Working within a multiliteracies framework, this paper moves beyond the traditional concerns with comprehension of a video text or the use of video for communicative purposes and demonstrates how a film clip might be used in a language classroom to explore the meaning-making process in film. Specifically, I investigate how language, filmic devices, and the representation of culture come together to create a cohesive text, and how an exploration of a clip's meaning contributes to the development of students' translingual/transcultural and symbolic competences.