When we teach our students textual literacy, we expect them to understand how to read and how to write. Movies are made in fragments that are edited together in imaginative ways to create scenes that appear real but are actually highly constructed. Many viewers assume that a dramatic movie is happening like a play and that the camera is simply recording the events as they unfold in real time. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We seem to have a national ambivalence which drives us to complain bitterly about the media while we sit in front of our televisions and continue to absorb a barrage of images.
Students intuitively recognize the influence of movies in their lives.
Once students and teachers begin to understand how movies are constructed and realize the freedom from time and space that is available to producers, all sorts of creative and playful possibilities emerge. When students start making movies themselves, they become more discerning critics of what they see on television and begin to see the possibilities for heartfelt work within their own communities. There are many good media education programs around the country, but many people learn to make movies by doing it themselves. An education in the humanities is one of the best preparations for a future movie maker, and a movie making project can help a student see the value of such an education beyond the confines of a classroom. The elements of a traditional liberal education come to life as part of movie projects.