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Building Learning Motivation through Film Theory

An important aspect of learning is building motivation. In today’s digital world a learner’s attention is a valuable commodity. One in which educators must constantly battle for a place at the table. So how can an educator compete with the myriad of things vying for their students’ attentions. Enter film theory.


By using film theory, educators can capture the attention of students and build motivation and interest. Brenda Perna, a learning designer and instructional technology specialist mentions in a post she made on IDOL Academy the concept of “mise-en-scene”. (Perna, 2023) Mise-en-scene translates to “put into scene”. In film this is the idea that anything within the frame of the shot has a purpose in the design. Directors on film projects understand that everything within the frame of the shot has a purpose for being there. This is a skill that can be very beneficial to instructional designers. Reiser and Dempsey state in their chapter “Motivation, Volition and Performance” that “Instructional designers and teachers can predictably influence motivation and volition in a positive way by applying a systematic process of design”. (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018) In film theory the process begins with the script. From the script comes storyboards to begin to understand what the actions in the shots will be. This is referred to as pre-production. This allows the director to figure out exactly how they want things to play out and what they might need to complete their film. Instructional designers can do something very similar. By developing a script of not just dialogue but actions as well. They can craft lessons in a way that can be concise and predictable to the learner. They are able to act as director and plan everything that will happen with the lesson. This can include gamification, motion graphics, moments for classroom group projects, whatever they imagine the lesson to be. It gives them a breakdown of how the lesson will flow. By building in a predictable fashion and thinking about the items designers include, instructional designers can create their own “mise-en-scene” or dare I say “mise-en-cours”.


Using film theory can be especially helpful when dealing with adult learners. This is because unlike child students they come with many of their own experiences. The instructional designer using the methods of the director can use filmmaking techniques to capitalize on that experience and help meet adult learners in a way that will captivate them and motivate them to learn. Directors have found that through storytelling you can build emotion by relating their audiences to shared experiences. During the script phase the designer has the opportunity to “pique the students’ interest to grab their attention and draw them in.” (Di Paolo, Wakefield, Mills, & Baker, 2017) Studies have found a “link between interest and learning.” (Wijnker, Tan, Bakker, M. van Gog, & Drijvers, 2021) By building relatable items into the storytelling during the script phase, the designer is able to capture the attention of the learning audience. Once that connection is achieved, the student is then emotionally invested in the subject matter. Finally, now that the student is engaged in the material it will promote learning of the subject being discussed.



Another use of film theory in this fight for attention is the use of movement. This pertains mainly to online learning. By keeping things within the frame moving, you reinforce audience interest and attention. This psychological aspect has been known by filmmakers and animators for a very long time. Filmmakers use this concept to focus attention on the important subject matter. Thereby holding the audience’s attention but directing them to what is important and switching that importance on an as needed basis. This can be accomplished by tracking (or following) a subject or building emphasis on something by moving the camera closer (pushing in) and isolating a particular element of a scene. Animators do this by having something move when it is important then using movement elsewhere to draw the audience’s attention to something else in the shot or scene. By using movement, you create not only interest but importance and value in what is being shown. This is known as “Attention-from-Motion.” (Hu, Rajan, & Liang-tian, 2009) This can be a very powerful tool for instructional designers building online courses because it allows the designer to focus the attention of learners on information that is of importance. Examples are video content that keeps the camera moving slightly or motion graphics that are animated. This method allows the learner to focus on the most important information quickly and know what is meaningful to their studies.


Conclusion


By employing techniques developed in the filmmaking industry, instructional designers help better engage their learners and capture their students’ attentions. When creating lessons, the designers can use storytelling and script writing techniques to build in a concise and predictable fashion that helps the students easily follow lessons and incorporate elements to help maintain their engagement. As the designer is formulating their lesson structure, they can include relatable elements that the students can reflect upon and relate to their own past experiences either in previous lessons or general life experience. Also, by creating elements that are moving, students consistently understand what is of importance among the information being given to them. This removes guess work and keeps their understanding concise and on task.


