Some Suggested Text Resources for Teacher Use

Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film – Edward Maeder

Bio-pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History – George F. Custen

History on Film/Film on History - R. A. Rosenstone

Image as Artifact: The Historical Analysis of Film and Television – John E. O’Connor

American History on the Screen: A Teacher’s Resource Book on Film and Video – Wendy S. Wilson

How Movies Work – Bruce Kawin

Anatomy of Film – Bernard F. Dick

Films Deliver: Teaching Creatively with Film – John M. Culkin & Anthony Schillaci

Historical Events on Film

There are many clips on various websites that can be used in the classroom. Historic newsreels, filmed speeches, and other sources from that time are valuable to a history classroom. This clip is an example of a filmed speech which documented a very important event for the Nazi party. It is one of Hitler's many charismatic speeches during his leadership. This is an excellent source to be critically viewed in the classroom, and will generate a large amount of discussion (especially around Hitler's claim to a superior race).

Television Series - War on Film - Band of Brothers

The series Band of Brothers is largely based on interviews with veterans. The series follows Easy Company of the United States Army Airbourne Paratrooper division during the Second World War. Each episode begins with clips of the interviews followed by a fairly realistic reenactment of the events.

Interviews with those who have lived it.

This is a great example of a powerful short clip that can be shown in the classroom. It is straight to the point, contains historical fact and provokes emotion towards the subject.
The following video is a selection from an interview with twin girls (now grown women) who have survived the Holocaust. The twins were six years old when they were brought to Auschwitz with their mother in 1944. The two girls were subject to Nazi experiments. Both lived to tell their story.



More information about the women can be found at: http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/2009/torchlighters_barnea_and_huber.asp (please copy & paste the link into your browser)

Finding History in a Music Video

Canadian artists sometimes include hometown images in their videos. This video includes the historic Port Arthur in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The lyrics include a lot of information about Thunder Bay culture (references to Terry Fox, and the lumber industry). The video is classroom friendly (aside from the occasional alcoholic beverage present). We used this video in my second placement class and looked for historically significant buildings in the city. We also analysed the lyrics for local history references.