Young film critics

Abstract

This thesis explores whether teaching a group of 9th grade pupils basic film-related theory and vocabulary has any impact on their written reflections about films. The thesis question is “Does pupil reflection of visual narratives evolve with short-term teaching?”. To answer this question, I initiated a qualitative intervention in a classroom, where I conducted three lessons about various cinematic techniques and their effect on the film and the viewer. Before and after the intervention the pupils watched a different short film and wrote a review for it. These reviews were used as the data in a thematic analysis to detect any difference in reflection and vocabulary. The findings indicate that a few of the pupils who already reflected well had improved reflections when they could incorporate how the film’s devices affected them and the film. Other pupils who only wrote a summary for the first review now could incorporate their opinion and reflection into their reviews. For the average pupils, there was a slight increase in vocabulary use, but no found increase in reflection. Despite marginal findings, the study thematizes the importance of working with film and film-related perspectives in English teaching. Film is an increasingly important part of children's and young people's lives, and heightened attention to visual and cinematic means and devices should form a central part of what we consider modern literacy.