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Audiovisual Projects in the Classroom

Creating an audiovisual work in the classroom should be a systematized process; otherwise, it can be frustrating for the student when they have more expectations than they can achieve. An experienced scriptwriter explains how to do it.

Audiovisual Projects in the Classroom
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September 14, 2020 By Salvador Plancarte Hernández
Reading time 5 minutes

“Next time we implement a video project in the classroom, we will do it better if we know that 80% of our brain is designed to assimilate and process images.”

In this era of COVID-19, the use of video can be an ally in virtual classes if used appropriately. Short 1:59-minute videos with relative formality in their production and good content are an excellent option to vary stimuli and keep students engaged. However, without a methodology, this effort can create the opposite effect.

We frequently ask students to create videos for their classes, but what is the purpose? We should reflect on this point. Creating an audiovisual work ought to be a systematized process; otherwise, it will not result in meaningful learning and can become frustrating when the student has expectations above what they can achieve.

The format of the video does not matter. It can be a documentary, video essay, short film, cinema clip, video for YouTube, a web series, or just a simple presentation. Audiovisual work has its rules within its lovely creativity; it must be governed by representational models (the standardized and proven way of doing something correctly in the audiovisual area). Also, the teacher must know and consider the characteristics of the language.

“Requesting an audiovisual work from students coherently results in sensible project execution. These are not discussions about technical aspects, but rather, narratives, structures, and primary audiovisual language.”

Requesting an audiovisual work from students coherently results in sensible project execution. Begin with the necessary literacy that you can teach your students. These are not discussions about technical aspects, but rather, narratives, structures, and primary audiovisual language. Specific rubrics relevant to the class objectives can also be designed for the creation of the video. For example, videos can raise awareness about an issue, serve as icebreakers, generate in-depth levels of academic or social reflection, delve into something, or publicize a topic, among other things. Below are tips for producing a video in class.

Tips for producing a video in class

  • It’s what’s inside that counts: Prioritize storytelling! When beginning to say something, have a start, story development, and an end; also, a trigger to capture attention and generate questions in the viewer, so they want to keep watching. Innovate from the perspective of “‘the hero’s journey,” which is a basic storytelling structure.

  • We create content for the world: The audiovisual product has the full potential to go viral and transcend our content; therefore, reflect what is universal or go for local and global dimensions.

  • The objective of the video: Align the format with the video’s purpose (video-letter) for engagement (this works for all levels of education) or video-essay (suggested for the graduate level).

  • Audiovisual Resources: Familiarize the students with audiovisual formalities, emphasizing trends (staging, genre conventions, camera typology, recursion, jump cuts, and slang).

We live immersed in audiovisual culture; however, this format is new, considering that the moving image has existed only 120 years. Only in the last ten years has it been democratized. We live in a time of prosumers and ubiquity, i.e., anyone can produce content at any time or place. Nowadays, it is assumed that we have the technical expertise to achieve this, but how do we do it effectively? The quality of the video is no longer an impediment because any device offers an acceptable minimum. Technological access is increasingly widespread. In every classroom, there are several participants with these tools. There are no pretexts because the educational entity does not require significant infrastructure. Audiovisual production is something that does not require a high cost.

The way of presenting an audiovisual work differs from the statement of its objectives. The significant advance is the total freedom that we have in production. One can invoke great reflections without the need for text or voiceover (an announcer who narrates). There can be 100% visual production as well as hybridizations of genres and formats.

Examples of optimal innovation in reflection can be seen on the “Kogonada” and “everyframeapainting” channels. One can sense that the proliferation of YouTube channels is creating a new format where influencers and YouTubers share their co-natural language with students. The goal in the production of videos will not be unboxings and reviews, etc. but quality reflections regardless of the context. A pedagogical trend can be observed in the TikTok educational videos because more professionals are being added to the platform.

I perform professionally in the film industry. The subjects I teach are in the audiovisual and creative studios areas. It has allowed me to implement different experimentation levels in class, and I have never ceased to be surprised. From letting the students do 100% of the activities or guiding them closely, expecting them to generate content, focusing only on innovation and audiovisual resources like (split-screen, voiceover, fourth wall, playing with genre patterns, etc.). We emphasize the “international scope” of the results and the rigor of academic reflection so the results can be more transcendent, using creativity and video to solve problems in an era of screens and extreme audiovisual consumption.

Access to technology is no longer an impediment. Sometimes, exercises are carried out with the support of media centers and with professional, semi-professional, and amateur devices. The reality is that technological support does not matter – it’s what’s inside that counts. The format does not matter, either. Great works have had comical, philosophical, and even 100% audiovisual approaches (voice and text are absent) in motion graphics and collages, etc.

However, video creation is still not systematized for teaching. The reality is that having a cell phone and all the technological tools does not guarantee, not even remotely, a foundation for learning. In other words, a pencil does not make you a writer, and a musical instrument does not make you a musician. Having implemented audiovisuals in related subjects has allowed us to recognize the importance that some videos have as a projection vehicle to society and the classroom’s interior. We see its application in all topics and levels, hard sciences, creative sciences, primary levels (for specific support objectives), and postgraduate academic levels. Generally, the result of proposals and research remains in papers of academic rigor. In the latter case, the use of video can help to disseminate these exponentially.

Experience has shown the achievement of meaningful learning, mainly when it is based on storytelling. In other words, any learning support should be supported on the deep reflection of storytelling to achieve the desired purposes; otherwise, it will only be like watching a movie with special effects.

Perhaps the next time we implement a video project in the classroom, we will do it better if we understand that 80% of our brain is designed to assimilate and process images, which involves 70% less effort than reading a text and 80% less effort than listening. Considering that we are immersed in an audiovisual world, we can fathom that there is a logical and increasingly organic gap of opportunity to develop and implement audiovisual resources in teaching.

It would be a pleasure to collaborate with those interested, open dialogue, and share a moment of life.

About the author

Salvador Plancarte Hernández (s.plancarte@tec.mx) is a screenwriter, consultant for audiovisual content development, educational program designer, and an expert conference speaker, and a happy person.

References
Sánchez, J. (13 August 2020). La alfabetización audiovisual es un proceso de aprendizaje. (Audiovisual literacy is a learning process.) Recovered from https://lapazcomovamos.org/la-alfabetizacion-audiovisual-es-un-proceso-de-aprendizaje/

Editing by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Salvador Plancarte Hernández

This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0