How Have You Used Movies to Enhance Learning and Facilitation? Share Your Experiences!

Greetings from Hanoi!

I wonder if anybody has successfully used movies to support their learning facilitation process? I am keen to learn about other facilitators' experiences with using movies. Here are a few examples:

1. I used to use "Dead Poets Society" as a bit of a feel-good flick on a week-long residential Train the Trainer in the early 90s.
2. Trying to explain "action learning" and "double-loop learning" to Masters level students, I recommended they watch Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day."

Any other ideas or recommended processes based around movies? I also found an interesting list at: www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/video.html

Bill Williams

Hey Bill,

Nice post, man. It is really a good link. I have some suggestions for teamwork again. "The Oregon Trail" is one such movie that is great for the teamwork subject. "Home Alone" explores themes such as name-calling, labeling, children's emotions, responsibilities, etc. "Toy Story" is another great movie for imparting effective learning on the impact of negative behavior, hatred, bias/prejudice, etc. "Rain Man" is also a very good movie for learning about customer service (I used a clip from the movie), respecting challenged behavior, etc. "Life is Beautiful" is another classic that is great for understanding many aspects of life and is very appropriate for children learning.

Regards,
Himanshu

Dear Friends,

Some movies that can be used as training material are:

1. The Karate Kid
2. Lagaan
3. Pygmalion

Rajendra Gehlot

Hi Himanshu,

It's really nice movies you have mentioned to be used in training programs. Could you please send me the movie clip from the film "Rain Man" for customer service training?

Best Regards,
Erum

Hi all,

I used clips from the movies "Gandhi" and "Black" for my communication training. Participants liked both, and I found both impactful. You can use those too.

Regards,
Jhuma

To add to the list:

1. Munnabhai MBBS: culture development and feel-good factor. The difference a touch of relations can make.
2. Gladiator: a tale of strong determination and courage to overcome the greatest enemy and strong willpower.
3. Iqbal: a tale of a handicap kid making it big through strong willpower and continuous hard work and doesn't allow anything else to stray his vision (one of my all-time favorites).
4. Rocky series: a good motivation series where a man stands out against all odds to defend his title and win it.
5. Lagaan for effective teamwork and dedicated leadership and also for the effective use of limited resources.
6. Men In Black: I'm not joking, guys, for the kind of professionalism shown in it.
7. XXX: remember the recruitment drive shown in the movie.

Regards,
Kamal Modi

Hello all,

Just joined this group and found something that is of prime interest to me.

Here are some interesting movies (Bollywood) for training purposes:

Leadership: Lagaan and The Bridge on the River Kwai (English classic)
Interpersonal Skills: Munnabhai MBBS / Bawarchi (Rajesh Khanna)
Perception & Paradigm Shift: Ek Ruka Hua Faisla
Personality Development: Ek Chhoti Si Baat (Amol Palekar & Ashok Kumar)
Customer Service: Golmaal (Amol Palekar)
Ownership / Commitment: Namak Halal

Thank you.

Hi Bill,

We have used not only movies but also documentaries. Most of the animal documentaries make excellent training material to explain management concepts and make it interesting too. Movies used by us are 'Black', 'Rang De Basanthi', 'Corporate'. Also, some Bollywood songs like the song of 7 wonders where Aishwarya is picturised with her onscreen beau. (Can't remember the title of the movie).

What is important is to bring the attention of the audience from obvious to hidden meanings and concepts. Hope this was useful.

DK

Hey Erum,

I don't have the clip with me since I use the video CD during the training program. I would suggest you watch the movie once; there is a clip where Tom Cruise speaks on the phone and also tries to communicate with his girlfriend at the same time, where he messes up. I use this to convey internal and external factors affecting communication, etc.

Regards,
Himanshu

Hi all!

I am very interested in using film clips for my training. I have never done this before, so could you please guide me on where I can obtain such clips?

Much obliged.

jeroo at [Login to view]

Following are good movies you can show for training:

1. Men of Honor (It's a man's dream come true about joining the Navy).
2. Cast Away (It's the story about Hope, Courage, and Survival).
3. Mother India (A story of a woman and her two sons).
4. Do Ankhen Bara Haath (A cop's novel effort to change the criminals).

Regards,
Ravikanth

Readers of this thread,

Thanks for contributions so far. I especially liked the suggestions to use "Life is Beautiful" (Himanshu), "Pygmalion" (Rajendra), and animal documentaries (Kusum). I am not familiar with some of the obviously classic Indian films.

