The project will be delivered through weekly four-hour sessions, every Saturday for 20-weeks, starting from the end of July. Each session will focus on achieving two outcomes. The first outcome is related to the creation of the film itself, and the second is related to specific learning and skills imparted to the young people from the session. We will ensure that during each session, the young people will not only involve themselves in the creative side of the film-making, but will also acquire the technical skills necessary to actually produce it. To ensure that skill transfer occurs in a manner that will keep the young people engaged, we have not set aside a specific part of the session for theoretical learning; instead, we intend to impart the learning through a mixture of hands-on experimentation, demonstration, and case study discussion.
The workshops will be delivered by facilitators experienced in working with young people: Abdul Miah (trained broadcast journalist and film maker), with further assistance and support from Lara Naqushbandi (trained in sound engineering and business management), and the participating Youth Workers. We have put together a complete curriculum for the project, which will cover a wide range of aspects such as researching, scriptwriting, storyboarding, filming, creating audio, editing video, marketing and graphic designing. In addition to these technical skills, the young people will also learn 'soft skills' throughout the production process, including communication, project management, team work and organisation.
Introduction
At the initial introductory session the group will be introduced to each other. We will have a broad discussion on the issues previously identified (disparity of wealth and opportunities in Poplar compared to Canary Wharf; Canary Wharf's 'shunning' of Poplar) and how it affects our young people on a personal level. The following week, we intend to go to a film festival/cinema, and view a film/documentary to inspire and motivate our young people, and help them feel like a team, breaking down any barriers existing between them.
Research, script writing and story-boarding
Between week 3 and week 6 the group will spend four sessions on different areas of pre-production, ranging from brainstorming ideas, developing researching skills, learning to use script writing software, drafting a script, and story-boarding the proposed film. Within the four-week period, the group will identify locations, possible interviewees, and collate all necessary legal permissions (e.g. through contacting Locations at Film London).
The first two weeks of this module will involve two drama-based development workshops. During these workshops, through group discussion and drama improvisation, the young people will further explore their feelings about Canary Wharf and experience of living in Tower Hamlets. In one of the sessions, the facilitators will record some improvised scenes on camera to give the young people some visual stimulus and start a process of bringing the film idea alive cinematically. There will then be further discussion and some rough story-boarding. The young people will then edit together a few shots with the facilitators, on computers, and then view this back, in order to come up with some further concrete ideas.
Next will come the key development stage, when ideas will be developed into a shooting script. Sessions five and six will incorporate storyboarding and scripting with film-maker support and some test shooting to try out visual ideas. It is envisaged that the group will now organise itself into teams taking on different responsibilities.
During these four sessions we now expect the young people to become organised into small groups to take on specific tasks. Members of these groups may overlap to some degree, but the groups will be: Cast, Camera and Sound crew, Director(s) - there may be more than one person sharing this role, organisation/location-finding team
Legal, political, ethical frameworks
Once the script, story board and all the research is complete, during week 7 the group will have a session to go through all legal, political and ethical issues associated with current affairs/documentary film making. Abdul Miah will place a particular emphasis on intellectual property laws, copy right issues and defamation.
Broadcasting skills
From week 8 to week 11 the group will be introduced to filming equipment and every member will be shown how to film using a DV camera and operate sound recording devices. The group will understand/try out all the production roles involved when making a film, and will take on rotating roles during the production stage. When shooting the documentary/film, interviewing guests (including inter-generational members of the Poplar community, particularly parents, as well as Canary Wharf workers), or filming general cutaways, Abdul Miah will always be present with the group providing guidance and assistance. However, we expect the young people to take the central roles in directing, shooting and acting, and a support role in the production management of the shoot.
Editing skills
From week 12 to week 15 the group will be given an overview of Adobe Premier Pro and will be shown everything from capturing the actual footage to exporting final edit to DVD. An editing suite will be set-up at Cafe Re-Connect, the main hub for this project for the above period. Although Abdul Miah will be present on the four training days, the group will be given access to the editing suite throughout the week so that they can continue to work on the project or practice if they want. Using the story-board as guidance, every member of the group will get a hands -on opportunity in editing the film/documentary. It is likely that a small group will self-select to be actively involved in the editing process, although we will make sure that all members of the team get basic training and are involved in viewing and commenting on the rushes.
Sound productions skills
On week 16 and week 17, Lara Naqushbandi will lead the audio productions sessions. The group will be given an overview of how to programme basic beats, how to use the mixer, and basic sound effects (volume, reverb, compression etc.) The group will incorporate the finished audio tracks into their film/documentary.
Marketing skills
On week 18, Lara Naqushbandi, will lead a marketing session to help the group develop a strategy to promote their film. The subject areas covered will include: understanding target market, managing the budget, product, competition and promotions. Lara will monitor the group, as they will be given a budget and will be self managed in this part of the project. In addition, the young people will be supported by the facilitators to research exhibition opportunities, and to organise local community screenings.
Basic Graphic design skills
On week 19, the group will be taught basic Photoshop skills by Abdul Miah as they produce flyers, posters and leaflets. Once their marketing/promotion documents are ready, the group can budget to get their material printed at a professional outlet.
We intend to credit young people within the actual film and through the local press (Eastend Life, Bangla Mirror and London Bangla), community TV channels (Channel S and the Community Channel) and community film nights. During the marketing phases of the project, young people will also identify appropriate film festivals, across the country, to enter the film.
We expect the young people to also learn transferable project management skills and to be able to direct and shape the project through a Steering Committee or similar structure. Young people will be involved in key decisions around budgeting, scheduling, evaluation, and helped to develop frameworks and tools that can be used to organise themselves. We plan the project to run from the end of July to the start of December and intend to have one Steering Committee meeting every month during this time, chaired by the Project Manager, and with Leader in Community, project tutors and young people forming the membership. The Steering Committee will reflect the diversity of the group. These meetings will review the progress of the project, and provide an opportunity to raise any concerns. They will also address key developments within the project involving finance, structure and evaluation.
In addition, at the end of each module of the project, the group will talk through the project experience so that the young people can identify how their learning has met the specified Mediabox and Every Child Matters outcomes.
We have identified AQA accredited qualifications that we will encourage the young people to undertake as part of their project involvement, e.g.:
AQA 77061 Level 1 Introduction to Filmmaking and Editing
AQA 72757 Filmmaking From Script to Screen
The Project Manager, supported by project staff, will work with the young people to identify the appropriate AQAs.
