BYU NewsNet - Students learn about leadership by filming Brigham Young’s story

A group of graduate students made a film using a story from Brigham Young’s life to teach about leadership with the help of LDS Motion Picture Studios.

The students were given a budget and told to create a short film teaching about an aspect of leadership for a graduate course.

“It was really intimidating at first because none of us knew anything about making movies,” said Christopher Cole, a graduate student from Arcadia, Calif., studying information technology. “It was an exercise in leadership in itself.”

The students chose to focus on humility and used a story about Young told by Elder Marlin K. Jensen in a General Conference talk. The story was passed down through family members and recounts a time when Young was rebuked by Joseph Smith in a public meeting and humbly responded, “Joseph, what do you want me to do?”

As part of the film the students re-enacted the story from the talk. LDS Motion Picture Studios provided the students with costumes, a set, actors and other materials necessary to make the film.

“We had a vision of what we wanted it to be like and without them we wouldn’t have had the resources to do it,” said James Speirs, a graduate student from Chandler, Ariz., studying information technology.

Students working on the project were able to dress up with costumes and wigs and be extras in the film.

Every semester students in the leadership class were required to do an investigative project on leadership, but this is the first year they were assigned to create a film.

Val Hawks, professor of the leadership class, said having to create a film instead of writing a paper will help them in leadership roles in the future.

“The experience of going out and getting something done can apply across all things,” Hawks said. “They may not need to go out and find costumes, but they will need to go out and find something.”

Leadership happens in the context, Hawks said.

“We can talk a lot about it, but in order to really learn it you need to do something,” Hawks said.

Hawks plans on showing the video to future classes and making it available to other faculty and students. There is currently an initiative to increase leadership learning in the college.