Digital Video as a Tool

Stories are one of the ties that bind all humans together. They provide information that can lead to empathy among people, which fosters understanding and ultimately makes people be a little bit kinder to each other. Students love to tell stories - its a way of being heard and respected. They also love images, so movies, videos, pictures all tell stories and seem to be a wonderful opportunity for a kid to reach out and communicate.

As a painter, most of the stories I have told or have taught are still images, yet stories can be told that way too. Gertrude Stein once said that all humans strive for meaning. The juxtaposition of images, even in a painting can tell a story that spans time. This is nothing new to this generation who have experienced a proliferation of images. They understand how in advertising, one image put next to another can push a meaning one way or the other. Most of all, though, these kids know about moving images: how sound can effect a meaning, how speed and light can mean certain things and how emotion can be portrayed in a close-up.

I think a way to introduce videos to a class is to emphasise the importance of storytelling and to break down the components of the story. This can be as much fun as using the actual equipment. Storyboards are a very serious business and all of the art elements can be taught through this kind of project: line, value, texture, shape and color. Each one of these elements have meaning and are meant to be manipulated by the artist/student. The student should be hyper-conscious of these "tools" while filming. Then the equipment facilitates the students ideas. It's always the same message: its about ideas.

I think I just digressed a lot: let me jump down from my soapbox. I think a great idea for painting and drawing students could be to make one of their still projects into a video - to expand the story line or push the reader in a direction. Storyboards are the fist step and a great way to use the students visual vocabulary as well as thinking about time and the transitions between images as another "new" tool in making a story. Another aspect is sound and a wholly new element from painting. I think that going from a painting to a video and then back to a painting could be a wonderful project to see how the original idea could morph and as a visual documentation of the students' idea. The video could be used as a magnifying glass that uncovers the underlying motivations of the painting and expose the student to their own thoughts. It could be a terrific tool in conjunction to painting.
In the classes I have taken, video can focus an audience for a presentation. Sometimes while speaking, the presenter has to do quite a bit of drama to keep the audience focused. Video can change the format as well as give information in another way which is always a strategy for presentations. Sometimes video is not appropriate; for instance, I am giving a presentation on a 19Th century person and the goal is to embody her and present as if I was her. I thought a lot about using digital images and video to show some of her experiments but in the end, the insertion of digital imagery would be inconsistent with her time period. So I have to rely on drama and pacing to keep their attention (wish me luck)!.
The technical parts of the readings were really informative and consistent with many of the visual elements taught in art classes. The use of the camera and its components seem like they might have a learning curve and patience is required. I can't wait to start.

I remember when I was young, after dinner my parents and my siblings (I have 9 of them) would go into the living room and study. We would all spread out on the floor with our homework, pouring over encyclopedias and asking questions of my mother and father. (it sounds like a TV moment; actually it was loud and often broke out into fights!) To me it was wonderful and fun. It was an embodiment of an interactive experience, peer-to-peer teaching and truly collaborative. Yet because of so many siblings in the house, I also found refuge in the closet - the only quiet place to read on my own. So what does that say? (please reserve any judgements about life-long therapy!) I think my early experiences as a learner mirrors the authors point that both kinds of experiences are important for real learning. Today, the sprawling out on the floor is the equivalent of being part of a socal networking site or blogging with classmates on a certain topic. It is interactive and collaborative. The author talks about IT as a way to enrich traditional forms of learning and to act as a link between the individual and the group, active and passive(reading in the closet) in the transmission and generation of knowledge.

Students need to be engaged in their learning - not just through a question and answer environment, but actually finding the information that they will ultimately question and then analyze. I am convinced that the group is as valid as the individual. For so many years, a practicing artist has been the stereotype of a lone individual in a studio "making something from nothing". Then the work, having a life of its own would go into the world via an exhibiiton and the artist would move on to other projects. Yes, I believe that that studio experience is still an important experience for the artist but as the world has changed and actually become smaller, the audience has become more intimate. I never really thought of it that way before. The feedback, the questions, the learning about the making of the work can be as useful to the public as it is for the artist.

I am intersted in teaching kids how art is important and present in there lives. One way of doing that is to make them into artists, which by the way they already are, and to break down the process of making, almost to micromanage creativity. Another way is to just make, make , make, and to witness the evolution of the process. Both of these strategies can be facilitaed through technology. Even the making can be interrupted using technology, saved and remembered for further discussion later (not unlike the film of Jackson Pollack painting). Once again, not to replace the traditional experience but to enrich it. I beleive that kids need to touch things, but there are some aspects of technology that can only be gained on that front. One of them is the amount of multiples that can happen when using technology. There are countless ideas that stem from making variations on a theme, easily gained from digital media. Also, the mixing up of different media has been a favorite tool for asrtists for decades - now digital media is added to the list of materials for the artist/student to manipulate.

I think students who are already comfortable with digital media can move around it as potential for art with great ease and fluency. It's getting the teachers onboard - that's another matter! The author states at the beginning of the chaper that Motivation is the key factor in learning. From K all the way to 12, the teacher will always be the one to inspire and to show what is possible.