A visual literacy project to explore how children who have had no experience or instruction in the use of television would use the technology as a communication medium is discussed. One second and one fourth grade class were chosen to prepare three videotape "letters" communicating to their counterparts in another school information about their class and their school. The children were allowed complete freedom in planning and producing the video messages. It was hypothesized that (1) the structure of the children's video messages would be imitative of the format of prepackaged television products, (2) the children would rely more on the verbal mode than the visual to communicate their messages, and (3) the degree to which the children used the medium creatively rather than imitatively would differ with the degree of openness of their educational environment. A content analysis of the tapes indicated that they were imitative of broadcast television, and that the fourth graders in particular relied more on the verbal mode than the visual to communicate their messages. No conclusions were drawn with regard to correlating the degree of openness of the classroom with creative use of the medium. (LLS)