Visual Communication in Education

Life on the Screen: Visual Literacy in Education

George Lucas is an American cinema legend, known for his films Star Wars, American Graffiti, and Raiders of the Lost Arc. He believes that we need to begin working on the American education system now. He feels as though schools are not using the tools of today. The schools are stuck in a "time capsule" and using the methods and ideas of the past. Lucas feels as though we need to work on communication, not only written and spoken, but graphics, music, and cinema as well. These are the types of communication intertwined with the culture of today. Lucas does make a great point when he says that measuring these types of visual communication in an institution would be difficult. However, he does believe there is rules to these visual communications just there is in math. Lucas feels as though you can teach how different colors and different chords can be used to convey different emotions. He believes in a circle of communication. He begins with math, the least emotional, then to the written and spoken communication, and finally to the visual communications, like art and music. Lucas fears we have do not focus enough on the visual and the emotional, and we have put all our focus on the intellectual. He makes a very great point about the dangers of not teaching visual communication to students. We have doctors, lawyers, and even professors who are extremely intelligent. Yet, they cannot communicate visually and can struggle to get a point across. Lucas feels we need to focus on teaching students to tell a story rather than teaching them to store facts. Another great point Lucas makes is how different the business world and the education world are. The business world thrives on change and if you do not keep up, you will never make it. The education world, on the other hand, looks for stability. He sees the faults in our society. Not enough money or emphasis is put on our education system. He puts it best, "Nothing is accomplished through conquest. Everything is accomplished through education."

Reading Film: The Story of Movies

A sixth grade class from Santa Barbara is analyzing scenes from films like "To Kill a Mockingbird", for a project called "The Story of Movies" developed by Martin Scorsese . This project challenges students and teachers to look at film through three different lenses, a communication tool , a historical document, and a work of art. Scorsese wants to train "the eye and the heart of the students to look at a film in a different way by asking questions and pointing to different  ideas, different concepts." This program helps to teach students that everything they see on film and on television is not real. It teaches them to analyze how it is made and how it is fake. "The Story of Movies" program is a free program that is accessible to educators all across the country. The goal is for students to learn the history of the movie, learn about the tools filmmakers use to make these movies, and learn how to convey different emotions.