Media texts can be some of the more influential tools we have at our disposal as teachers. In this article, I am going to suggest ways in which you may choose to harness media texts for your teaching purposes, without getting side-tracked by students losing interest or them missing the bigger picture.

So let’s try this together.
Think of a film. What about a romantic comedy? You would all know what I was talking about, correct? Something with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson.  Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Easy right? You know the drill.

So if I was to say to you that I wanted to talk to you about a point in my life when I lived through that exact scenario, you could understand what I was talking about because you would associate it with that experience of your own, the time you watched when Harry met Sally for example. It’s the same process for your students.  Through the use of the right media clip, we can directly reinforce and create a link for students to think back on and remember.  It is because of this that I find it odd that so many subject areas struggle with the use of media within their teaching practice. Now I’m not arguing that you have to relate each topic to a student’s very own favourite film, you could however make certain generalisations.

One of the biggest problems with the use of film or media in lessons is its perceived irresponsibility. Too often in the past, tutors have been guilty of just sticking on any old film for students to watch in order to keep them quiet. I myself had this treatment every Monday morning when rather than deliver tutorial, our school tutor would stick a film on, which I can only assume would allow him time to recover from the weekend. I still remember more about those films than I do about the actual lessons he delivered.

There are key things to remember when utilising media examples in session:

• Relevance
• Length
• Obscurity
• Effectiveness
• Genre

Some of these are fairly self-explanatory, relevance obviously refers to the actual usefulness of the piece. Showing your students Freud : The Secret Passion (1962 dir. John Huston) is unlikely to truly teach your students much useful about the practices of the man. Showing One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975 dir. Milo, Forman) however, as an indication of how mental health was dealt with in the past could well be of use. Effectiveness is next, and I hate to say it, but quite often shocking your students will be most effective. Again  using One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest as an example, the fact of the matter is One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest works both as a film and as a teaching tool due to its shocking end, especially now when students are used to the ‘Hollywood’ happy ending. Taking students out of their comfort zone can sometimes be a good thing. Obscurity is a fairly similar idea to effectiveness in this context. If you screen a piece of work to students that they have already seen or is a huge blockbuster, they are less likely to actually take in the educational value of it and just watch it for the sake of  entertainment, which is of course not the point of this. An example of this might be to utilise Scum or Romper Stomper as examples of anti-social behaviour as opposed to say the more commercially known Green Street or Football Factory. Having said that, don’t necessarily discount something just because it’s huge, just ask yourself first, “Will my students benefit from this?”.

Tying in with this is genre, comedy can be tremendously effective; allowing students the opportunity to learn and simultaneously enjoy themselves should not be discouraged. Unfortunately though, most comedy films will lead to students merely listening to the jokes and forgoing the point. This can be said for horror also as when in larger groups, students can have a tendency to giggle or laugh when nervously watching a horror film. This can also lead to them missing the point.

The last point here is possibly the most important, Length. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT feel that you always have to show an entire film.  The fact of the matter is, if you are trying to get a point across using film, you may be able to do it with a simple scene or two. It is not necessarily important that students follow the plot or get to see the ending. The fact is, if they are that bothered about seeing the ending, they will seek the film out themselves.

Just utilise what is most important. Sometimes it is important you stop yourself from showing the whole film (who amongst us has never been tempted to watch a film and forgo teaching for an hour or two?).

Also remember that film can be a tremendously powerful tool and can help to break up some of the drier portions of a session. I am yet to find a subject matter that I cannot illuminate in some way for students by using a piece of film footage.

Chris Hallam – Media teacher at Confetti Institute of Creative
Technologies, Nottingham