This month the National Film Board will be releasing its latest contribution to media education, Constructing Reality; Exploring Media Issues in Documentary. The package has been enthusiastically reviewed by a number of AML members – Barry Duncan, John Pungente, Rick Shepherd and George Ventura – as well as media educators across the country and it is getting rave reviews from all corners.
The six-volume Constructing Reality package contains 34 documentaries and film excerpts from the NFB and from the Canadian private sector, and a 288-page resource book. The package has been designed to challenge senior secondary students to critically examine documentary filmmaking and to explore media-related issues in our society today.
Constructing Reality was developed over a three-year period with educators, media specialists and senior students. The films included in the package were tested with hundreds of Ontario students. The criteria for including a film? That the subject be interesting to kids, that it engage a young audience and generate good discussion. If a film did not "pass", it was not included, no matter how much the adults liked it! John Pungente says "it is very evident that the directors have listened to the ideas and remarks of the students and teachers who participated in the project. This has made a difference."
Constructing Reality contains films on a broad range of topics including Aboriginal issues, family violence, the art of dance, the gold rush, the Holocaust, the Quiet Revolution, political journalism, and Black culture in Nova Scotia. Produced especially for the package are two new productions by project co-director David Adkin, What is a Documentary?, which gives a quick preview of the films and issues and explores definitions and perceptions of the genre by students, teachers and filmmakers and Techno- babies: The Making of a Television Documentary, which traces behind-the-scenes decisions and preparations for a Man Alive programme. All in all, the package is a library in itself, with application in English, Social Studies, Art, and Family Life and as well as Media Literacy classes. Educators who have previewed it are already talking about pooling the resources of a number of departments so they can get it into their own school library.
For teachers, the key to this collection is the 288-page companion book by well-known media educator and project co-director, Arlene Moscovitch. This easy-to-use manual combines eloquent writing and lucid insights about media and culture with a wealth of information, classroom materials and teaching strategies for each video selection. The book, which includes visuals for hands-on exercises and interviews with people involved in all aspects of the filmmaking process, can be freely copied for classroom use. Teachers have commented on the flexibility and "user-friendliness" of the package.
The premise behind Constructing Reality is that, far from being transparent windows onto reality, documentaries, like all forms of filmmaking – are mediated constructions, the result of countless decisions made by individuals. The materials in Constructing Reality's six units encourage students to consider the filmmaker's responsibility when combining fact and fiction and they raise a host of questions for classroom debate around issues of gender, class, race, violence, and point of view in "objective" programming.
Constructing Reality is scheduled to be released in the next few weeks. The entire package, including the book will sell for $399.00. The book alone will be available for $45 (plus taxes, where applicable). All Mediacy readers will be personally included in the direct mail campaign in early March. To order, contact the National Film Board of Canada, Sales and Customer Services (D-10), PO Box 6100, Station A, Montreal, PQ H3C 3H5. Tel: 1-800-267-7710, Fax: (514) 283-7564.
This package will be reviewed extensively in upcoming issues of Mediacy beginning with the next issue in the Spring. This is the third attempt by the NFB to produce a media literacy package. The first was a single videotape which contained some interesting titles, but its media literacy relevance was obscure. The second package was a three-tape collection of NFB films which directly addressed media literacy issues, such as the wonderful animated short, TV Sale. This third collection accesses the Film Board's priceless collection of documentaries. The book which accompanies the collection is not only well-written and useful, it's printing and paper quality puts it in a "coffee-table" class of publication.