If students are not trained to ask basic questions about the images which confront them, if they are not asked to examine the knowledge and assumptions which they already possess, they are being denied the opportunity to develop the most simple and essential critical tools.
Darren
Barrie McMahon and Robyn Quin became legends in Australian media education through enabling students in practical production. A deep understanding of media constructions could be gained through participatory practice, even in the analogue era. For theoretical analysis, ‘Real Images’ was a particularly useful book for teaching ‘simultaneous time’ in editing and explaining the ‘commutation test’ to weigh up cultural meaning within the storytelling. The accompanying graphic organisers would influence my own teaching style for increasingly visual students.
Senior high school students could assess the aesthetic value of film as an artwork with the three-pronged evaluation the text provided. …A very influential book across the continent in media studies but also reaching into English classrooms. Real images : film & television / Barrie McMahon & Robyn Quin | Catalogue | National Library of Australia
Frank Baker
I heard Barrie speak at one of the US media literacy conferences and immediately began to secure everything he wrote. I still have on my shelf the excellent text "Real Images Film & Television." He has had a tremendous impact on education in Australia and beyond. He was appropriately honored with the NTC lifetime achievement award.