Teaching Moving Image Arts

Making your own Resources

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 (point 32-2)

“Copyright in a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme is not infringed by its being copied by making a film or film sound-track in the course of instruction, or of preparation for instruction, in the making of films or film sound-tracks, provided the copying is done by a person giving or receiving instruction.”

This act states that it is legal to copy film and soundtrack work for educational use but that you must credit the author where possible. The copyright issues around material for educational use are clear and details of the law on this subject can be found elsewhere in this site and at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_1.htm

Lots of resources and packs are available commercially but by far the best way to strengthen your teaching in this subject is to begin building your own resources. These will primarily be:

Your Film Library

Classic films can be bought quite cheaply, especially on VHS. Amazon now offers used copies of films alongside their titles and bargains can be had here. Online libraries such as www.lovefilm.com allow you to keep a list from which they post titles to you.

Your Clips Bank

Singularly, the best way to prepare your students for the online exam is through clip analysis. As you and your students learn the elements of Film Language, this should be a familiar classroom activity for them. Therefore it makes sense to build up a collection of clips, which illustrate film language at work.

I recommend the following titles as a starting point for this:

  • Don’t Look Now (Nic Roeg 1973)
  • Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger 1969)
  • The Pawnbroker (Sidney Lumet 1964)
  • Raising Arizona (Joel Coen 1987)
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey ( Stanley Kubrick 1968)
  • Catch 22 (Mike Nicholls 1970)
  • Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton 1955)
  • The Graduate (Mike Nicholls 1967)
  • The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene 1920)
  • Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton 1990)

Once students are familiar with the different aspects of film language the next teaching priority is getting them to use these elements creatively in their filmmaking work. Nowhere is this more evident and accessible than in the music video. The work of Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry are available as compilations and form an excellent foundation for the study of this dynamic Art form.

Recording a few hours of a music video station will yield enough useful material for Exercise 51 in the creative film-making section of this site.

Once your clips are safely captured, any entry level editing software will allow you to add your own titles, etc. as needed but bear in mind that in capturing from video and DVD to your editing software, you will normally need an analog to digital convertor (such as the Terratec Grabster or Canopus ADVC300)