige Sego" (Raul Rosenthal), and "NCTE Resolution on Promoting Media Literacy, as well as poems by Michael Dougherty, Michael Deeter, and Jill Lee and a call for sanuscripts. (KS) **************************** ***************** ***mow*** Documents acquired by ERIC include many info mal,unpublished * materials not available-from other sources. ERIC makes every-effort-* * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered ankthis'affects the:quality * of the microfiche and hardcopyrreproductions ERIC nakes available * via the ERIC Document Reproduction service (EMS),. EDRS.is not- * * responsible for the quality of the original document..Reproductions * supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made:from the':origineil. ******************************************************************* Focus: Film In the English and Language Arts Classroom L.CN INDIANA ENGLISH JOURNAL hrl Member of the NCTE InformationExchange Agreement r-4 Volume 10, Number 2 nter 1975-76 S DEPARTMENTOF HEALTIt CONTENTS: EDUCATION A WELFARE NATIONAL iNSTITUTE OF 2:Contributors EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENTHAS BEEN REARO, 3:Film Study: Some Problems and Approaches DUCE@ EXACTLY AS THE PERSON OR RECEIVED FROM Judd Chesler ORGANIzATIONORIGIN- ATiNQIT POINTS OFvIEW OR OPINIoNS STATED 00 NOT 9:The Snow is Falling SENT OFFIcIAL NATIDNALNECESSARILY REPRE- INSTITUTE OF: Michael Dougherty EDUCATION POSITIONDR POLICy 10:The New Basic Skill: Film Harold M. Foster 13:Caveat Viewer: Developing Viewing Perceptions Edward S. Dertnon 16:Shreds and Patches: Improvised Textbook Dorothy M. Hill 18:1 Wonder... Michael Deeter 19:110 Volt English Teaching Jane Bales 24:Stimulating Creativity in the Classroom Shirley J. Jones 28:Films for Children Jill P. May 32:A Basic Library of Short Films: 50 Suggested Titles Ken Donelson 38:Teleteach and the English Class: An Interview with !wis Paige Sego Saul Rosenthal 45:Poems 'PERMIsSION TO REPRODuCE THIS COPT Jill Lee RIGHTED mATERIAL HAS HEN GRANTEDay 47:NCTE Resolution on Promotingedia er cyInd iana Council of Teachers of English 48:Call for Manuscripts toERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING uNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL IN. STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO DuCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM RE. WIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT 15 EDITOR OWNER James S. Mullican ndiana State University Indiana. State Univerei. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Terri) Haute, Indiana Harold 0. Spicer, Indiana State Univers' Indiana Council of Teachers of English, Division of , ,;Continuine, Education.- and _Eitendad,SerVices, , CONTRIBUTORS: JANE BALES, the Chairperson of the Department of English of Manchester (Indiana) High School, teaches filmmAing, creative writ- ing, and English_ JUDD CHESLER, an Assistant Professor of English and Film Studies at Purdue University, teaches courses in film history, theory, and apprecia- tion, as well as in English composition. He has his Ph.D. degree in Film from Northwestern University. MICHAEL DEETER was a senior at Manchester (Indiana) High School when he submitted his poem. He is now a student at Manchester Col- lege. EDWARD S. DERMON writes, am an English teacher at Herricks High School, in New Hyde Park, N. Y., where I watch as many films as I can. KEN DONELSON, a Professor of English at Arizona State University and the editor of the Ariwna English Bulletin, has thirteen years' ex- perience teaching in high school_ He is the author of 175 articles and a co-author of Teaching English Today (Houghtcn Mifflin, 1975). MICHAEL DOUGHERTY is in the eighth grade at Herbert Hoover Junior High School in Potomac, Maryland. HAROLD M. FOSTER is a graduate student and a university supervisor of student teachers at the University of Michigan. He expects to receive his Ph.D. degree this winter. DOROTHY M. HILL teaches senior English and sponsors the Hiking Club at Peabody (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) High School. She hasher D.A. degree from Carnegie-Mellon University_ SHIRLEY JEWELL JONES holds a teaching assistantship in the Depart- ment of English and Journalism at Indiana State University. Herin- terests include dance, poetry, children's literature, novels, and movies. JILL LEE is a senior at Plainfield (Indiana) High School. She is a former editor of her school paper and has written a sports column for the Hendricks County Flyet: JILL P. MAY is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Education at Purdue University. She has been the Children's Librarian and the Coordinator of Boo 'mobile Services, Madison (Wisconsin) Public Library. SAUL ROSENTHAL teaches creative writing at Indiana State University. He is a frequent contributor of poetry to Indiana English Journal. 3 JUDD CHESLER FILM STUDY: Some Problems andApproaches For the past ten years or so there has beenan explosion of interest in film all across the country_ In secondary schools anduniversities, film is now being taught in a wide variety of contexts: as a key for understanding culture, fine art, language, and literature,as well as a discipline in its own right. The viewpoint offered here is that film shouldbe understood in its own right before it is compared to, or used to explain, other things. Only in the past 20 years have film scholars begunto make strides toward under- standing the complex nature of cinema. Theresults of these studies, however, seem not to have achievedgeneral currency. Until recently, for ex- ample, most of the methodology for approachingfilm was borrowed from already established disciplines, for example,literary criticism and sociology. Now that film has been around forsome 80 years, some perspec- c has been gained. With this perspective havecome insights into the nature of cinematic art and film "language.- First. then, I would like to outlinesome of the problems which are in- volved in film study. Next. I will outlinesome approaches which seem most productive and which also seem to be conduciveto curriculum formula- tions. I would also suggest that the approaches offeredhere could be taken as a necessary first step toward the application of film to othercontexts. Problems One problem which this article attempts to address is thatmany of the existing approaches to film study do not take intoaccount the extremely complicated nature of film aesthetics. Briefly stated, film,more than any other medium, has a great variety of expressivemeans at its disposal, and usually it is a combination of thesemeans that is brought into play. For ex- ample, film employs both time (likea novel) and space (like a painting). -Another aspect is that film may include such dramaticmeans as acting, cos- tume, and decor; photographic means such as camera angle and lens distor- tion; and purely filmic means suchas camera movement and editing. Also, film may include various kinds of sound and variouskinds of visual content. Because of this multiplicity of means, film formsare also multiple. There is no such thing as "pure cinema." Nor is therea single and invariable concept of film "language- in the sameway we understand written or spoken language. Mint actually exists is a number of conventionalforms in which certain means have historically stabilizedLintopatterns of combina- tion. Hence we have:,cumentary films, in which dramatic means are eschewed and realistic photographic qualitiesare emphasized; narrative films, in which dramatic qualitiese.g., storystructure ane characteriza- tiondictate specific patterns of photographic and filmicorganization; 4 4 and experimental films, in which, for the most part, dramatic means are dis- carded in favor of finding significant patterns of organization based on corn- binations of photographic and filmic qualities. Another point is that film may be very "realistic," as in some documentariesand in some narrative films, or film may be totally unrealistic, as in the case of cartoons. Moreover, there may be combinations and variations on the above-stated conventions. The foregoing outline of some of the problems of film aesthetics is meant as an explanation of one basic point: film should be studied by ap- proaches appropriate to the forms it takes. There are different kinds of films, and there are approaches which help explain their nature, conven- tions, and significance. Too many people misuse and misunderstand film because they have not first considered approaches which