Kist- Film

Before this class, I honestly thought using film in the classroom was a waste of time because of how it was used when I was in high school. The only films that we watched were based on novels that we had just read. Don't get me wrong, I can see how this can be useful when students are reading difficult texts such as Shakespeare, but most of the time this became a little redundant.

While reading Great Films and How to Teach Them I felt that Costanzo brought up a good point pertaining to this topic: " A movie adaptation is not so much an illustrated copy of a book but a new rendering of the story, to be appreciated on its own terms (15)." 

On this topic, one of my classmates said that she used to compare and contrast books and movies and decided which one she liked better. I have to admit, I have done this before as well. Costanzo made me think of this habit of mine in a different light and brings up a valid point.

         By paying close attention to what is unique about each medium (What exactly do we get from a work of       literature or film? What is added or missing from the experience?), students become more aware of what it means to represent reality through fiction. By attending to the similarities between a movie and a book, they can come to recognize what is universal in all narratives, the motives and rewards of storytelling that transcend all media. If the movie makes them want to read the book, or vice versa, they may well conclude that one is better than the other. At least they will be in a better position to explain why (15).

Books and film are separate forms of text and should be viewed as such. However, if students do appreciate one of these forms of text over the other they should know why. In some cases students will favor the book but in others perhaps they will prefer the movie. I am currently in a fiction writing class, and while reading another student's story in workshop several of my classmates said that his story would make a really good movie. To this, my professor said simply that some stories make better movies and some make better books. Again, I think it is important to understand the reasons why a story would be better off if portrayed in a different form of text. 

Links
The video quality for these videos isn't the greatest but I think this teacher says a few things that are relevant to our conversation in class of how films can help students with imagery.

Using Film and Music in the Classroom (Part 1)
Using Film and Music in the Classroom (Part 2)