European Medi@Culture-Online http://www.european-mediaculture.org
Author: Stafford, Roy / Lacey, Nick.
Title: DVD in the classroom.
Source: http://www.itpmag.demon.co.uk/dvd.pdf [12.09.2003]. Originally published in: itp 41 (Spring 2001). Riddlesden, Keighley 2001. P. 17-20.
Publisher: itp (in the picture). Media Education Magazine.
Published with kind permission of the authors and the publisher.
Nick Lacey/Roy Stafford
DVD in the classroom
It’s salutary to remember that when film studies first began,the pioneers in schools worked only with the 16mm films they were able to rent for a couple of days at a time. Some enterprising souls took slides directly off the screen, but only in a couple of HE institutions could students sit in front of a Steenbeck (a film viewing/editing table) and study a scene in detail.
Black and white, reel-to-reel video recorders appeared in some education authorities in the early 1970s and buildings were cabled for the new revolution. Education programmes were recorded by technicians in an AV centre and sent ‘down the line’ to the classroom. If you were lucky, the programme you had ordered flickered across the classroom monitor – but you had no means of stopping to discuss a scene. The class watched the programme and that was that.
It wasn’t until the widespread adoption of VHS cassettes in schools and colleges in the early 1980s that teachers could record their own choice of material at home and take into the classroom. This is when media studies really began to take off – if you could get it onto tape, you could use it in the classroom.
But was it really as simple as that? It’s worth considering some of the problems to be overcome. At first there were not enough VCRs and monitors – if your classroom was the last portakabin in the row, could you get a machine in there – or did you have to book a special room? And if you had a machine and a monitor, was it tuned in properly – how many hours were spent searching for the AV channel as the class became restless? Did the powers that be immediately accept that showing the opening of a horror film recorded off ITV was legitimate form of study? Over the last twenty years the VCR has become an integral part of the classroom environment, but it took time to become established. Is DVD just a better version of the same technology or does it offer something new? Will we need to go through a similar period of ‘bedding in’?
The Digital Versatile Disk (once just the ‘Digital Video Disk’) offers teachers a range of improvements over VHS tape as a moving image ‘playback’ facility:
greater data storage (better picture and sound quality)
playable on computer platforms as well as dedicated players
instant access to selected data
‘intelligent’ access to material (i.e. different combinations of sound and image etc.)
In theory at least, DVD technology promises to transform the experience of studying the moving image text in the classroom – both whole class viewing and individual research tasks. Data storage – the technical stuff A DVD looks exactly like a CD-ROM (and indeed some disks carry both technologies, so check the small print). The difference lies in the amount of data and the way it is stored. A CD-ROM has a maximum capacity of 650 megabytes but a DVD can store several gigabytes.
CD-ROMs often carry several short ‘movies’, stored in computer formats such as Quicktime or AVI. These are intended to be opened in small windows on a computer screen withrelatively poor picture quality.
DVD technology uses storage software called MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) to ‘compress’ images at full screen resolution. The compression rate can vary across different disks (the software works by ‘comparing’ images and only storing the changes in the image as a scene progresses). The more the compression, the less the quality of the image when played back. It is also possible to store information in more than one ‘layer’ on the disk and to use both sides of the disk. Because of this, the picture quality can vary between different formats – the ‘giveaway’ coverdisks on magazines may have been heavily compressed. As well as producing a lower quality image, heavy compressing might mean interruptions in the transmission of data to the screen, producing a ‘frozen’ image. Picture and sound quality The storage capacity gives the potential for a television picture of higher resolution than VHS tape – something similar to the quality of the broadcast television signal or ‘S’ quality tape (i.e. S-VHS or Hi-8). Technicians analyse video images in terms of vertical ‘lines’ of resolution and various standards for the ways in which colour is presented. The average VHS image has around 260 lines and appears to be slightly fuzzy, handling red shades very poorly. Also VHS displays ‘wobbles’ in vertical lines in the image and may also display ‘noise’ and ‘drop out’ as white flashes across the screen. DVD should overcome all these problems and produce around 500 lines of resolution. But, what actually appears on screen will depend on three variables:
the quality of the DVD player and its software
the method of connecting player and monitor
the quality of the monitor
In terms of features, it is possible to pay a little and get quite a lot, but usually at the expense of ‘build’ quality and overall picture/sound. Inexpensive basic DVD players cost under £150. The higher priced models from leading brands can cost over £300. The consumer magazines offer reviews of many machines and the main market is between £200-£300 (these are consumer prices, education purchasers can save on VAT).
