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Introduction

The use of cinema (films, documentaries, short films, animation, video-creation, etc.) as a didactic instrument must be carried out correctly, and for this purpose it is necessary to elaborate a didactic sequence before and after the viewing, as well as a studied selection of cinematographic texts to be used in each case.

The choice of the short film format, when using the audiovisual as an educational tool, derives from the possibilities it offers when working with it in didactic sessions, both for the short duration of the filmic text, and for the narratological rhythm used by the filmmakers, closer to the rhythm of the audiovisual products consumed by the population aged between 13 and 28, made up of young people immersed in the media omnipresence of the Information Society (Trejo, 2001). This audience is characterized by its lack of knowledge of audiovisual language and, consequently, by its scarce objectivity when empathizing with the roles with which it identifies and through which it develops its relations with society. Therefore, it is an audience in need of acquiring an audiovisual competence that allows them to maintain their gaze and foster their critical spirit (Parra and Cruz, 2015).

In order to obtain results, a roadmap must be followed in which the following actions are carried out:

- A study of the consequences of the technological revolution in the field of communication and training.

- The analysis of the method of audience creation prior to the design of the audiovisual product that will be supported by a certain use of cinematographic language, in order to generate needs, expectations, emotions and/or empathy in the audience.

- The assessment of the need to acquire the necessary audiovisual competence both to broadcast messages in the audiovisual code and to read them correctly, supported by the critical spirit that allows the knowledge of such language, in order to distinguish the message itself from the intention with which it was created.

- A guided reading of the film text with the attendees to help them distinguish the empathy-generating function and to locate the previously identified archetypes.

- A reflection on the use of cinematographic language by spectators as passive receivers of it and as active receivers.

Short films for learning, respect and coexistence: O' Cabeçudo

The screening of the short film O'Cabeçudo (Fernandes, 2015) whose development and conclusions occupy this research, took place in February 2021, in the framework of the educational program Cortos y Español, launched four years ago by Professor Gosse (2016) at the Vechtdal College in Hardenberg, and in which this educational center and Fundación Inquietarte collaborate with the international short film festival, Visualízame.

The activity was coordinated by Gosse (2016), professor of English and Spanish ELE at Vechtdal College, responsible for the contents of foreign language and culture (2016) in the didactic unit developed and Yolanda Cruz, director of the festival, Master professor (Univ. Abat Oliba CEU of Barcelona), philologist and graduate in film; and Carmen Parra, Director of the UNESCO Chair on peace, solidarity and intercultural dialogue Abat Oliba CEU University, following the line of research initiated (2015), were responsible for the contents related to the emotion-generating power of cinema and in audiovisual training.

The screening took place in the morning (2 hours) at the kindergarten and primary school De Elzenhof (Hardenberg, The Netherlands), with 6th grade students between 10 and 11 years of age, a total of 30 students, 14 girls and 16 boys.

In the didactic unit "Short films to learn. Respect and Coexistence: O'Cabeçudo" the following contents were worked on:

Brief introduction to the information society. Characteristics. Consequences of the technological revolution in the communicative and educational processes. During the session, the students received a minimum and essential knowledge about the Information Society (Cruz, 2012), characteristics and consequences in the communication processes (Pérez, 2000), keeping their exposure to the previous knowledge that this audience could have of them, and insisting on their influence when characterizing social relationships, use of social networks, privacy settings, etc. Their vulnerability to the image (Cebrián, 1995), basic notions of orality (Morote, 2010) and of the characters of wonderful stories (Propp, 1985) and their archetypal use (Cruz, (2016). After reading the film text, we reflected on them and their possible identifications.

Spanish vocabulary to learn through animation drawings. Gosse, (2017)

After the theoretical session, the practical phase took place, consisting of the screening of the short film O' Cabeçudo (Fernandes, 2015) without a reading guide, thus allowing the students the free choice of the identifying character so that the resources of cinematographic language, used by the filmmaking collective of the short film, would achieve the intended objective: to provoke emotions that would help reflection and the generation of values.

Likewise, the children's teacher at the center, Irene Hallink, who was also present, attended the screening and the subsequent discussion, which allowed her to confirm the value of audiovisuals as an innovative tool in teaching (Tynner, 1993). Once the activity was held, it served as a starting point for her to work on the proposed values in the classroom during the following days.

Analysis of the short film O'Cabeçudo (Fernandes, 2015).

The Portuguese filmmaker was a finalist in the VI edition of the Visualízame festival and his short film was selected for the traveling educational activity that the festival carries out between editions.

O'Cabeçudo was part of the selection of works chosen to be screened in the thematic educational activities organized to denounce school bullying. In addition to the plot and the animation format chosen by Fernandes, which is so successful when working with students between the ages of 4 and 13, O'Cabeçudo brings another value: the fact that it is a classroom work, carried out by Nelson Fernandes, in collaboration with fellow teachers and his students.

The children attending Fernandes' animation workshop, Projecto Matriz E5G (Portugal), selected the story they wanted to tell to raise awareness of the need to prevent and end bullying, wrote it, and volunteered to be the protagonists of the short film using caricatures of themselves that they created. Meanwhile, in Santiago de Chile, the students of the Music Composition for Soundtracks course taught by Pablo Ríos, professor of music and technology at the Universidad del Pacífico and producer of the short film, were in charge of the soundtrack, and Filipe Santareno, singer and composer, had children's collaborators to interpret and compose the main song that illustrates the film's credits.

It is therefore a work of self-learning, both for teachers, who have been forced to acquire, in some cases, or to expand and improve, in others, their notions of cinematographic language and the use of audiovisuals in teaching; and for students who have been trained in the codes of audiovisual language to use it as their own when exposing and showing the world what worries them in their daily lives, which is none other than bullying in the classroom.

