Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Cerebellum Corp
• VHS Release Date: April 3, 2000
• Run Time: 135 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305214301
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,278 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As with other Standard Deviants videos, this one begins with the warning that English Composition is meant to be used in conjunction with a class, not as a replacement. Well, for once, ignore them. Sure, nothing can replace an English comp class, and everyone should take one, but this video is probably the most valuable one you could watch before beginning your high school or college career. In fact, even for those in the real world, English Composition can help you brush up on your writing skills. Whether you need to write a lab report, a critical review, or a case study or summarize professional articles, this video gives you the know-how to write an effective paper from brainstorming through revision.

Nathan is your typical college freshman. Through confessional-style interviews, we learn of his traumas and achievements writing his first university assignment. From the moment his teacher gives him his assignment, we watch Nathan as he churns out--and rejects--a number of ideas. We share his satisfaction when he narrows his choices down. We share his pain at his not-great critique. We share his joy at his final rewrite. Okay, so maybe we're getting a little carried away--but using Nathan, humorous skits (including a genie who grants wishes), and clever graphics, the Standard Deviants cover characteristics of academic prose, getting started, collecting information, outlining, rough drafts, feedback, and lots of revision in a jocular way. Included with the tape is an insert that shows not only Nathan's assignment, but the three versions of his paper, which incorporate the changes he's made. --Jenny Brown

Product Description

English Composition is a great tape for anyone - students and non-students alike - who wants to write a terrific paper or polish his or her writing skills. This tape will teach you everything from stating and supporting a position, to collecting supporting information and writing a thesis statement. The Standard Deviants will help you become a better writer in no time!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too hip for its own good?, December 4, 2000

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Standard Deviants: English Composition [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As impressive as this program is in its combining integrity with entertainment, it did not get good reviews when I test-drove selections from it for a class of college freshmen. The information--about constructing a thesis, organizing and revising a paper, citing sources correctly--is exactly what most students need. And it's presented with lots of arresting visual dynamics, fast-paced actions, inside humor (from Citizen Kane to Dan Quayle). But my students sensed that they were being talked down to, that a truly complex and laborious exercise was being misrepresented as a mere "snap." They saw more Sesame Street than MTV in the presentation and therefore rejected it. All teachers and parents have likely experienced such paradoxical reactions from young people when you invade their "unique, pop-culture territory." They may actually prefer that you maintain your stodgy role--it gives them greater security about their own. This video, therefore, is likely to trigger defensive reactions such as those I witnessed, giving Holden Caulfieds every opportunity to label a well-intended presentation as "phony."

In conclusion, the video might be useful at high school levels or for adults welcoming a change of pace in their approach to learning. Or perhaps advanced college students who are "truly" sophisticated would be able to extract the wheat while getting a chuckle at the chaff.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where's Elmo?, May 12, 2001

By 

Mike Vaughan - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Standard Deviants: English Composition [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I teach a Composition II course offered through a local university to personnel at a nearby military installation. My students are generally non-traditional, and many of them had the first composition course years ago. I thought this video would provide them with a good refresher.

Just a few minutes into my first viewing, I began to worry. As the bubbly narrator chirps about English Composition, cartoon characters dash across the screen to the "BOING" and "CRASH" of Saturday morning sound effects. Squeaky-voiced puppets occassionaly appear to yelp some unintelligble point about writing, or something. The actual information is great, but I found myself cringing as we cut away to yet another hopelessly lame bit of comic relief. The humor in Sesame Street is much more sophisticated than this. After two-plus hours of slide whistles and bad jokes, I had to have an aspirin. Still, I decided to try it on my students.

Oh, how they wished they'd brought some rotten vegetables to class that day. Not one of the muscles in the human face required for smiling even twitched in my entire class for an hour. There was, however, a great deal of moaning, head shaking and eye rolling. I think one student began to drool a bit, and another did not blink for over twenty minutes. Imagine Hee-Haw without the laugh track, then think of something less funny. It was agonizing, and I doubt I will show them the remainder of the video.

If the dumb comic bits were edited out, this program would run about 90 minutes, and would be a great refresher for my students. As it is, the helpful information is dumbed-down by the overdone fluff. I have seen other Standard Deviants videos on Shakespeare's plays, and they were not so inane. Perhaps a class of traditional college Freshmen would react more positivly to this video. My older students were insulted.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great video for beginners and/or review, June 29, 2000

By 

Ladylaz - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Standard Deviants - English Composition (DVD)

I use this video in entry level composition courses I teach soley to traditional students, as well as those I teach soley to adult/returning student (non-traditional) groups. It plays well to both audiences, despite the 'MTV-generation' demeanor of the Deviants. (Perhaps this is because many adult students have children of their own who resemble the 'stars'?)

In any case, this is the only video I have seen which makes the process seem accessible and allays fears, as well as teaches the basics. I recommend it without hestiation to anyone interested in English Comp.