For me, the film has to capture something special to make a powerful learning metaphor. While Rocky, of course, taps into the universal mythology of the underdog prevailing against the odds (again and again and soon to be again once more), it doesn't qualify (in my humble opinion) as a film that uniquely captures a powerful learning metaphor in the way that, say, Pygmalion does. [The Pygmalion metaphor is so powerful that it has found its way into management-speak "the Pygmalion Effect."] For me to use up the participants' time, the movie, or short clip, needs to do something more than ensure participants enjoy it. It needs to communicate a metaphor or exemplify something more powerfully or more succinctly than the alternatives available to the course designer.

Clarence Worley's (played by Christian Slater) speech to Alabama Whitman (played by Patricia Arquette) on the roof near the billboard in Quentin Tarantino's screenplay "True Romance" says something special about commitment, for example.

But I was really thinking about whole movies. A couple more I thought about since this thread began include:

The Flight of the Phoenix (the recent remake is no better than the original and, like the original, still lacks a decent effort at making the rebuilt aircraft look real) is a very good team dynamics case study and emphasizes the important themes of planning, authorization, and hard-won interdependence.

I have wondered about using Glengarry Glen Ross for sales training but concluded that it would be better for sales leadership training on the basis that it might depress sales staff. However, I did a Google search using the search terms "Glengarry Glen Ross used for training" (without the inverted commas) which yielded lots of ideas about the application of this film to training.

Sliding Doors is another film that invites the possibility of alternative realities and self-determination of one's life outcomes.

Thanks for the ideas... let's keep them coming.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thank you for the enriching thoughts on using movies for training. I agree with you that movies should have a very strong metaphor to facilitate faster and more productive learning. Continuing on this train of thought, I believe it would be a great idea to design a course similar to a Film Appreciation Course, but with management concepts in mind.

Several years ago, I enrolled in a Film Appreciation Course where we immersed ourselves in classic and contemporary movies for 3 days. After each movie, participants were required to group together and discuss various aspects of filmmaking such as editing, direction, and character development. Often, the organizers would invite the Director of the movie (for contemporary films) to lead the discussion. The 3-day program felt like gaining 10 years of real-life experience.

Why not organize a workshop along similar lines and conduct training programs for different segments? Incorporating movies into training programs can make them more engaging and interesting.

Regards,
DK

Apart from films, are there any other videos that we can use for training?

Like I had once seen a small cartoon clip on "Who Moved my Cheese," it was good. I would appreciate if someone can help me find similar videos.

Thanks,
Sameer

Hi,

"12 Angry Men" is the best pick I would suggest for conflict management and group process. This is a masterpiece by Sidney Lumet. I use this frequently (believe me - I have seen this more than 25 times) and I strongly advocate this for all group process facilitators.

Dr. R. Karthikeyan

Hi everybody,

People who have used all these tools, such as movies, as training material. If you can explain how you have done this, it will be useful for the rest of the members. This way, everyone can understand how you have derived insights, and we can gain some intuitive ideas to develop more advanced techniques. Sharing in detail will be helpful in our collective growth.

Basically, share the Key Result Areas (KRA) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that you have identified from watching these movies and how you have implemented them.

Cheers,
Hari Prasad.

Dear Friends,

Recently, I attended a two-day workshop on Relationship Strategies organized by AIMA in New Delhi. The workshop utilized the movie "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" (Hindi remake of 12 Angry Men) as a training module to depict behavioral styles. Additionally, clippings from Karan Thapar's show, "Big Fight," and Simmi Grawal's show on Star TV were also effectively incorporated.

Regards,
Vikram Singh
09810102421

Thread readers,

Since this thread began, I asked one of the contractors working for me to come up with something to liven up his rather presenter-centered customer service training. I suggested he include a movie segment (at least), and he chose the customer service scene from "Pretty Woman"... which was a good idea, I thought, and he said it worked well.

Regards,
Bill

Hi Bill,

Greetings from Malaysia!!

Indeed, movies do elevate the training momentum, but how do you slice such long movies into a training schedule? Do you have any clips to forward? It would be much appreciated at coachsharma@gmail.com.

Thanks, Bill.

Hi,

There are movies that are more powerful in their message but fail to impress the audience. If your target audience does not have patience or interest, the whole effort will be wasted in terms of outcome. Still, if you want to take a chance, please go with movies like "GOAL," "Coach Carter," "The Greatest Game Ever Played," and "Glory Road," which will be easier for people to understand. For people who are experienced, knowledgeable, or skilled in multiple tasks, then you can go for movies like "12 Angry Men," or even a few scenes from "Memento," or the last few scenes from "Downfall."

You need to train them to delve into the details of every scene so that they can present it later to the total crowd, making the session more participative. I also recommend you extract scenes from the movies rather than presenting them completely.

Regards,
Vijayakumar

Dear All,

Here is a list of some good movies that could also be used in training:
- Sound of Music
- A Beautiful Mind
- Forrest Gump
- The Shawshank Redemption
- The Pursuit of Happyness

Regards,
Surbhi

Ruka Huwa Faisla is a poor copy of the Hollywood masterpiece "Twelve Angry Men" starring Henry Fonda. Better watch the original. Another movie on a similar topic is "Rashomon."

