The purposes of this study are to develop a method by which a symbolic mode in general and a particular mode, filmmaking, can be studied and to present a demonstration of this method and the results of this particular analysis. Eight groups of teenagers, males and females, were taught to make films using 16mm equipment. The students came from four backgrounds: black lower class, black middle class, white lower class, and white middle class. The results of the application of this method of teaching filmmaking to the eight groups, their behaviors while filmmaking, and the films they made are analyzed and discussed in terms of the usefulness of the analytic scheme, the pattern of communication revealed, and the social implications of the use of symbolic materials by different segments of society. (Author/RB)