Critical Practice in Film and Video Pedagogy

Critical Practice Pedagogy The role of practice in teaching and learning Working with the ‘media savvy’ nature of contemporary students The Critical Practice model Integration of theory and practice is a method for viewing key moments of film history

1: Kolb learning cycle (for example) Concrete Experience Active Experience Reflective Observation Abstract Conceptualisation

Critical Practice Pedagogy Engaging different learning styles Relating the experiential to the abstract Allowing for different levels of cognitive engagement Acknowledging what students already know about media practice

2: “Media Savvy” Students Students already engaged in media practice Participants in various forms of media communication from snapshots to Youtube Increasing access to technologies Students already theorise media

3: Levels of Engagement with Critical Practice Teaching practice students through the critical practice model Incorporating practice techniques within film studies teaching Teaching students informed by practice Teaching with an awareness of Critical Practice in film traditions

Theory-Practice Continuum Overcoming the Historical/Institutional structures which have traditionally separated theory from practice Mind/Body Split Class division of labour Art SchoolAcademic TheoryVocational Training Concept of “integration” - the productive relationship between these two areas

Mike Wayne’s Taxonomies Reflexive Practitioner Can interrogate production process Theoretical Practitioner Can identify the relationship between choices and creation of meaning Critical Practitioner Can interrogate the politics of meaning

Developing on from this Critical Practice Awareness of the construction of meaning Theorised Practice Students can situate their practice within terms of ideology Reflection on Practice Can engage with and theorise their own practice

Theoretically Informed Creative Work Work that explores the complexities of meaning-making How image-making systems create knowledge Work that is aware of its position in ideological constructions Research common factor - presentation of research varies

Practice informed theory Role of theory to move from a passive to an active media engagement Participation in practice demystifies the process Introduces experience into theoretical discussion Raises the question of the ‘author’ Aware of conscious decision-making in creative process Rebalances questions of intent

Goals and Objectives in theory practice pedagogy Gives students common language The process of criticism/critique discussion Encourages theoretically informed work Theory encourages experimentation in practice Theoretical process places student’s work within its cultural context Positions techniques within context Engaged theory

Theory-Practice Examples for the Classroom Incorporating production experiences Shot Compositions Interrogating the theoretical constructs of subject identification through camera placement Exquisite corpse exercise Film language and editing in constructing meaning Recontextualization

4: Theorist-Practitioners Examples where filmmakers make films and write theoretically Movements/Styles of Film produce models of Critical Practice: Soviet Montage, French New Wave, Third Cinema, Avant-Garde Practice as Theory Explore ways in which film texts themselves theorise