Pacing and Perspective

This week I had the challenge of creating a short film. One of the most difficult parts of the whole process was choosing the focus of my film. This may have been the simplest part for some, but for me if I have no guidelines I get overwhelmed with the choices I have to make. In retrospect I am thankful for this creative freedom because I was able to create something I had wanted to do for a while. About four years ago I lived and taught in South Africa with the MSU study abroad program. While there I took nearly 1000 pictures and have wanted to do something meaningful with them for some time now. Katalina Groh says that everyone has a story to tell and I decided to tell the story of some people I met in South Africa that wanted to inform me of a special message. To sum it up in two sentences…Do not feel sorry for us or pity us, instead be happy that we are making progress. Smile at our children to show them how people all over the world are connected and care about them. This notion has stuck with me for the past four years. I thought this attitude was refreshing and needed to be shared so it was the perfect idea for this project. In all honesty I had a lot of fun discovering how to master Windows Movie Maker. In the end I was actually quite proud of the product I created, but I most definitely have a new found appreciation for filmmakers and everyone involved in the process. I had the opportunity to try a variety of different jobs that are associated with the film industry. One of the most challenging aspects of this project was getting the timing to be just right. First I needed to figure out how long each snapshot should last and if they should be the same length or different lengths. Then I came across a problem when I wanted to change the order of the pictures. When I changed the order, I then needed to change the words that went with each photo as well as the timing. Then I added a music element which created more of a challenge to time out the photos, words, and music. There were two parts in particular where I wanted the picture to capture the mood of the picture. There is one photo of a little boy in which I dubbed the photo waiting/wondering. I wanted the song lyrics “homeless” to be playing as that picture emerged on screen. The other very important part was the ending of the film. I did not want the film to end abruptly so I decided to use a song that would allow for a natural ending. I liked the lyrics “proud to be an African like you” and thought that would be the perfect end to the movie. It worked out well, but was difficult to get the timing correct. I learned all about pacing in films this week and I really realized how important pacing is to the art of teaching. In recent observations I have been told that the pacing of my lessons was good. I never gave it another thought until now. It is so important for the day to run on schedule and for that to occur there must be organization and a good pace to the lesson. I have learned earlier that the teacher should not be doing all the talking therefore giving students the opportunity to talk. Pacing should take student discussion into consideration. To have a good pace should also include clear discussion points as to stay on track with the learning objectives. This week gave me the opportunity to challenge others perspectives on South Africans and I in turn challenged my own perspective on the importance of pacing in teaching. The other challenge I had associated with this project was finding the right music to go with my movie that I had already started. I knew that I wanted authentic African music, but I wanted to find some that had a solemn mood as well as meaningful lyrics. Many of the songs I found either had an upbeat tempo or no lyrics at all. When I did find two separate songs that fit the theme of my movie, I needed to figure out the technology to incorporate the songs into my movie. The whole process took much longer than expected. I am reminded of two lessons in the art of teaching. One is that effective teachers use examples that their students can relate to and sometimes it takes time and research to find the connections to the material and to the students. Sometimes like movie making, lesson planning takes more effort and time than originally planned. I also thought about how it may take students longer than expected to achieve their learning goals. As a teacher we may have expectations of how quickly our students our expected to learn, but just as it took me significantly longer to finish my movie than originally thought, I know for some students it will be longer for them to achieve their goals. I need to be aware and sensitive of their needs as well as aware of how to differentiate my teaching to accommodate those needs. Overall I enjoyed getting to learn a new program on my computer this week. I learned how to create a compelling movie with timing and a combination of motion and sound. I also learned that pacing is essential to film making as well as teaching. I was also reminded of how it may take a change of perspective to teach students in a different and more effective way.