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Teaching Idea:
Video Comparison
Grade level:
9-12
Objective:
Students will learn about producing video while making connections between a foreign culture and their own.
National Curriculum Standards
McREL Arts Standards | Visual Arts
- Standard 1: Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes related to the visual arts.
- Level IV [Grade 9-12] Benchmark 1: Applies media, techniques, and processes with sufficient skill, confidence, and sensitivity that one's intentions are carried out in artworks.
- Level IV [Grade 9-12] Benchmark 2: Understands how the communication of ideas relates to the media, techniques, and processes one uses.
Developed by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
Time Requirement:
Preparation: 20 minutes
In-class: 50 minutes, two different days
Materials:
Instructions:
- Divide students into groups of three or four. Have each group choose a video from the CultureGrams Video Gallery that they are interested in (interviews excluded). Longer video clips will work better for this project.
- Discuss the anatomy of a video clip by defining the word shot (a continuous piece of video footage) and cut (a transition between two shots). Have the students analyze their video clip by creating a shot list in which they keep track of the content and angle or movement of every shot in the clip. For example, one entry might read "a close up of a woman cutting potatoes," while another might say "a far shot moving from left to right of a building exterior." Breaking the clip down in this way will help students understand how short video stories are created and how they might create their own.
- Students should then read the CultureGrams report associated with their video for contextual information and brainstorm an equivalent subject matter to film from their own culture. For example, if the students choose to analyze the Netherlands' "Flower Market" video clip, they might choose to film a local boutique or grocery store that sells flowers. Alternatively, since flowers are a major Dutch export, students might choose to film a major U.S. or regional export.
- Each group of students will then film and edit a clip of their chosen subject, sticking as close to the shot list of the CultureGrams clip as possible.
- Students will then screen the CultureGrams clip followed by their own clip to the class, so that the class can see cultural comparisons presented in a visually similar way.
Questions: Further Discussion
How does the tone of a video clip change depending on the order in which the shots are edited together? How does the length of each shot, or the time between cuts, affect the tone?
What are some of the ethical concerns a videographer must consider when filming human subjects—especially those from another culture?
Extension Activity
To gain a better understanding of how editing can change video content, have the students re-edit their shots in a different order and at a different speed.
Have the class watch the new versions of the clips and respond with a discussion of how their reactions changed.
How do you use CultureGrams and World Conflicts Today in your school? Submit your teaching ideas to our editors today, and your activity might show up in a future issue of this newsletter.
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