Media Literacy

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In 2024, I led a series of Film & TV classes for a small group of homeschool students. The curriculum was designed to explore a variety of tasks and topics, offering the students insight into different career paths within the filmmaking industry.

Here’s the curriculum outline.

Term 1. Story to Script: We started the year learning about Screenplays – we read a whole bunch of them and wrote our own; a short film about an ex-monster hunter who leaves retirement to face the one that got away.

  1. Anatomy of a story
  2. Story jam
  3. Character
  4. Plot
  5. Thinking in scenes
  6. The screenplay
  7. Rough draft
  8. First draft
  9. Final draft
  10. Review

Term 2. The Shot-list: We explored cinematography concepts. This culminated in a full storyboarded shotlist (complete with shot size, camera angles, composition, and movement).

  1. Shot Size
  2. Composition
  3. Angle
  4. Movement
  5. Storyboarding
  6. Storyboarding
  7. Storyboarding
  8. Marking elements
  9. Concept shots
  10. Review

Term 3. On Location: This term was about pre-production and production. We had a blast location scouting, and learning about what it was like to be on set. We even got to have coffee with a professional actor, and learned first-hand what it’s like to work in the industry.

  1. Crew roles
  2. Scheduling, Planning, Budgeting
  3. Casting
  4. Auditions
  5. Location scouting
  6. Prop hunting
  7. On set: Day 1
  8. On set: Day 2
  9. On set: Day 3
  10. Review

Term 4. Final Cut: Unfortunately, we didn’t end up making it this far. A few students had to drop out, and we decided it was best to pick things up again at a later date. But here’s what we planned.

  1. Meet Final Cut Pro
  2. Logging
  3. Assembly
  4. Rough cut
  5. Music and sound
  6. Fine cut
  7. Colour grading
  8. Final Cut
  9. Screening
  10. Review

In the process of putting together these lessons, I came to realise that a deep understanding of media is incredibly important. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that “Film & TV”, also known as Media Class, is the most useful class a student can take.

Here’s why.

Media Literacy

We’re living in the Information Age. Everyone knows it. But what’s under-appreciated is the nature of the information that surrounds us: it’s overwhelmingly multi-modal. Text, images, video, audio – information now comes at us from every conceivable angle, often all at once.

Media class teaches an expansive form of literacy that goes beyond just reading and writing. It’s about understanding and creating across multiple modes of communication. Learning how to read, write, listen, watch, question, and converse is an essential part of a modern education.

Active Literacy

In a world where the cost of creating and distributing new content is effectively zero, critical thinking has become the ultimate survival skill. Media teaches students to:

  • Discern fact from fiction
  • Detect biases in storytelling
  • Understand subtext and intention

This isn’t the passive consumption that traditional ”3 Rs” literacy might train you for. Media literacy is active. It’s about wrestling with the information you’re given, questioning its motives, and deciding what to do with it. It’s learning not just how to absorb information, but how to interrogate it.

Emotional Literacy

Ever been baited into an argument online? Fallen for an emotionally manipulative ad? Been blindsided by a tweet that seemed innocuous but wasn’t? Emotional literacy is the antidote to the modern internet’s arsenal of tone, context, baiting, trolling, and rhetoric.

Media class doesn’t just show students what to look out for; it helps them understand why people communicate the way they do. No other subject dives as deeply into the nuances of communication, delivering emotional intelligence outcomes that are critical for navigating digital spaces.

Inter-Disciplinary Literacy

While many school subjects serve specific purposes, Media Class is an outlier: it’s broadly applicable to nearly every aspect of life. From advertising to politics, from entertainment to religion, Media helps us decode and analyse the forces shaping our world.

Even within the school setting, Media crosses boundaries. Media literacy amplifies understanding in nearly every other subject. Take Film & TV, and you’ve gained a toolkit for analysing everything else you’ll encounter.

Media matters more than ever. Every year, the volume of data grows, its delivery becomes more sophisticated, and the consequences of misunderstanding escalate. Without a foundation in Media literacy, students are left vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation. With it, they’re equipped to engage with the world critically, creatively, and empathetically.

Media isn’t just a class; it’s a survival guide for the 21st century. If you’re lucky enough to take it, pay attention. It might just be the most important class you’ll ever take.