Choosing a DVD player will involve checking the output connectors. A composite video connector (as found on most VCRs) combines the different components of the video signal into a single connector. This can lead to a ‘noisier’ image. Ideally, the video connector should allow the signal to be split as in a SCART plug, S-video or RGB connector (component video connectors). In practice it will depend on the input connectors of the monitor.
A large screen monitor with useful inputs is going to cost £300 plus. DVDs of feature films (and some television series) come with various Dolby Digital sound standards. Full ‘cinema sound’ can be produced using suitable decoders and an array of amps and speakers but that would require another article to cover satisfactorily. In most classrooms, the choice will be whether to put the sound through the loudspeaker(s) on the TV monitor or (in many cases, a better bet) through a separate amplifier and speakers.
A computer DVD drive Modern computers (generally top range models) come with a built in DVD drive (which will also play CDs). This will play DVDs of films, providing the appropriate software is available. We have used both PCs and Macs to play DVDs with perfectly satisfactory results. The computer software will decode the MPEG compression in such a way as to suit your choice of computer screen resolution. Without the problems of outputs/cables/inputs to contend with the results are stunning.
It‘s worth pointing out to non-users that watching a film on a computer screen is not a case of watching a tiny window image. On the iMac DV, selecting a full screen image without anything of the computer screen showing, is simply a mouse click away. (However, you can watch it in a window, which is useful if you want to make onscreen notes in a wordprocessing package at the same time.)
Depending on the computer’s outputs, you could push the image onto a large screen television. The Mac has built-in sound, but PCs will need to have a sound card fitted, or again the sound can be pushed out to an amplifier and speakers. New DVD software is appearing all the time. Apple users should look out for upgrades as the earliest versions of software on iMac are buggy and do produce occasional crashes. Standard iMacs do not have enough RAM (you need more than 64 mb to run DVDs), but Virtual Memory works fine, so just switch it on.
Many schools and colleges will have invested in video projectors, either for computer data or video playback. These can be used for DVD, again depending on compatibility of connectors, outputs etc. Video projectors are improving in quality of image presentation all the time, but they are expensive – at least £2000. However, once you have used one, you won’t want to go back to a TV monitor. You can project onto a white wall or a white sheet, but a decent screen with a specially designed reflective surface will give the best results (dig out the one at the back of the cupboard last used for 16mm).
Blackout curtains are also essential for projection. We’ve seen expert projection of DVD films using high-end equipment in a large auditorium on a giant screen (and with full Dolby Digital sound). The results are stunning. Only the size and shape of the image makes it obvious that it isn’t a film and even on close scrutiny it isn’t easy to tell. We’d still prefer to see a brand new film print on screen, but if it is a choice between a scratchy old print with faded colour and chopped up sound and a DVD, we’d go for DVD.
We’ve also seen poor quality DVD projected with inferior equipment and the picture quality was no better than average VHS (but sound was better).
In a classroom, when time is short, the single biggest advantage of DVD is ‘instant access’. This isn’t necessarily a digital innovation – its a function of disk versus tape, applicable to vinyl records as much as to CDs and DVDs. DVDs all present an on screen menu for access to different kinds of material and in the case of long features like films, a ‘scene’ or ‘chapter’ selection. A film may be divided into scenes of 5-10 minutes each and these will often be represented in the menu by a still frame. The scenes divisions are not visible in normal playback, but by using the menu you can go instantly to a specific scene. This means that it is possible to make reference in class to the beginning and end of a film and also a pivotal scene in the middle, without spending several minutes searching through the tape.
Instant access has a slight drawback - you can’t ‘park’ the disk at a particular point in a film. With a tape you can select an extract and carry it around ready to start on any machine. With a DVD you must select the scene you want on the playback machine itself. What if you want to start an extract part way through a scene? You have to go to ‘scene selection’ for the nearest scene start and use ‘search’ to reach the point you want. (This can be tricky as some DVD players will move into fast search and sail past the start point before you realise what is happening.) When you find the start point of the extract, press ‘play’ and then ‘stop’. Most players will interpret this as ‘stop/resume’ and when you press ‘play’ again, will start your extract and not go back to the beginning of the film. Obviously, if you move to another machine with the disk, you have to start the procedure over again.
DVD player controls are presented in much the same way as the controls on a VCR. A great advantage is the ‘rock steady’ freeze frame with no worries about damaging video heads.
