Project planning
The purpose of the project was to work with members of the
Museum team and students from King Edward VI College, to create a short
animated film based around the concept of how someone might legitimately
protest about something that concerns them. This could be through the students
working as individuals, sharing personal concerns, or in small groups exploring
wider ideas.
The students would be working with a professional animation
artist, Chris Bradley, in the conception and final production of the film.
The film could be informal and fun but must include, as its
central learning point, the concept of how an individual might find their voice
when considering making a protest and discovering how their protest might make
the most productive impact.
The film was to form part of a museum temporary exhibition
focusing on the history of protest.
The project brief was outlined to students in October 2016.
The timetable for completion was challenging, requiring 7 workshops and a final
completion for early December 2016.
Strengths
Strong and encouraging ‘buy in’ to the project from the
beginning from the teaching staff who were quick to vision how the project
would benefit their students.
Generous allocation of teaching time and flexibility to
allow students and teachers to attend workshops.
The challenging timescale of the project gave the students
an authentic taste of producing material in a ‘client based’ scenario.
The professional animator, Chris Bradley, was exceptionally
skilled in keeping students focused on the project. At times the rate of
production slowed, due often to the intricate nature of stop motion film
production. Chris, with his experience, was key in keeping things running to a
timetable with a completion date looming ever closer.
Despite a small drop out rate, the students working on the
project were committed and hard working, many spending their own time in
completing elements of scriptwriting or model making in their own time to avoid
over run.
Weaknesses
A great deal of the initial allotted workshop time was taken
up deciding which direction to go with the protest theme. In hindsight it may
have been better to get the group to decide this at the initial brief stage and
come to the workshops with a consensus.
The delay in deciding the nature of the ‘protest’ to be
animated inevitably pushed back time on developing a script and model making. This
put pressure on the remaining time and inevitably led to an over run. In
retrospect, as the concept of ‘protest’ was quite wide and complex, it might
have been better to give the students some pre selected areas or suggestions in
order to make adoption of the theme for the protest far quicker and easier.
Production
The initial problem with production was establishing the
concept and vision for the film. I think there had been an underestimation of
how complex the students might find this. Once this was resolved, script
writing and model making could commence.
Chris was instrumental in keeping students focused and the
commitment of the students was great, particularly once they could see the
direction the project was taking.
The tight timetable for the project was ambitious. If we
were to do this again a few more workshop sessions would be programmed in. As
it was the students showed wonderful commitment in giving their own time to
ensure things were completed on time.
I believe that the students benefited from their work with
Chris. Working with a professional animator they could see the amount of
planning and production required for a successful project. Chris was skilled at
developing a bond with the students, helping them with planning and designing
all elements of the project as well as demonstrating how to achieve a
professional result.
For the students to be involved in a project from conception
to launch, I believe, was very rewarding. I also believe that the practical
skills gained were significant, from model making, script writing, sound
recording and stop motion photography. This was certainly a broad base of
practical skills with a wide application for the future.
Project launch
It was fantastic to see so many of the students attending
the launch in their own time. They obviously felt real pride in what they had
achieved. The quality and significance of their work was echoed by Councillor
Ian Lloyd, Portfolio Holder for Arts and Leisure at Nuneaton & Bedworth
Borough Council. The film was enjoyed within the exhibition it complimented and
appealed to a wide audience, both children and adults. Many visitors commented
on the high production values of the film which I think is testament to Chris
Bradley and the students involved.
For the Museum & Art Gallery it was an important
project. We wanted to engage with a traditional ‘non service user’ audience,
using our collections in an inspirational way and getting students involved in
a meaningful project. I hope their experience was equally positive and
rewarding.
Postscript
The Museum & Art Gallery were delighted that Jakob
Morrison created a small exhibition of the props used in the production of the
film within our Community Showcase. We can conclude with his words:
“Working on this project was really rewarding and taught
both myself and the other members of the group so much about film production.
The museum team gave us the brief for the film and a deadline for completion
which was really challenging. Working with the artist was amazing because we
got to see all the different layers that go into film production, from
developing a practical story, script writing to designing sets and sound
editing.
The level of detail that goes into a production like this
went beyond what I’d imagined. The filming of the stop motion, making the tiny
adjustments for just one shot took ages and this was just for a 4 minute film.
Everyone benefited from the project and I’d like to see how
I can use what I’ve learnt by doing my own productions.”
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