It was during my time as director of the Nickelodeon Theatre’s Helen Hill Media Education Center that I was introduced to its’ namesake. Helen, a Columbia native, was an extra-ordinary filmmaker and artist. I was unfamiliar with her work in 2013, but I was very familiar with her passion – filmmaking and education.

I took the position as Director of the new center because of my own passion for film and education. After years of attending career fairs and hosting field trips during my tenure at Genesis Studios, I deeply felt a need to do more. At the center I had the opportunity to create programming, change curriculum, and give young kids tools that could potentially change the trajectory of their lives.

Helen had this simple idea that I latched onto very early: “anyone can make a film, all you need is a good idea.” I fell in love with it. But I must admit, I always thought the second half of that phrase was missing something. I think what Helen was trying to say was all you need is a good idea AND the tools.

This past summer, for the second year in a row, I had the pleasure of hosting a three week Media Literacy Workshop for the Olympia Learning Center here in Columbia, SC. Students and teachers got a chance to learn the basics of moving image literacy.  Basically, how to use the video camera to communicate a story, message or idea. I take great joy in teaching people the tools to change the way they think and teach them how to look at video in a totally different way. But the absolute ultimate joy I feel is when a person  has that “eureka” moment.

Watching a “eureka” moment happen in real time is like watching your favorite team win the game on a buzzer beater.  It’s the same feeling of watching the joy on a child’s face after their first bike ride without training wheels. It is complete euphoria.

This occurred several times throughout my workshop at Olympia – with teachers, students, and administrators. But there is one moment I will never forget.

The first day Michael came to our session was at least a week into our workshop. I’ve seen kids like him hundreds of times. Baggy clothes, not speaking, clearly bored with the lameness of school as well as the students around him. He came in and slumped over in his desk to sleep. It didn’t take long for me to know he was a problem student. In fact, I later found out our session was the first time he has participated in any class that summer.

Something remarkable happened only fifteen minutes after class began. Because Michael didn’t have a partner to film his first practice exercise, I decided to partner with him. At first, it was complete resistance. More than once he stepped away from the camera to mention how “this was lame” and that he didn’t know what to do because he had never done it before. That last statement was often followed by a snicker – a small punctuation to let me know how ridiculous he thought this class was.

But then, it happened.

About halfway through the exercise Michael started giving me his own thoughts on direction. By the time we got to the last shot, Michael was fully directing. He quickly understood the concept of how a wide shot, medium shot, or close-up can be used to communicate a thought. I could see his mind visualizing how each shot would work together in the edit. His eyes would wander each time he looked in the air when directing me on that last shot. Several times he moved the camera, mumbling phrases to himself like “no, that doesn’t work” or “yeah, that looks good right there”.

In one hour, Michael went from the kid who doesn’t want to be here, to asking me after class if I would be at the school the next day. His last remark being that he thought my class was “dope, yo.”

Little did Michael know, that when he walked out of the class to leave me there alone,  my eyes welled up with water. Which I quickly wiped away in case he, or anyone returned.

That feeling of euphoria had hit me again. I knew that Michael “got it.” But I also knew in that moment that ANYONE could “get it.”

So many times students aren’t given access to the tools and resources that can literally change the way they learn. The same tools that could possibly change their lives. In many cases, those students are children of color. These students are often written off because of their behavior, demeanor, or because of their appearance. Too often instructors forget how valuable that learning tools are. Forget how valuable taking chances are. Forget how valuable these students are.

Michael only came back twice after that day. Another student finished the edit on his film, but we made sure to put his name in the credits. Turns out Helen was right, anyone CAN make a film. All they need is a good idea…and the tools. And maybe a instructor that cares doesn’t hurt either.

This Spring, I had the pleasure of filling some really big shoes. A colleague and one of the nicest people I know, Producer Betsy Newman, was stepping down from her teaching position at Columbia College – a historically liberal arts women’s college here in Columbia, SC. She was looking for someone with experience in teaching and producing film to takeover her film classes. I was immediately intrigued, because I grew up not too far from the school; a nappy headed kid from a tough neighborhood called Ridgewood. How cool would it be to not just advocate for my community, but to also contribute to one of it’s nearby institutions? But it wasn’t until I met Dr. Nancy Tuten, the chair of the Communication, Language and Literature department, that I accepted the position – and here is why.

For close readers (pun-intended), you may have immediately noticed something a bit unusual: a film class in the communication, language and literature department? Usually on college campuses around the world, film and video classes are housed under either an Art or Media Art Department. Occasionally, one will find the film theory or film history classes tucked somewhere in an English or History Department. However, my years of working in moving image literacy has taught me what I now know to be true: the best way to teach film and video IS to teach it as a language FIRST. Let me elaborate.

Victory: the achievement of mastery or success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties. (Merriam-Webster)

Film is, in itself, a form of communication. It is the very reason why it is taught as a part of Media Literacy Education. Because literacy is the ability to read and write, any organization that teaches film or video and doesn’t teach how to read and write with film, is failing its students. The ultimate goal when teaching, is to help students’ get to a point of understanding. Once they understand, they win – that is a victory. Teaching ‘use’ only is setting a student up to lose. It is the equivalent of teaching a student how to USE a hammer and nail, when they came to learn how to build a house. There is a giant leap between learning how to hang a picture and learning how to turn pieces of wood into a livable structure.

Columbia College was interested in teaching their students how to communicate with video, FIRST. The class, WRIT 350: Introduction to Narrative with Digital Video, begins with learning the language of film. From the first day of class we ask questions such as: What are the 5 rules of Media Literacy? How do filmmakers use composition to communicate a message? What does that mean? How can that help me READ film? How can it help me WRITE my own messages?

Of my small class of thirteen students, only two of them had prior video experience – and that was in high school. Many of my students struggled in the very beginning, because quite frankly, they had never been introduced to the concept of understanding how to read and write using film or video. In other words, they had not yet tasted victory in learning video. Yet as the semester continued, I saw what I have seen time and again with this extremely effective approach – they were learning to be better communicators. This became obvious at our final class screening.  Each student debuted their 3-5 minute documentary to 75 attendees in the Spears Concert Hall on campus, to an incredulous audience who couldn’t believe they accomplished so much in so little time. In the talkback after the screening, students commented on how they began to ask themselves questions like “What am I trying to say?” and “What question am I trying to answer?” when setting up a shot or re-doing an edit. These were questions they were never taught to ask before when learning video. These are the questions that you ask when learning to communicate. It was exactly by asking those types of questions that allowed them to have films that transmitted their ideas and messages more clearly.

It was odd to me to hear so many students, staff and audience members thank me for the methods I used when teaching the class and the approach I took in explaining film as a language. Mainly because, I didn’t do ANY of the work! I only presented film in the same manner as the father of media literacy John Culkin suggests,

“…the study of media, accompanied by the hands-on involvement, leads to creativity, critical thinking, heightened motivation toward school work and a habit of experimentation and play that can lead to all sorts of discoveries.” (Moody, The Children of Telstar, 1993)

This spring at Columbia College my intention was for my students to learn how to read and write a new language, i.e. the language of film. Students came to class with basic fundamentals for how to use a video camera, but they did not know that the camera uses its own language, and how understanding that language could make them better communicators. Students discovered a new process that not only taught them new skills, but also improved their ability to communicate. And that is a victory.

Interested in watching the 13 short docs that my students wrote, filmed, and edited all by themselves? Check out their youtube channel HERE.