DVD software is capable of handling material stored on the disk in different combinations. Two obvious applications are different languages, either or both on the soundtrack or as subtitles, and commentaries by the director, star and crew or by a critic. So, for example, on the Sony/Columbia Tri-Star disk of Lola rennt (Run, Lola Run), it is possible to show the same sequence in German, subtitled in English, ‘dubbed’ into English without subtitles, in German with German subtitles (useful for German language students) or with a commentary (in English) by the director and star. Modern language teachers could also take a Hollywood film like Erin Brockovich and show it ‘dubbed’, as it would be in Germany, into German.
The commentaries by creative teams or critics are extremely useful ‘extras’ found on the better disks. Other useful extras include trailers, ‘making of’ featurettes (often made by the studios to help promote the film) and ‘deleted scenes’ or alternative versions of the film. Some of these are fairly anodyne ‘filler’, but trailers are always useful in an ‘Institution’ study, demonstrating how the distributor set about promoting the film to its most important audience of regular cinemagoers.
The Erin Brockovich DVD includes a series of deleted scenes that can be displayed ‘as is’ or with a commentary by director Steven Soderbergh. This gives a fascinating insight into the editing process. The Seven Samurai DVD from BFI Films includes a critical essay by Philip Kemp linked to a selection of scenes. This is an excellent introduction to the film and is worth the extra cost of the DVD in itself. It also works better than a book or article since Kemp can demonstrate his argument by direct reference to the scenes on the screen.
This kind of material was first introduced on the Laserdiscs that proved successful in the US from the late 1980s onwards, but which didn’t take off over here. DVD is much more a ‘consumer’ rather than ‘collector’ format, but since the material already exists on Laserdisc, there is a chance that it may also appear on DVD (but perhaps not on Region 2 disks – see below).
So far, so good. DVD has had the fastest take-up of any new media technology. In North America it is storming ahead and in the UK it has definitely arrived.
However, there are one or two points to consider before you throw away your videotapes and convert to the new format wholesale.
It took the Hollywood studios several years to realise that widespread take-up of VHS meant more rather than less revenue from any film release. They have approached DVD with a similar conservatism. Film release dates are staggered around the world and DVD releases have been organised on a similar basis. Some films appear on DVD in North America (Region 1) even before they are released in the UK (Region 2, Europe).
Not only does the UK see less releases, but it gets them later and they may have less extra features. DVD players are supposed to be manufactured so that they will only play the disks of the region in which the player is sold. However, most players can be ‘chipped’ to play disks from any region. Some players are easily ‘hackable’ without having to ‘chip’ the machine, using a remote control and a special code: details are available on DVD internet sites or in the various consumer magazines.
Chipping a machine for school use might be a problem, since it will invalidate warranties (it involves altering the hardware), but ‘hacking’ using the remote is undetectable. Of course, we don’t recommend you do anything.
Hacks for computer DVD software are available on the internet. Apple users should be aware that there is a facility to ‘switch’ regions using the supplied software. But this can only be done a limited number of times and it is not possible to set the software for ‘universal’ region access.
Disks from North America are not only out earlier and with more features, but also cost less than in the UK.
However, they also require a television capable of NTSC display (likely on most modern sets, but not guaranteed) and an NTSC output from the DVD player.
Before you buy Region 1 disks over the internet, also consider whether or not you will be able to play them on any machine. What if you move schools or take them to use at conferences or on INSET? Going ‘out region’ is probably best reserved for personal viewing/research.
It is an infringement of copyright to make a copy of a DVD disk – either to another DVD or to tape. It shouldn’t be possible to do it at all, but some teachers have managed it with certain disks and certain combinations of DVD player and VCR. (We haven’t.) Since we use video in several locations, not all of which have DVD, this is a major problem – especially with new films. Do we buy the DVD and then buy a VHS copy as well? The video is often not available on VHS until some time after the DVD. If you use DVD at school, what about those students who don’t have DVD access at home – are you penalising them if there is no video available?
Like the videos you buy, DVDs carry a stern copyright warning about not using them in ‘schools, hospitals, oil rigs etc.’ The DVD software is even used by some companies to hold this warning on the screen for what seems like eternity before you can get into the rest of the disk. Should you take any notice of this? Well, we aren’t lawyers and we can’t give legal advice, but our understanding is that as long as you don’t screen a DVD for the general public and charge them an entrance fee, it is unlikely that the copyright warning has any validity. Certainly, if a student, or even a small group of students, watches a film in the library or in a corner of the classroom, there is no real argument that it is different than watching the same film at home and inviting some friends round. Showing the whole film to a full class, as if you are replicating a cinema showing, is clearly a grey area and one which was identified in the recent Making Movies Matter report for DCMS. In time perhaps, the BFI and the Film Council will reach some understanding with the distributors about ‘educational use’. In the meantime, we suspect that most teachers will decide for themselves that ‘educational use’ is legitimate.
