A retrospective overview: 1

Hi, it's Colette here. Now that MYVP's latest project is reaching the final tweaks in its development, I'm here to take a look back at the workshop's early stages to see how it all started.

So, today, let's rewind to the first two days:

21st July:
In their first group meeting, each young person had been told to write a short film review and bring it with them to present to the group and start a discussion. Their varied reviews quickly got the conversation flowing, and eased initial nervousness as they met their teammates for the first time. They were encouraged to consider key ideas and question aspects of the films they had reviewed - why had the director chosen to do that? What were they trying to do by including that scene in the film?
To help illustrate these concepts, and apply them in a practical situation, the group were then shown several short films including 'Dog Years' and John Smith's 'OM'.
For the following day they were set two tasks: to review a film, television programme or advert, and to prepare some film ideas for developing the environmental theme of the film they would be working on.
22nd July:
After discussing concepts for their film short, key ideas were reworked until the young people established a clear narrative.
They then spoke to Matt from MYVP's Green Machine project, and learnt a great deal about the current environmental situation, including the upcoming summit in Copenhagen. From this they branched into a discussion on the different ways people could re-use and save water. Deciding that they wanted to reference to the Copenhagen summit in their short, a radio broadcast was written into the film's narrative. Together with Maria, the group worked on a basic shot list and in no time at all they were on to drawing out the film's storyboard.
Another film the group watched for reference was the experimental film 'Love in The White City', which got them thinking about film in different ways.
Finally, the young people were set the task of researching the Copenhagen summit, as well as issues surrounding climate change, so to obtain factual evidence for their radio broadcast. As well as learning about film, they were learning about current affairs and getting more involved in the mechanics and real-life issues behind MYVP's film project.

Stay connected for more information on the development of the project in the days to come.