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 Don Menzies has added to their wishlist Dec 18, 2009
Mr. Don Menzies
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The Westwood School
Class Information:
Room Number: Penn Warren Rm.
Students per Class: 40
Class Description:
This two-year course examines the art of filmmaking from the perspective of the filmmaker as craftsman as well as from the perspective of the critical film viewer. The course explores the technology and process of filmmaking while also analyzing and deconstructing films in an attempt to gain insight into the “who’s,” “what’s,” “why’s,” and “how’s” regarding a broad array of films. Course films cover a range of genres including film noir, comedy, gangster, western, drama, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, action, and adventure. A thorough exploration of the history of film, both in terms of its technical and thematic elements includes an examination of early silent film, a look at Hitchcock, an exploration of the independent film movement, a brief study of foreign film, and a lengthy examination of current trends in contemporary cinema. The critical study of film in this course will always be conducted with an eye toward the development of the students’ filmmaking skills. As an essential part of this course, students will write, produce, cast, direct, and shoot their own films, approaching this process from the perspective of D.W. Fenza who asserts that, as artists, we should always focus on the exploration of the relationship “between aesthetics and scholarship, between practice and theory, and between art and criticism.”
Position:
Instructor in IB Film, IB English, and Writing; Director of Curriculum & Instruction
Needs:
5 Ultra HD Flip Cameras from Flip Video SMART Document Camera 280
My Philosophy:
People get excited when learning is real and authentic. In response to this truth, the activities and assignments for my courses revolve around and grow out of one question: What do real readers, writers, thinkers, knowers, and creators do in their academic or vocational disciplines? Within this question a myriad of sub-questions must be addressed: What roles do these real “artists” play? How do professional readers, writers, thinkers, knowers, and creators approach texts, annotate texts, discuss texts, examine and analyze texts, respond to texts, and create texts? What texts do they create within the context and needs of their different disciplines? The examination and imitation of these processes, the examination of the ideas imbedded in the example texts, and the subsequent individually nuanced processes that arise from these examinations and imitations, form the bedrock of the curriculum for this course, a course designed to use written text and visual text (film) to construct meaning, and to expand the individual identity by exploring the breadth of the human relationship with both written and visual language.
Personal Information:
College and Degrees:
B.A. in Liberal Arts M.A. in English Literature Ph.D.in Aesthetic Studies (in progress)
Interests:
filmmaking, rock-climbing, writing, reading, backpacking
Why Do I Teach?:
I teach because I believe in the power of education to do the following three things: Educationfor emancipation: I truly believe that knowledge is power, that knowledge and understanding gives us as humans the ability to “name” the phenomena we encounter and thus, in an important way, bring them into existence in the world. The more we understand the reality behind things, the forces that affect our daily existence, the science of living, the better equipped we are to act as free beings, unencumbered by misunderstanding and miscommunication. Education as a means toward civic duty: Increasingly, education isn’t just about the individual; education must be concerned with our global community and how each of us contributes in some small way to the creation and maintenance of that community. If education frees and empowers the individual, then it also increases one’s freedom to act as a compassionate contributor to the global community and the overall enterprise of being human. Education as an impetus for social change: If change is the only constant, education is therefore the best hope we have that such change will be positive and uplifting rather than tragic and oppressive. Students who understand the experiences of others and the forces that contribute to these will be ever more likely to push for social change that moves the both the local and the global community in a positive direction. Theseare the reasons that I teach.
Percent of Students are:
     Average: 50 %
     High-achiever: 50 %
Percent of Students are:
     White/Caucasian : 90 %
     Hispanic: 10 %
Average number of students in class:: 12 students
Number of students I teach:: 40 students