Each semester my kids select a special topic area they want to explore in detail. This semester, they decided they wanted to learn more about film, with a particular emphasis on learning how to make films. After talking through it, we decided we would take an approach where they learn the language of films by watching examples, before they put that all together in a capstone project for the semester.
I happily discovered the National Film Study Standards (NFSS) offer a really solid starting place for teaching this topic. I put together a plan where we’ll watch a movie each week and work through the concepts from these standards. I thought I’d share how I paired these if they are of interest for anyone else. We cover one standard per week:
| The NFSS Standard | The Film |
|---|---|
| 1.1. Developing a film vocabulary | The Kid (1921) |
| 1.4 Identifying editing techniques | Sherlock Jr. (1924) |
| 1.2 Understanding a film content | The Goonies (1985) |
| 1.3 Understanding a film’s narrative structure | The Mummy (1999) |
| 1.5 Analyzing elements of film composition | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) |
| 3.3 Analyzing a film’s visual design | The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
| 2.1 Connecting film to history and culture | Dead Poets Society (1989) |
| 2.3 Identifying and interpreting social issues and historical events as presented in film | Hidden Figures (2016) |
| 4.2 Deriving personal meaning from film | The LEGO Movie (2014) |
| 2.4 Identifying characteristics of a film documentary | March of the Penguins (2005) |
The remaining weeks of the semester will allow them the time to develop their own film. I selected the standards that I thought would best help them think about how to create their own film, mixing them up a bit in the order that felt like it flowed the best for our purposes.
If they’re interested, we can always extend this into another semester and cover additional standards in further detail.