A boy goes to school saddened and saddened. The reason is the harassment he suffers daily from his classmates before the impassivity of the teacher. In a fantastic way he manages to solve his problems when, unconsciously, he connects with a wolf, the animal that lives inside him, a representation of strength and courage to which he turns to end the situation. The oral tradition and the legends that revolve around the figure of the lycanthrope are the solution. The boy, turned into a wolf, with his strength and determination, will confront his bullies, restoring his self-confidence.

Materials and methods

Student group: Session delivered on February 9, 2021 to 30 students between 11 and 12 years of age, 6th grade students at De Elzenhof school in Hardenberg (The Netherlands). Of these, 14 were girls and 16 boys.

After viewing the short film, once the students have worked with the Spanish vocabulary according to their level of studies, they are asked a series of questions aimed at transferring knowledge and provoking reflection and self-criticism.

The aim was to evaluate both the use of the audiovisual and the use of the didactic innovation tool, and it was possible to verify the deficient competence of the spectators as users of the Information Society (social networks), the normalization of harassment attitudes, a consequence of this incompetence, and the instructive value of the archetypes.

All this could be analyzed through a qualitative survey (Selltiz and Jahoda, 1980) the questions in the survey were divided into eight blocks with questions related to the valuation of the audiovisual as a tool, with the familiarity of students with bullying Molina and Vecina, (2016), the search for empathies, the understanding of empowerment and with a survey to know the personal experiences of students with bullying, either as victims or as bullies.

Table 1. Blocks with questions related to the valuation of the audiovisual as a tool.

Block 1 Did you find the class with the projection interesting?

Block 2 What is bullying?

Block 3 Is the main character happy to go to school?

Block 4 What happens to you at school to make you dislike going?

Block 5 How do you feel?

Block 6 Why does the wolf help you?

Block 7 How does it help you?

Block 8 With which animal would you identify yourself?

Block 9 What other ways of harassment do you know?

Conducting the survey among the attendees to be answered individually in writing before the end of the session.

Results

The identification of most of the students with the protagonist confirms the ease with which the audience of that age is easily influenced, something negative when it comes to assessing their audiovisual competence and their role as passive viewers (Serey and López,2013). However, it does not allow reaffirming the power of the audiovisual to generate emotions, always with an ethical and objective didactic use, for which the audiovisual competence, in this case, of the teachers who intend to use this effective educational tool, must also be adequate.

Table 2. Surveys February 09, 2021, Primary students (Hardenberg, PB).

Block 1 Did you find the class with the projection interesting?

30 Yes

----------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloque 2 What is bullying?

20 When someone is beaten at school

5 When they take away your sandwich

3 Not wanting to go to school

2 Don't know / No answer

----------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloque 3 Is the protagonist happy to go to school?

30 No

Block 4 What happens to you at school to make you dislike going?

30 They laugh at him and throw the ball at his head.

2 They record it or take pictures and send them to other people.

10 Papers are thrown at you in class

1 He gets hit with a yo-yo when he doesn't look at the teacher

30 They draw caricatures and laugh at him because they draw him as a monster

8 Upload photos of the drawing to social networks

30 The teacher scolds him on top of it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloque 5

How does he feel?

30 Sad

20 Only

8 With fear

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bloque 6

Why does the wolf help him?

12 Because he is your friend and does not want to be harmed

8 Because it is strong

6 Because he is a monster who defends it.

4 Because he is the wolf

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bloque 7

How does it help you?

30 Scaring the hell out of everyone

10 Doing what has been done to him

4 without doing any harm, just being scary

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bloque 8

Which animal would you identify with?

15 With a wolf

6 With a lion

3 With a leopard

3 With a bull

2 With a bear

1 With a fish

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloque 9 What other ways of harassment do you know?

14 Scaring you in the hallway

9 Taking away your snack

5 Breaking your material

2 Hitting you with something that hurts

Discussion

Moreover, the scant recognition of the passivity of those who know about the harassment or those who participate in the violence perpetrated by sharing their digital footprints on social networks, as accomplices of the harassment reinforces the affirmation of the normalizing power of audiovisuals in communication.

As for the role of the archetype of the Big Bad Wolf or the lycanthrope as antagonist, at first, unconsciously aware of this literary tradition, it makes the students think that the wolf is a monster even though he wants to help the child.

Once assimilated that, in this case, the antagonist and the protagonist show the two faces of the same character, everyone agrees in understanding that the wolf represents, at first, the fury and rage that the protagonist feels because of the harassment he is victim of, and, after a second reflection, the strength and courage that helps the protagonist to denounce his situation by confronting it.

Conclusions

The omnipresence of the Information Society with the new languages on which it relies, and the power of these languages thanks to the technological revolution, makes it necessary and essential to achieve an audiovisual competence that allows the subsistence and reinforcement of the critical view and spirit. In this sense, the normalization promoted by the media in the information society reinforces situations, roles and events that, far from putting an end to bullying, can end up normalizing and perpetuating it.

To this end, the use of the short film is offered as a support for classroom work, since it allows, due to its duration and rhythm, to watch it as many times as necessary to develop the contents and arguments that are intended to be worked on in a session. Finally, multidisciplinary works such as the one coordinated by Nelson Fernandes, on the one hand, provide students with the knowledge to become competent and active spectators and, on the other hand, to make their own a language through which they receive not only huge amounts of information on a daily basis, but also ideology, attitudes and beliefs.

References

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Cruz, Y.(2012), "Oral Literature and Film. Intertextuality and Didactics." [Third Cycle Research Paper]. University of Almería.

Cruz, Y. (2012) , "Orality and Cinema. Narrator and storytelling: Tim Burton and the wonderful tales." [Memoria Diplomatura]. University of Valladolid.

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