This paper presents results from a Swedish research project about filmmaking as a site for transformative processes (Lindstrand, 2006; 2009). The scope of the paper is twofold, as it both presents results regarding multimodal learning in the production of moving images and aims at contributing more generally to the development of multimodal, design oriented approaches to the analysis of learning. The text is anchored in examples from collaborative filmmaking processes which serve as a background for elaborating on questions of various kinds: How can learning be grasped analytically and methodologically in processes of multimodal semiotic production? What is learnt and what characterizes the learning process in this type of semiotic work? How – and why – does the multimodal nature of these endeavours contribute to the learning process?

Filmmaking consists of a number of processes characterized by different objectives and the production of different kinds of texts, within different genres, with different tools, in different media and different modes. All of these differences contribute to changes – related to issues of transformation and transduction – in the overall process and present the filmmakers with new challenges, new perspectives and new sets of meaning potentials. The paper brings attention to how the filmmakers reflect upon various aspects of the films during their work, and shows how they gradually become aware of aspects of their films that relate to the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions of texts. Their widened attention affects the process itself, since it guides them towards new choices. A cyclic motion is thereby implied, since the new choices will lead to new reflections and so on.

The presented results are summed up in the form of an additional version of the Learning Design Sequence model presented by Staffan Selander (2008), aimed at mapping learning processes in creative multimodal text production and emphasizing the role of design in the learning process.

References

Lindstrand, F (2006) Att göra skillnad. Representation, identitet och lärande i ungdomars arbete och berättande med film [Making difference. Representation, identity and learning in teenagers’ work and communication with film] Doctoral thesis. Stockholm: HLS Förlag.

Lindstrand, F (2009) ”Lärprocesser i den rörliga bildens gränsland” [”Learning processes at the crossroads of filmmaking”]. In Lindstrand, F & Selander, S (eds)Estetiska lärprocesser [Aesthetic learning processes]. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Selander, S (2008) “Designs for learning – a theoretical perspective”. In Designs for Learning,  vol 1, no 1.