Pallav

Hi Bill,

This is a really good point to look into when it comes to training. Thank you for the reminder.

I have used a couple:
1. My Fairy Lady - which shows the pronunciation and learning principles of English.
2. Best Employer - which showcases an employee who strives for perfection and motivates himself and the team.
3. Bruce Almighty - shows core human emotions.

Thank you once again.

Cheers,
Karthikghali

Hi friends,

Very nice and useful thread. I would also like to suggest all my fellow trainers to see "SEA BISCUIT." I think it should be seen by all trainers. A fantastic movie to be shown in all training programs including train the trainers.

This movie was an Oscar nominee. Sea Biscuit is about what training can do to ordinary people. In this movie, how an ordinary horse is trained to become a racing horse (that wins millions of dollars in races) and how an ordinary guy is transformed into an ace jockey to win those races. This movie teaches a lot to the trainees too:

1. How practice makes a man perfect.
2. Perseverance.
3. Importance of relationships in business.
4. Faith and confidence in yourself.

Please do watch this movie and post your feedback.

Regards,
Sowmini

Dear Himanshu,

Thank you for the movie suggestions. Do you have any movie clips for training a sales team or for self-motivation?

Best Regards,
Erum

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences with the movies in training. I personally use a couple of these movies for the same purpose, but surprisingly, no one has mentioned "CHAK DE! INDIA," whose impact is very strong. Another movie worth mentioning is "CRASH." This movie captures the human spirit, behavior, prejudices, and conflicts very beautifully. My experience of using this movie during training participants on interpersonal relationships and cross-cultural conditioning has been extremely good so far. I hope this would help you all too.

Thank you, Bill, for initiating such a discussion, and thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Keep posting.

Regards,
:D

Hi,

Can anybody suggest games for effective team-building or training purposes? Please reply soon.

Regards,
Tapsi

Dear Williams,

My favorite is the American drama "Twelve Angry Men" for Conflict Management.

Dear Williams,

The American drama "Twelve Angry Men" is a good choice for conflict management.

Thank you.

Dear All,

Can you please suggest any Tamil movie that can be used for confidence-building? In Chennai, I feel handicapped even though I have good English movies to screen! Most people treat English as alien and are not comfortable with the accent, etc. It's a dire state. I am sure that it will improve.

Godfather 1 and 2 have many useful scenes:

a. Young Vito Corleone negotiating fearlessly with the Don in the Italian Cafe in Little Italy - Negotiation Skills in the middle of GF2.

b. Old Vito Corleone chastising Sonny for asking too much (in the process revealing that he is keen about the deal) - Negotiation Skill in the middle of GF1.

c. Vito Corleone coaching Michael Corleone on how to know who will betray him - Coaching - near the end of GF1.

Chowyang from Singapore

Renaissance Man, a movie starring Danny DeVito, is an excellent film that can be used in Train the Trainer sessions. We can derive the principles of training and techniques used in training from this movie.

Ajay Kalyan

Dear Bill and fellow Trainers/HR people,

Hi. I am an actor in Tamil (South Indian language) films and TV who does freelance training. I ONLY use films (coupled with games/Activity) in all my training sessions and have found it very useful. As I have myself acted in close to 100 films, I use a number of Tamil films (prefer scenes where I am there). I do not use the full film; in fact, a clip length of 5 to 6 minutes is ideal. If I am presenting a full film, then it too is edited to 18 to 24 minutes, just the salient parts.

I recommend to the group to try the following:
1. Negotiator
2. Troy
3. Sunshine Boys
4. K-19
5. Hunt for Red October
6. Any Given Sunday...

I have avoided the topic as they can be used for almost everything; choosing the correct scene is the mantra. I was inspired when, as a Management student in XLRI, we were shown "12 Angry Men"...what a classic. I have not repeated names already posted in this thread. Huma Riaz wanted a Tamil film for confidence building - try "Mugavari" with Ajith Kumar (Raghuvaran telling a story scene and the bell-ringing urchin in the beach scene). One thing though I must state is the issue of Intellectual Property rights and the issue of copyright. Please be careful. Try not to use them in public programs, i.e., where members of the public register and join, etc., within the confines of your corporate environment is okay. I understand one of the Hollywood studios sent a notice to a large software company in Bengaluru, as they had mentioned using a film for their training purpose, etc., in their magazine/website, etc. Just a note of caution. For me, using the Tamil films is not a problem as I have obtained an OK from the producer/Director. Bollywood and Hollywood still remain.