Works Cited

Di Paolo, T., Wakefield, J. S., Mills, L. A., & Baker, L. (2017). Lights, camera, action: Facilitating the design and production of effective instructional videos. TechTrends, 61(5), 452–460. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-017-0206-0


Hu, Y., Rajan, D., & Chia, L.-T. (2009). Attention-from-motion: A factorization approach for detecting attention objects in Motion. Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 113(3), 319–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cviu.2008.08.010


Perna, B. (2023, February 17). Applying film theory to Elearning. IDOL courses. Retrieved March 18, 2023, from https://www.idolcourses.com/blog/filmtheory


Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2018). Trends and issues in Instructional Design and Technology. Pearson.


Wijnker, W., Tan, E. S., Bakker, A., van Gog, T. A., & Drijvers, P. H. (2021). Film as the engine for learning. Projections, 15(2), 56–90. https://doi.org/10.3167/proj.2021.150203

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5 Comments


rswatson1
Sep 14

Introduction

The author of this blog makes the claim that film theory, specifically, the term “put into scene”, should be a part of classroom activities and teaching to greatly enhance student motivation and engagement. Creations in education today are undeniably strained by the endless stream of filters of various devices and social media that constantly seek to take over students’ attention. Educators are essentially doomed to the idea that every year becomes more and more tiresome to keep a learner’s eyes focused on instruction. I agree that film theory could be a great help to provide something that has always been the main goal in education, more meaningful learning experiences, able to attract student participation and engagement. Di Paolo et…

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epagansanchez
Dec 02, 2023

Objective

I completely agree that teacher education should equip teachers with interdisciplinary knowledge that helps them excel in managing teaching and learning processes. Using cinema as a teaching resource can be a great way to promote critical thinking among students. It can also help overcome the lack of motivation that many students experience due to the traditional teaching methods. I recently read in a research paper by Keller (2018) that objectives can be a great way to create feelings of relevance among students. This is contrary to the popular belief that instructions should be perceived as useful for students to consider it relevant. In my opinion, the use of cinema in teaching can motivate students and help them feel…


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EJHoover
Jul 09, 2023

Erin Speight

June 2023

According to the case study, Building Learning Motivation through Film Theory, Film Theory Can be very helpful when dealing with Adult learners. This is because, unlike child students, adults come with many of their own experiences. Storytelling an instructional designer can help most adult learners be motivated and captivate them by using filmmaking techniques to capitalize on that experience.


Reiser, 20170110, p. 82, mentioned for years there has been an effort to build applied motivation. Year Motivational Models focus on one specific motivational characteristic like achievement motive. However, Recent one has tried to broaden the models to be more relevant. In order to figure out which model best fits the learner; an instructor would first have…


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nywilliams
Mar 19, 2023

Instructional designers can improve student engagement and retention with the use of effective video (or animation) design. Videos can serve multiple roles within a curriculum or a lesson including an introduction to grab the learner’s attention, demonstration of a process or product that can’t be available in the learning environment, or enrichment or reinforcement options for learners to use on their own. Every video should have an educational purpose otherwise it becomes counterproductive and not engaging at all. (Meyer, 2014).


When designing videos, it is important to consider how it visually tells a compelling story through camera angles, movements, lighting, the plot and character development. When designers take the time to better understand their target audience, the story, location or…


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cjingram
Mar 19, 2023

Building Learning Motivation Through Film Theory


Film theory is one of those tools that instructional designers should take into consideration when developing their curriculum. As an instructional designer, the idea of film into my class is something that I have considered but have no idea where to start. There is a paper on Short Film is Where Innovative Storytelling is Born (2022) that discusses the use of storytelling in the classroom. It references a website www.shortoftheweek.com you may find interesting. The paper the Cinderella effect on film as well as the use of speculative fictions short film, the science fiction short film and the docu-mentary short film that can be used in a classroom to demonstrate many difference subjects. (Ornel…



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