In earlier posts, mediateacher.net has featured posts that highlight lessons that can be learned from study of movies from the Star Wars franchise, particularly with Rogue One and innovative work in sound design. Along with the superbly detailed book The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film by J.W. Rinzler, there is this YouTube video that explores how George Lucas arrived at his final cut of Star Wars through the work of his editors Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew, and Marcia Lucas) and which can be very eye-opening to students about the development of story and the power of the editing process (and all of the stages of movie production) in arriving at the definitive version of a film.
Archive for the ‘Resources’ Category
Editing Lessons with Star Wars
Posted in Chapter 1, Chapter 8, Directors, Resources, tagged Biggs, Editing, George Lucas, J.W. Rinzler, Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch, Star Wars on February 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »
MLE Lesson Resources
Posted in Chapter 3, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Resources, Social Studies, tagged Above the Noise, KQED Education, Media Literacy Certification, MLE Lesson Plan, PBS Learning Media, STEM, The Lowdown on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »
As a new school year begins, here is a quick update on one of the most comprehensive and dynamic resource hubs for media literacy lessons and videos designed for elementary, middle, and high school learners: KQED Education. In their “For Classrooms” section, teachers can find lesson plans for Humanities or STEM units, or Elementary media literacy education. For professional development, educators are also encouraged to check out their coursework in KQED Teach and PBS Media Literacy Educators Certification. Some might want to go straight to the topical videos produced by PBS Digital Studios, check out the Above the Noise channel (or its previous incarnation, The Lowdown, with stories from 2018 and before, organized by theme). And for those looking for an overall national resource from public media, here is the PBS Learning Media page, from which one can also search for links to local stations and related resources.
Update 2020: An election year is here, and a special Youth Media Challenge has been set up for educators and students. Check it out!
Library of Congress National Screening Room
Posted in Chapter 1, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Directors, Media Literacy, Resources, Social Studies, tagged Great Train Robbery, Hitch-Hiker, Ida Lupino, Library of Congress, National Screening Room on September 28, 2018| Leave a Comment »
With more exciting news in our Resources category (such as the Prelinger Archives and Portraits of America posts this year), the Library of Congress has announced that the National Screening Room is now online and features extensive resources for media literacy education. Many items from this vital national archive are now accessible to the general public and classrooms across the country (and world). As noted in an article by CBS News, among its highlights are: the classic Edwin S. Porter short The Great Train Robbery (featured for study in Chapter 2), the 1953 feature The Hitch-Hiker by Ida Lupino (a prime director for study with Chapter 5), and a wide variety of diverse types of media such as advertisements, PSAs, and home movies that are discussed in such posts as What Exactly is that Movie? on mediateacher.net and in our investigations of motion picture language and screenwriting throughout Moving Images.
Media Literacy and Social Studies: Portraits of America
Posted in Chapter 6, Resources, Social Studies, tagged Film Foundation, Library of Congress, Portraits of America: Democracy on Film, The Story of Movies on July 10, 2018| 1 Comment »
This year, Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation has added a new initiative to its The Story of Movies educational program: Portraits of America: Democracy on Film. This eight-section curriculum was developed by the Film Foundation in partnership with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and with support from the Library of Congress. Its modules include such themes as The Immigrant Experience, The American Laborer, The American Woman, and Politicians and Demagogues. Here are articles on the initiative from Indie Wire and Market Watch.
Prelinger Archives
Posted in Chapter 5, Resources, tagged Archival Footage, Open Culture, Prelinger Archives, Public Domain on May 5, 2018| Leave a Comment »
In the What Exactly is that Movie? post on mediateacher.net, you can read about tricky-to-categorize media messages that have evolved over the past 120 years or so. Recently, an extensive and very unique archive of very diverse movies was opened to the public: the Prelinger Archives. This incredible media archive is “a collection of over 60,000 ‘ephemeral’ (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films [which holds] approximately 11,000 digitized and videotape titles (all originally derived from film) and a large collection of home movies, amateur and industrial films acquired since 2002” (from Prelinger Archives “About” page). The media material here can provide a wide range of uses for the development of editing or vfx skills and as a treasure-trove of footage for use in original projects of all sorts. Here is an article about the archive from Open Culture, or you can go directly to the Prelinger Archives.
