and in front of the camera. Do you need permission to film people or locations? Keep your crew informed of all decisions. 4. Editing/finalizing: Refer to your big question and shot list and arrange your film in a way that tells the story. Did you find new things while you were shooting? Did the plan change? Is there a new story to tell? These are all valuable questions when you begin editing. Once you decide what you have and what story you can tell, put it in order. Think about the length of each shot. Is there a connection from one shot to the next? Is it important to you to show disjunction? Editing is another place where you can insert your unique point of view. 5. Presentation: Set up a time to look at your films together. As you watch your classmates’ videos, be an active viewer. What questions are coming up for you? What is your impression of the experience or story? Are the filmmakers able to express a style of their own? Were the filmmakers able to use filmmaking as a tool for justice, or anything else?
lessons learned from the experience. 7. Share your documentaries with us by emailing them to museumeducation@oscars.org.
• What were some of the challenges that she faced as a Black woman making films? • What were some of the experiences that led to her first film? What were some of the lessons she learned? • What are some of the themes that she focused on in her films?
to identify Black boys as significantly older than they are and more prone to use force upon Black youth.† In the Op-Ed Goff wrote for the Chicago Tribune‡ in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd, he states, “The problem begins with how humans see and remember. We navigate the complexity of everyday life by filtering information through scenarios our brains have rehearsed—the cognitive basis for stereotypes. Most of the time, these stories serve us well. Balloons connote a party; a snake’s hiss means danger.” He goes on to say, “…Because they are so often accurate, these mental shortcuts can literally substitute what we assume comes next for what we actually witness.” Goff gives the example of police violence that occurred in 1999, where after shooting Amadou Diallo 19 times, the police officers swore they saw a gun when later it was proven that he was holding his up his wallet. Goff points out that while, “Bypassing these shortcuts to witness the real version of events is mentally exhausting,” by slowing down and “bearing witness longer…we can resist the lure of our minds’ habits — and learn to seek a vision of justice, instead. Stereotypes serve to divide people and uphold DOMINANT NARRATIVES. What we lose through stereotypes is our autonomy and the complexity of being individual human beings. Throughout this guide, we will: begin to look at some of the ways Black people have been stereotyped through entertainment and media; introduce questions and activities to help to unpack and identify the visual aesthetics of Black stereotypes; and provide ideas for how to facilitate difficult conversations around this complex subject matter while considering new ways to celebrate, honor, and embrace individual perspectives and experiences. * Deepa Shivaram. “Black Children Are Hospitalized From Police Violence At A Higher Rate : NPR.” NPR.org, September 9, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035452389/black- children-police-injuries-hospitalized-california-study. † Phillip Atiba Goff, Matthew Christian Jackson, Brooke Allison Lewis Di Leone, Carmen Marie Culotta, and Natalie Ann DiTomasso. “The Essence of Innocence: Consequences of Dehumanizing Black Children.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 106, no. 4 (2014): 526–45. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035663.
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D. Topical Essay with Activities
• What are some of the values she maintains as a filmmaker? How would you define her working style? • These two films, produced ten years apart, show the struggle and agency of Black people during the height of the civil rights era. How is Madeline Anderson adding to the HISTORICAL RECORD by making these films? Activity: Short documentary about community Prepare, plan, and shoot a short, 5–10 minute documentary film highlighting something happening in your community. The subject can be an issue, an event, a video portrait of a community member or business, or a portrait of a place central to your community. It can be a story about something impacting young people or a celebration. There are no limits to the topic you choose.
The Way They Look at Us: Stereotypes and Tropes in Black Cinema
Keywords: stereotype, Jim Crow, blackface, minstrel show, minstrelsy, racism, lived experience, World War II, civil rights movement, trope, visual literacy (or aesthetics), critical media literacy
Words set in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).
Context
STEREOTYPES are beliefs and opinions people hold about the characteristics, traits, and behaviors of a certain group of people or objects. People are often stereotyped based on sex, gender identity, race and ethnicity, nationality, age, socioeconomic status, language, and more. Stereotypes are deeply embedded within social institutions and cultures. While stereotyping is ubiquitous throughout all societies and cultures, reducing and minimizing people’s human qualities and life experiences can cause both ideological and literal harm. Many types of stereotyping are destructive, and racialized stereotyping in America is one type we experience all too often through the news, social media, and from within our communities. We are witness to how the police often profile, or stereotype, young people of color, seeing them as criminals often without material evidence and in certain cases causing actual harm. * Psychologist and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity (https://policingequity.org), Phillip Atiba Goff, is dedicated to looking closely at how the functions of the mind lead to stereotypes and bias which then in turn lead directly to racial inequity in policing. Goff together with his colleagues conducted studies demonstrating that police who showed the capacity for the “unconscious dehumanization” of BLACK people were also more likely
6. Discussion: Have an open discussion exploring each documentary and the
Break into groups of three or four and work collaboratively to do the following:
1. Write a treatment. Think of a topic and come up with a big question. What are the important elements to telling your story? Who are the important people? What are the significant locations? Can you shoot everything in one day? If not, how long will it take you? What tools will you need? Will there be sound? Will someone narrate? Do you need to write a script? Think of all the practical things you will need to accomplish to make this project happen. 2. Create a shot list. List the essential elements for each shot. Who will be behind the camera? Will someone be recording sound separately? Is there an interviewer? What camera angles will you use? What do you imagine will be the duration of each shot? To prepare for the shoot, visualize your project on paper. 3. Cast/interviews: Choose who will be behind
Still from I Am Somebody , 1970. Courtesy of © Icarus films
*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide). Curriculum Text and Guide © 2022 Academy Museum Foundation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License and is not intended for commercial use.
*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).
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