Camera movement & Camera Angle

What camera angles have you been able to identify [in the film Short Stuff]? Describe them and their context.

Angle type	Long shot (establishing shot)	Action	Close-up / Point-of-view
Context	Allows viewer to take in the view or scene (Greenwood, 2003, p. 5).	Main activity the girls are playing.	Conversation; no distraction from the action that is close by.
Why used?	To identify the setting, time, place, weather etc.	To excite the viewer. Film can take advantage of action more than still photographs or drawings can because the viewer can see the action taking place. (Greenwood, 2003, p. 18).	Significant moment. Can also establish the link between characters by allowing the viewer to clearly see the expression on faces etc. ("Peep Show" in the UK is great at this!)
Narrative intent?	Wanted to show the girl alone, away from the action, with no other people around her. Also sets the scene of 'school playground/sports area'. No teacher, so likely an after school or break-time activity.	Makes up part of the 'beginning' of the story. Basketball is the activity the group of girls are participating in, and it is essential to the story: the lone girl wants to join in on the activity.	Angles in these close-ups/point of view shots are deliberately filmed at an exaggerated angle. (Dinham, 2014, p. 251). This is likely to emphasise the 'short' girl's status and that she is 'outside' the group. The aggressive girl is shown to be looking 'down' on the lone girl.

Animation

Here is a storybook video (Murray & Wingfield, 1964) that I created in Movie Maker. My 4-yo son Zachary was keen to do the narration! I can now use the skills learnt in this process to design a 3-6 grade lesson using similar tactics.

References

Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering Authentic Arts Education (2nd ed.).  Melbourne, VIC: Cengage.

Greenwood, D. R. (2003). Action! In the Classroom. Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Murray, W., & Wingfield, J. H. (1964). Look at this! London, UK: Ladybird.

Media Arts

During professional experience placements (PE), I have seen technology being used.  On PE3, with grade 2’s, I used an iPad to video the children teaching each other how to complete certain mathematical processes.  This was the first time they had done this kind of activity, but they loved performing in front of the camera and seeing themselves on the TV at the end of the session.  Some children came out of their shell and would talk about mathematical concepts in a way which showed they had some conceptual understanding (Skamp, 2012) which was maybe not so apparent in their written work. 

As a parent, my son has used an iPad in both grade 5 and 6.  I have found it to be very useful for him as an alternative way to present his information to both myself and his teachers.  He has undertaken PowerPoint presentations, iMovie’s, keynote speeches and garage band.  He still writes in grey lead and text books, but his iPad has opened up new ways to show his learning to others and that is only a good thing.  As advocated in Universal Design for Learning [UDL] (Ashman, 2013) engaging children can effectively be completed through the use of different forms of expression, ICT being one of these.

I will definitely be using media arts in my future teaching as a way to engage those who may struggle to convey their knowledge the conventional ways.  Not only does it engage the children, but it teaches them skills needed for future schooling and in their future jobs.

References

Ashman, A. (Ed.) (2015). Education for inclusion and diversity. (5th ed.). Melbourne: Pearson Australia.

Skamp, K. (Ed.). (2012). Teaching primary science constructively. (4th ed.). South Melbourne: Cengage.