More problematic is ‘entertainment use’, when teachers nip out to the video rental store and bring back a new film as an end of term treat or as part of a ‘film club’ or film society. In this case, the film should be hired from a distributor like Film Bank (tel 0207984 5950) Rental in this case will be considerably more expensive than going to the corner shop, but will grant a licence for showing the film to a ‘nontheatrical’ audience. In practice, we know that some teachers will ignore this distinction, but the video store owner would have a reasonable complaint about a school that showed a film to several hundred students and took away valuable business.
Films on DVD cost more than VHS tapes, but given the benefits the margin is perhaps acceptable. Various retailers and mail order companies offer discounts and special offers (see MovieMail details on p. 23). There are cheaper DVDs at around £12.99, but these will generally not have extra features. Don’t buy films on spec – always try to look at the details on the box to see what you are getting.
The major drawback for DVD is that it is only a playback medium. ‘Writeable’ DVDs do exist, but at present they are not compatible with DVD players and it may be some years before the price of a compatible format makes it attractive in the media classroom. The pace of technological change is so fast that this may happen very quickly, but in the meantime, it may be worth considering Digital Video Tape. This means buying a new VCR and then recording digitally, either onto digital tape or onto S-VHS tape.
The JVC HM-DR10000 D-VHS video cassette recorder costs a whopping £1,300, but it will record material from broadcast/satellite/cable or digital video camera at digital quality and will play back any VHS or S-VHS tape in your archive. The price tag is hefty, but the flexibility that such a machine could offer might be worth considering (although to preserve digital quality, films and television programmes would have to be recorded and played back on the same machine).
DVD does offer something new and it is definitely worth exploring. In our experience, there is a learning curve to negotiate in order to make the best use of the new technology and purchase of DVD titles should be approached with caution, but it is well worth the effort.
DVDs are an important component in the AV industry’s campaign to persuade us all to buy new television sets. The clearest improvement in the new sets is their screen shape – the so-called ‘wide screen’ with a ratio of 16:9 (1.78:1) compared to the traditional shape of 4:3 (1.33:1). BBC and ITV/C4 now broadcast a range ofprogrammes in the new screen format and sets need to be correctly set up. The showing of films on television has always been fraught with confusion (and angst for film studies teachers) and the confusion seems to be getting worse. Here is a simple explanation of screen shapes.
Cinemas standardised the shape of the screen around 1930, after the coming of sound, as 1.33:1. This became known as the ‘Academy ratio’ and was adopted for the shape of the television screen in the 1930s. Because they use the same screen ratio, all films made before 1953 lose nothing when shown on television.The term ‘full screen’ is sometimes used on DVDs of older films.
The widescreen format that was universally adopted after 1953 was CinemaScope, an ‘anamorphic’ process that squeezes the image to fit onto standard 35mm film and then ‘unsqueezes’ it on projection. The result is a much wider image (at first this was 2.55:1, but dropped to 2.35:1 when optical sound was added instead of magnetic sound on a separate print).
Films made using ‘Scope or the later Panavision obviously don’t fit on the standard television screen (or on the 16:9 screen). ‘Pan and scan’ is a way of showing only a little over half the original image at any one time and using a computer to ‘track’ the action in the frame so that the ‘important’ information is broadcast. This obviously loses the framings created by the director and cinematographer and recordings of these films are not really suitable for film or media study.
The alternative is ‘letterboxing’ which shows something like the proper screen Screen ratios, but with blank screen above and below. For 2.35:1, ‘letterboxing’ means less than half a conventional television screen is showing the image and television (and video) producers have baulked at using it to the full extent. DVD has changed that –many disks are being released in the ‘proper’ screen ratios, including 2.35:1 (e.g. LA Confidential, Rushmore, The Insider etc.). Note that to get the correct image on screen may mean adjusting the television set and/or the DVD player, using the menus provided.
By the 1970s and the increasing dominance of television, fewer films were being made in ‘Scope, but the standard screen shape had changed to what is sometimes called modern widescreen with a ratio of 1.85:1 (in Europe a standard of 1.66:1 existed for some time). Look carefully on the case of any DVD and if it is a modern film and is being shown at anything less than 1.85:1, some ‘panning and scanning’ has been applied. Letterboxing for this ratio will be less dramatic.
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