For the 2025-26 academic year, the Southern Lehigh High School English Department has added a new elective: Film Theory. This new course will allow students to explore all aspects of film in ways they may have never before considered, and advance their learning in any type of media production.
“I think what this will help to do is help students contextualize the history of filmmaking, not just in the United States, but globally, and then through that history, be able to analyze the development of filmmaking techniques to understand where we are now,” said English teacher Mrs. Lauren Tocci, who designed the curriculum and will be teaching the course in the spring.
Movies can speak to anyone— but in different ways. Interpretation can be personal and shaped by individual experience.
“We all have a common experience of watching movies,” said Mrs. Tocci, “but understanding what goes into that is something that a lot of us don’t have time for, or maybe the learning and education on to know all of the parts of filmmaking.”
Film Theory will be the second film course offered at Southern Lehigh High School, and Mrs. Tocci is teaching both. The original Film Production course was previously taught by English teacher Mr. Jeff Hershey, who retired in June.
“Last year I took the Introduction to Film Production class when Mr. Hershey taught it and I ended up loving it,” senior Caroline Grum said. “When I saw the Introduction to Film Theory class available this year, the description sounded like an amazing opportunity to learn more about film.”
In this semester-long course, students will explore the various elements that contribute to the art of filmmaking, taking an up-close look at how movies have the power to communicate new ideas and persuade audiences.
“We’re going to talk about the earliest filmmaking techniques, something called the actualities, and what sometimes I think is inappropriately referred to as positive cinema,” said Mrs. Tocci.
The values of studying film go beyond the joy of watching movies..
“Film, I think, still remains our greatest communicator,” said Mrs. Tocci, “and all of the things that go into filmmaking help us understand our relationship to media, as a whole.”
Students are excited to be the first cohort to take this new class, and look forward to the unique curriculum and learning opportunities it will bring.
“I’m looking most forward to learning about certain directors’ styles as well as all the thought that gets put into every scene,” said Grum.
From classic black and white movies to today’s Oscar winning films, students will look beyond the screen and take in the breadth of the artform. Film Theory offers a new way to think about our culture, and the films that have shaped our shared history.
“Film, like many subjects, creates in our mind the ability to decode information that can be applied to a variety of jobs, and a variety of interests,” said Mrs. Tocci. “Filmmaking is just another way of accessing that part of our brains that sees sequences of images, and understands how they’re then constructed, and how meaning is created from that.”
