Find it in Film believes in the value of using brief video clips to engage student interest, anchor instructional content, and illustrate difficult concepts graphically. By “brief” we mean clips of five minutes or fewer in duration that can be worked seamlessly into print- or project-based instruction. If longer segments are to be screened, or even entire films, they should be presented through an interactive viewing routine. Too many of even the most thoughtful lesson plans we see involving visual media employ a variation on the hoary “pop-and-play” approach favored by those who feel they need to entertain students on lazy afternoons by using video as a kind of treat: there are a series of pre-viewing questions and post-viewing activities while the great expanse between the two is treated as inviolable for some reason.
In short, the most effective teachers use visual media simply as another kind of text. Just as one wouldn’t read aloud from The Grapes of Wrath for one or two hours without interruption as a form of “instruction,” one should not show John Ford’s classic film version without actively mediating its text for students. Interactive viewing entails watching visual media critically, pausing to ask and answer questions, comparing and contrasting visual information with what’s been read in print texts, keeping media literacy issues in mind throughout the viewing process, and so on.
The legal principle of Fair Use, while not limited to education, is of vital importance to teachers who wish to use a wide array of visual media in the classroom. When Find it in Film includes information on teaching with feature films, TV shows, and other “non-educational” media on this site it is affirming Fair Use in the strongest of terms. Basically the idea states that the benefit to society—in this case through education—can outweigh the economic interests of the individual copyright holder.
Unfortunately when it comes to using copyrighted materials, many myths and non-legal “guidelines” have been generated by institutional attorneys and then propagated by well-meaning teachers, media specialists, and administrators. Find it in Film’s stance is that as long as educators are transforming and repurposing copyrighted material through the instructional framework they apply to it, they are not violating any laws. And if educators are not approaching media in this manner, but rather using a “non-optimal” presentation that stresses classroom entertainment, they have no business using the media in the first place.
Please note: We are not stating that producers and distributors of general-audience documentaries or education-market-specific titles should expect that their rights have been waived when their work is screened in schools. In terms of Fair Use, what we're suggesting applies to using clips from Gone with the Wind or Glory to enhance a unit on the U.S. Civil War—not Ken Burns's PBS series. Works that are intended to provide expository content on a given subject are not being repurposed or transformed when they are doing the exact same thing in the context of a classroom setting. Indeed, part of our mission is to support filmmakers financially by showing our visitors the possible educational applications for their work. To that end, we encourage educators and media specialists to seek out the Web sites and other official distribution channels of Find it in Film's many partners and advertisers. For more information on how copyright issues affect educators, go to the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center or to Temple University's Media Education Lab.
While this Web site features some video on the home page, and occasionally provides links to online vendors and distributors, it is not Find it in Film’s primary goal to act as either a supplier or seller of visual media. In fact, alongside most of the commercial click-throughs that you’ll encounter is a WorldCat search box that will allow you to find the same item in a library near you.
At Find it in Film, we are striving to create a comprehensive clearinghouse for information about visual media in education. To that end, we not only provide certain tools, but also will be constantly enhancing them in the months to come.
Please use the Google-powered site search to find items within the pages and content-area blogs. Eventually this tool will be replaced by our proprietary “Find It” search engine that is keyed directly to the database of visual media we’re currently building.
In the content inventories, Find it in Film simply lists the key information that can be found in various types of media. In this way we help educators find sources that tie to their instructional needs. If you use the site search, for example, to locate a given movie title, you may find that it appears in the content inventory of a book whose subject matter may suggest a new angle or teaching idea with which to approach the film. Similarly, searching on curricular content directly will lead you the visual media titles where you can find them.
The content inventories list information in the order in which it appears in the book or film, making it easier for you to locate precise passages or clips. In addition, items that are covered at greater length or in greater depth than others are called out, often with asterisks; in this way, you can evaluate sources for the information you’re interested in, distinguishing those that simply mention it in passing from those with more robust coverage.
Point-of-use annotations for any digitally-available visual media is a key feature of this site that Find it in Film is developing in conjunction with educators at all levels. Similar to annotations in printed texts, Media Annotations clarify, expand upon, or build background regarding the content of specific clips. For more information on how to share the “teachable moments” that you’ve discovered in your work with film and video, click here.
The importance of the clip-based annotation in what we do is consistent with Find it in Film’s pedagogical approach in general: often the strategic viewing of specific clips is preferable to screening the longer work in its entirety. Additionally, using briefer clips allows you to omit scenes that may not be appropriate for any number of reasons yet still permits you to leverage the overall power of a given title. For example, teachers using the 1930 film version of All Quiet on The Western Front may want to know which scenes convey the horror of war and yet are not too graphic for their students. That’s where the Media Annotations can help.
All text, design elements, and original proprietary features copyright © 2007 Find it in Film, Inc. For the rights granted educators using site content, click here.