One of the students added continuous background music, which they did not have originally. It gave the video a very energetic flow. . .much more of a true action adventure feeling.
And then we had J’s movie.
NOW THIS IS CREATIVE THINKING. What he did not only changed the “feel” of the piece, he created a completely different idea. First … the film was no longer in color… It was in black and white. He took out all of the original gun sounds. Now, I don’t know where he found the background music he added, but it sounds exactly like somebody sitting at a piano back in the early 1900’s playing music as an accompaniment for a silent movie….which is what his video truy became. To me, he took a very average short video and created a fun and interesting “silent movie.” Now, my point is …this kid really used his IMAGINATION….and he took a huge chance.. He (somehow) knew about silent movies. He knew what the music they used back then sounded like. He knew that the tempo of the movie was faster because of the cameras that they had back at that time. My point is….he knew about the genre, saw a potential connection, and he finally trusted himself enough to go out on a limb and do this. And, it reaffirmed in my mind, that they know so much more than they think they know, if you can just find the “avenue” that will give them a chance to express it.. He was SO PROUD of the reaction the entire class gave his work…they totally flipped out…he literally beamed !
Ray, I’m tearing up. What a powerful shared classroom moment.
To me, it is a good thing even if it is only for that wonderful moment when the other members of his group and the class looked at his film and said to him “How did you do that?” and “I had no idea you could do this”, and “I never would have thought about that” ….,BUT HE DID. He created a truly original project. Again….it’s back to the trust factor. It can seem so daunting until you finally let down your guard and try… and you have those little increments of success…but soon you learn that success comes when you learn to believe in yourself.
You’ve said something to this effect several times in this interview. Why is instilling a sense of self confidence such a theme in your teaching philosophy?
I was that little boy soprano, you know, growing up, and everybody said, “Oh, your singing sounds so pretty,” ….and that was great, singing in the church and school choirs and musicals…but I was scared to death every time I had to perform…I was so afraid I would make a mistake. It was not until a teacher in High School helped me see that I did have strong natural abilities but I needed to develop them. So I started studying voice and not only did those natural skills develop but mostly my self confidence grew also. Then every time I had the opportunity to perform it became “Yes, I can do that.. Yes. I can stand in front of a bunch of people and be absolutely comfortable with letting them hear what I can do. Now ….I’ve been doing it for years …but I still get nervous before I walk out on stage , but I have learned to trust myself and the talents I have….so as soon as I step out on stage the nerves go away and the fun for me begins.
I can’t imagine you NOT being utterly accomplished in all things!
I was the world’s worst actor. Oh my God. I have a review of a musical I was in when I was in high school at Jackson’s Little Theater, where New Stage is right now. The reviewer said ““Ray McFarland is quite a talent, he’s quite the singer. The acting is not there yet… But BOY CAN HE SING”. ok… I’ve got to work on that acting thing.” So I did.
But again, back to the student …when I told him how proud I was of his work, he was like, “really?” I replied “Dude, do you have any idea what you did? I mean, all of the different choices YOU made and the clear and precise steps that YOU took?” He said “Well, yes, but I was afraid I was making a mistake. . .that I was going too far.” I told him “it’s not about possibly going too far. It’s about what you did. You trusted yourself, you decided that “this is what I’m going to do” and you did it. I added “And by the way the technical work is great and would do you mind if I share it?” His face lit up and he’s said, “Oh, absolutely, please do.”
So …that kid now has reached a HIGHER level. My goal or my hope is that this confidence level that he’s reached right now will allow him to take another step, not only in this class, but in anything else that he’s doing. Because you know, the important thing is we’re all working toward the same goal, no matter what class you’re in. We really don’t teach them what to think, but really how to think, how to feel about learning, and hopefully about trusting how they really feel about things around them. Chances are, it’s probably going to work out to be a pretty good thing… if you trust in it.
The other piece that I think is genius is how you narrowed the scope to “ this is a unit about sound.” That’s something we can all do in all of our classes, right? Do one thing at a time because as a novice, I can’t handle thinking about 16 different things, right? Design, lighting, construction, and dialogue. And I really think that’s a powerful takeaway for all of us in terms of like, how much do we ask students to do at a given moment?
I think it’s one of those things that we as teachers forget, because if you look at any profession, it’s specialization, any doctor in the operating room, his thing is making the cuts. That’s all he does. He’s got an anesthesiologist that handles something else, a respiratory therapist , he’s got nurses that are standing there and assisting in the room; the radiologist that’s going to be watching. It takes a team doing what each one does best. So in an assignment, you know, like you’re saying, be very specific, let them have this moment of, of absolute success within this realm. They made the movie together. Now you are the sound engineer. How can you make it even better?
When you got my attention and showed me Jay’s movie in the library that afternoon, there was like a gasp .. . like, and I don’t even have the tools or the knowledge base to really know why that other video was so distinct. And it just felt right. Like what I saw his video, but you have at least the tools to explain, like, here’s why, right?
Thank you very much. And I agree with that on a level, but my point in a class like this, YES YOU DO have the tools . . . you HAVE experienced it before…It is in your head… and what we have to learn as creative people is to realize that “It’s there”, maybe not all of the parts needed, but I CAN USE WHAT I KNOW, and figure out the rest.. It’s focusing your creative abilities…focusing that incredible IMAGINATION we all have. “J” probably saw a silent movie at some point in his life…and liked it. When presented with a creative outlet he thought, “well, let me use that.” Maybe it was watching the TV show Beverly Hillbillies where, you know, he saw a silent movie, and he thought, “that’s funny, look how they are jumping around” And then he, when he had this assignment to deal with, he looked at it and decided “well, you know, what would it look like IF I TRIED TO DO THIS?” And that’s the step that’s important .It’s those little steps of CREATIVE growth. And for him, this was a huge step…and a successful one.
You know, maybe this will be that first step for him. Maybe this will be the step where he goes, “Well, I did it there…. Now I can do it here.” We all love those moments….it’s why we teach.