Design, from a Student Perspective

[Kevin H.]

There was an interesting post on the new Student 2.0 site about the importance of design when students are working on video projects.
The young writer -- a high school students -- notes that many of the student videos that he sees lack focus and a sense of design, and he urges teachers to consider this concept when teaching video and moviemaking.

"Asking students to reach beyond the requirements is where the real gold lies: it is when we really start to see how well students can use the tools given to them." -- Anthony

What do you think?

Kevin

[Greg Oz]

Couldn't agree more Kevin. I'm keen to find teaching ideas/resources relating to design. I found that my students last year really responded when we focused in on specific design issues - giving them a language for talking about it and something to look out for. I found them later on starting to use the discourses I'd introduced them to when they were watching each other's creations.

[Paul Hardt]

Focus, design, consider your audience, it it's all there. I teach video or content creation design with fifth graders in a regular educ. classroom. It is subtle. Basically the students have such an intense desire to make their product interesting and effective for the audience they now understand will be watching their output, that THEY choose to peer coach each other’s projects. What they are creating matters to them. Unknowing, they are becoming producers of a product. They have unknowingly ‘bought into’ their edication. This includes their approach to music creation, video production, poetry {hey let’s rap), AAAAANND writing. Remember writing??? It is still the basis of it all. The curriculum all ties together with these intermediate students. Every student has a significant role to play in production regardless of their learning style.

[Greg Oz]

This is really useful advice Paul - simple and straightforward.

[Mathew Needleman]

I responded to this on my blog in terms of design on film:

http://www.needleworkspictures.com/ocr/blog/?p=243

[Miranda Clemson]

I read the discussion also and found it very illuminating. As I don't have a class, don't teach, but as the "tech person" often find myself advising students on video projects in the lab, does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could say to get them thinking about design? Something pithy. I usually say something like: "what do you want your film to say?"

Is there some better way of getting these things across in a simple, short way?

[Mathew Needleman]

I find the discussion really interesting for the sake of argument. However, as someone who's attended film school, when you talk about film it's not usually referred to as design.

If you're talking about the visuals, you might talk about framing and composition.

If you're talking about the script, you might refer to the theme, and arc, and things like that.

Ted Lai has a good preso on this... http://podpiperproductions.com/?p=27

[Paul Hardt]

A common language is essential. But now educators may be at a crossroad, or are we just overlapping? Are we creating professional filmmakers or communicators for the new century?

I feel we are doing both, and that’s great. But for those students who can not actually arrive at the professional level, let's give them all they can succeed with such as FILMaking Elements. Indeed Ted Lai has the basics that have been around for years. I am more than pleased to see that reality handheld, TV and cinema verite hasn’t destroyed film basics.

A big thanks to Mathew Needleman. I enjoy reading, sharing, and learning from ALL you do.