Integrating Film/TV/Media

One of the things that triggered my interest in our reading for this assignment had to do with the Burn & Durran discussion about dance documentaries and students using film in their dance class. I initially had the same reaction as others mentioned in the book: Why would you want to experience dance through film when it is so obviously an art designed to be experienced live? But once I read the section about the kids having to figure out what perspectives to use with the camera (full shot of stage, focus on footwork, focus on one person versus a group) and how that affected the choreography and how the audience views it, it made a lot of sense to me. I started to wonder how my viewing experience of dance is influenced, even in a live performance, by the way it is presented to me. Like everything, I am forced to see the show through the lens of the producer and director. I am influenced by the music, the lighting, the people around me, the venue, my relationship to the dancers (most of the dance I see involves my niece), etc. Having kids create their own media seems a perfect way for them to begin to understand the power the director/producer of any type of art has in regard to how their audience will view this particular work of art. Likewise, it opens their eyes to how they are being manipulated or influenced when they view (or read) any work of art themselves.

In my classroom, I can definitely see integrating film and media studies into my curriculum and instruction. One idea I have comes directly from the dance exercise I mentioned above. With a specific text that has been adapted into more than one movie, it seems easiest. I would like take one particular scene (for example, the soliloquy in Hamlet) and have the students analyze the differences in regard to direction, lighting, music, acting, costumes, etc. I would then like to know how these differences changed their viewing of the play/movie. Did they feel more connected to one of the Hamlet characters than another? Did they sympathize with one more? How do they think the director viewed Hamlet? Was he/she sympathetic to him? The main point of this exercise, in my opinion, would be for the students to understand that the director has a certain portrayal in mind that he is trying to communicate to his audience; that his portrayal does not have anything to do with how the students might view Hamlet after their own reading or after a different performance.

One interesting option with this that I would like to include in my lessons would be to seek out different versions of a performance. Rather than focus only on the traditional versions of Hamlet, for example, like the Kenneth Branagh or Laurence Olivier performances, I would like to bring in examples of how this soliloquy has been used in a contemporary setting. These might include Ethan Hawke's portrayal of Hamlet, or uses of the soliloquy in particularly unexpected ways, like a rendition of the soliloquy by Adam Sandler or Charlie Chaplin. I would like to have the students react to and analyze the direction of these as well. Wikipedia has a long list of places the Hamlet soliloquy has been used, as an example.

To top it off, I would have to find a way to incorporate this awesome rendition of the soliloquy by Patrick Stewart on "Sesame Street" -- very cool. Click on the photo to view the video.