October, 2023
By Camila Juarez, Arts & Culture Editor
This year, Kipp Austin Collegiate decided to add a new film analysis class to their courses. “Film Studies” allows students to deeply analyze movies and look at why they’re impactful.
During the 2022-23 school year, former creative writing teacher Ms. Garrighan realized that she loved talking about movies and teaching about them. She pitched the idea of a future class where case studies are done for movies, and it got approved! This course is available for anyone, although right now it is mainly juniors and seniors. In this new class, you study different genres of films and do analyses of those genres. “For instance, we’re doing horror right now, and we’re studying how characters are impacted by fear in week one. Week two, we’re studying how directors evoke fear from their audiences with a creative project, and then week three, we’re going to look at social commentary”, says Ms. Garrighan. “Essentially, they discuss the movies to gain a deeper understanding and more appreciation.”
Although it seems like you just watch movies, it’s like any other class with assignments and projects. “In the past, we did this where we made a storyboard of three significant moments, and they drew a picture and then named why that moment was impactful. Once a month, they do a formal film analysis essay where we look at how directors convey a meaning or a thematic idea in their film.” For example, with coming of age movies, the class did a time capsule project where they wrote a letter to their future selves, created a storyboard of their own lives, and either made a music playlist, style book, or other options. “All of this was to capture this moment in their lives, just like we watched moments of our characters’ lives in the coming of age movies.” This classwork exposes students to different kinds of films and helps them understand “the many layers and various ways you can tell a story and why each way is impactful, effective, and meaningful.”
Because this class focuses on movies, I had to ask Ms. Garrighan a very important question. What movie would she recommend? “It changes all the time, but honestly, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. This movie is everything, everywhere, all at once. It has action, romance, family, drama, and comedy. It’s the most original movie I’ve ever seen. So I definitely would suggest that.” Additionally, she wants us to know that “I really love this course, and I am so happy to be able to teach it here at KAC. I hope all of the students are enjoying it as well and getting something out of it, just as a space where we can be creative, we can appreciate art, and discuss it.”
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