Media files

Introduction

This page is devoted to students’/trainees’ work and illustrates key characteristics and processes of the SItAMI project.

The project beneficiaries were people challenged by one or more disadvantage or impairment. Some came from ethnic minority groups, some were asylum seekers, some were from economic regeneration zones, all were young and unemployed. Social, cultural and economic factors were, in some cases, compounded by gender discrimination, race issues, physical, mental or learning difficulties, low self-esteem and poverty.

The three illustrations show that young people can be encouraged to explore their artistic and creative abilities through various media – for example, dance, drama, fine arts, construction arts, music etc. These creative ‘products’ can then be captured, reformulated or extended through the intervention of technology, computing and programming – for example, photography, video-making, film design and production, animation and web design.

The three examples – one from each partner country in SItAMI – were planned, designed, performed and compiled by trainees/students, themselves working together as peers in a multi-media team. The media-related skills being developed provided opportunities for further activity and employment in media industries and/or in those industries heavily reliant on media kills (retailing, marketing, PR etc).

1. Belgium Workshop

Bartok: The Journey

This was filmed during the Belgium Workshop. It will be used as illustrative of the processes which will deliver the objectives of the project. The video was made by students who had not worked together before and who are currently either out of work / unemployed or who are undertaking part-time study but seeking employment in the media-related industries. The video was put together by a film and photography trainee who is seeking work contracts. The students / trainees were brought together with an employer who himself provided the framework for the creative expression of the trainees.

Method

The students / trainees, together with the trainers attending the workshop, were shown examples of good practice brought to the workshop by the partners. These consisted of the exhibition of / photography of / dvd of the Summer Camp in Hungary, the musical improvisations and performance presented by the Greek partners and the videos made by the UK partners (involving a re-interpretation of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). The aim here was to ask the students / trainees at the Workshop to react to these “products” by using their particular specialisms (musical, film-making and dance / performance) to reflect upon and to improvise from these products. The result was the enactment of the theme of “Buffy” (shades of vampire Hungarian-Romanian culture) by the dancers, against a background of Bartok (cello) and a Hungarian spoken “commentary”. It was captured through the medium of video-making.

This “product” is being put on the web-site as an exemplar of:

  1. Sharing practice across the partnership.
  2. Ways in which different forms of creative expression can be harnessed, expressed and disseminated through technology.
  3. Theory and practice in the arts and technology can be brought together.
  4. Women and members of ethnic minority groups have / should have a “voice”.
  5. “Empowerment” can be realised through the development of life-skills such as self-esteem, that the arts is an excellent medium for this process, and that on the basis of enhanced self-image, employability skills can be built.
  6. Demonstrating to trainers (who subsequently will be in “training-of-trainers” situations) the opportunities afforded by the arts, once combined with appropriate technological skills, to currently disadvantaged groups.
  7. How opportunities can be created to bring employers, trainers, trainees and sponsors together, thus providing the partnership with ideas / themes for ‘local’, in-country dissemination of the spirit and objectives of SItAMI.

The subsequent discussion that took place (based on the experiences listed above) between the student / trainees, the employers attending the Workshop, the trainers and the partners was most valuable and educative. It brought together very effectively the content of the training on the previous workshops as well as demonstrating the theme integration of Theory and Practice.

2. Media Arts and Industries in Lancaster and Morecambe

Curtains Up

This film, its storyboard and transcript was created by a trainee, who also is the narrator. It features the work of a British playwright, John Godber, through one of his plays 'Teechers'. This film follows the production of the play and documents its development, staging and rehearsals right through to the opening night. The trainee who made this film designed, filmed and edited all aspects of it.

Dubble Adverts

These advertisements were funded by a Fairtrade chocolate company. They were created and captured through film and photography by a group of trainees. The trainees are now employed in the advertising industry.

Bring Me Sunshine

This film has again been made by a single trainee who has executed each stage of the film-making herself. Using a storyboard, transcripts and personal narrative, extended by interviews with local residents, she tracks the opportunities offered by Morecambe as a seaside resort, but also confronts its negative press. Explored through the perceptions of local residents and visitors, the film attempts to show this Northern UK town 'spots and all'. The film retains its wry humour and does a good promotional job for a rather run-down location.

Lagney & Casey

This is a spoof police detective film which was both acted and filmed by a group of trainees. The storyboard, dialogues and all aspects of the production process is their own. This is a good illustration of creative and acting skills brought together by media technologies.

Stranded

This is a film inspired by personal experience of being homeless, and about prejudice. Filmed at a bus station, it is a commentary on the experiences of young alienated youth.

3. Summer Camp in Hungary

Method

Media-related learning at the partner institution in Hungary culminated in the annual Crafts and Media camp in Northern Hungary. Students/trainees and their trainers migrate to a remote village that recreates, through ethnography, the ancient routes of Hungarian peasants. Here, young people live the life of their forebears, using tools, living traditions, simulating lifestyles of a past era. Their experiences are captured through the creation of artefacts (stone, pottery, wood, thatch and other natural resources) and exhibited as they are completed. Throughout this process filming takes place to record the different processes of manufacture, and of finished products. Photography is also used. The photographic, video- and film-trainers/practitioners offer intensive skills training throughout the period of the camp. Dissemination events occur regularly through the camp period, organised by students themselves. Invitees are representatives of employers, local government, parents and friends. Again, the 'clips' illustrate ways in which creative/artistic expression can be 'harnessed' and made more permanent through the intervention of technology and that this, in turn, increases employability skills, with particular reference to the media industries.

Artwork produced

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