"A picture is worth a thousand words" is my byline. Have fun and enjoy the process; that is what will make you a Robin Williams in "Dead Poet's Society." Incidentally, "Finding Forrester" is great for mentoring among others and "A Few Good Men."

Thank you.

Guess we can add "Chak De" to our list! I think it's an excellent example of team building and leadership.

Regards,
Sneha

The original for Chak De India was the Kurt Russell starrer called MIRACLE. I very often use it. In fact, it is one tough movie to edit because of so many brilliant scenes. The film is about Ice Hockey and how a coach forges a group of youngsters into a team that takes on the Russians - 5 times Olympic gold medallists. I strongly urge all of you to watch it; a real classic.

Hoosiers is another classic sports film.

Mohan Raman

Hi,

"Remember The Titans" is the mother of all motivational movies. Take some time out to watch it carefully. It addresses the various shades of human behavior and group behavior. It's truly a treat for trainers.

This movie can also be used for sessions on 'Leadership', Team Building, Conflict Management, etc. Make sure to grab a copy of this wonderful movie by Boaz Yakin. (Get an original DVD or VCD only. Say no to piracy.)

Warm Regards,
Anuj Alphonson

Hi all,

Here are some unusual movies that I like for training purposes:

A. Hero - The latest one.
B. Dus Kahaniya.
C. Kismat [Old].
D. Chak De India.
E. Lakshya.
F. Kal Ho Naa Ho [For Sacrifice].
G. Sarkar.
H. Sarkar Raj.
I. Behind Enemy Lines.
J. Black Hawk Down.
K. Black.
L. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

I hope you find these movie suggestions helpful for your training needs. Let me know if you need more recommendations.

Dear Friends,

I find many asking for clips. I do not think it is a good idea. As a trainer, it is better if you watch the full film and choose those scenes that are relevant to the topic you wish to train in. I also feel that the trainer must see the full film and get the "feel" of it. Please do not use clippings as a sort of boredom reliever or just a variation. It is, in my opinion, a very serious business. If the wrong message is taken from the clip by your participants, then you had it.

I think many great films have been suggested. For example, "The Godfather" 1 and 2. I have often used "The Godfather" 1; both scenes suggested are there. I also believe that the scene where Vito Corleone goes to the meeting of all Don's and politely declines but makes peace is an excellent example of humility/suppressing personal feelings for the common good and assertion. I learned of the nice scene in "The Godfather" 2.

Let us share more and keep this thread alive. A movie called "Sunshine Boys" is also a nice movie with plenty of scenes on negotiation, putting aside personal feelings, practice makes perfect, out-of-the-box thinking, and resistance to change.

I suggest "Cast Away" for motivation skills since it touches on just about every topic. It covers how to get yourself going, how a false goal that you believe in can save your life, how to make critical decisions, and how to focus on the job and not get your eyes off the ball. Don't worry if it fails; just keep going until the end. Simply great!

Chelsea

Hi Folks,

I am new to the training world. Could you help out with these movies? How do we get a copy downloaded, and how do we derive learnings from them?

Thank you.

Dear All,

I have actually completed most of the sales training, which I gathered from Youtube.com. The training is practical and can be implemented effectively.

During the last training session, I showed video clips of Obama, which were very inspiring.

Please help me by providing your input via email at manopryal@gmail.com.

Thank you,
Vishnu Pryal
manopryal@gmail.com

Folks,

There are many such movies being used for training depending on the topics. Even we use movies for teaching MBA students, especially in HR, Marketing, and Strategic Management. We use local languages such as Hindi, English, Arabic, and silent movies to convey messages. It's a very good medium used for training too.

Gopan

Hello all,

I am an MBA student currently doing my summer internship at RBI on the project "Impact Evaluation of Training Programmes." For my final presentation, I am looking forward to any video clips, short stories, or other attractive tools emphasizing training impact evaluation that would be relevant to my project. I would be highly thankful if anyone can share any such videos or related material.

Looking forward to your inputs.

Thanks and Regards,
Monica.

Hi,

I have been using several Hindi and Telugu movie clips, and I want to share my experience.

1) If the clip is more than 4-6 minutes, the impact is lost.

2) The entire movie may be excellent, but if we don't include small episodes or scenes, it is not useful. One cannot show the full-length movie in training. I request my co-trainers to provide some clip references as this will enable better presentation and effectiveness. If you have any doubts, you can call me at 9849005827. I do have some powerful message-giving clips from Telugu and Hindi.

V. S. Sudhaker
9849005827

Have you watched Japanese movies titled "Waterboys" and "Swing Girls"? Those movies are entertaining and inspiring. Inside, you'll find teamwork, hard work, passion, and friendship :)

Hi, can anyone suggest where we can find the movie "Ek Doctor Ki Maut"? It seems to be a good choice for some training.

V S Sudhaker