Introduction to Documentary Film-making training

This three day residential training session at Aston University, Birmingham was lots of fun! On the first day we analysed the concepts of documentaries and the different formats that they come in. We watched lots of different film documentaries and discussed what made them original, so we started to think about how we can incorporate that into our own ones, which we will eventually make. The second day was much more practical which involved brainstorming ideas, pitching and shooting a short film to get us into the swing of things! It was good practice, as we will have to be repeating these steps very soon.

Many thanks to award-winning documentary filmmaker, Mandy Chang, from the Grierson Trust.

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Leadership Skills

Such a fun day! This interactive session was all about (yes, you guessed it) LEADERSHIP SKILLS! It was delivered by Youth Bank- so thanks to them for a great day.

We did many fun activities like being blindfolded and having to sort and arrange shapes- possibly the hardest task ever! I was glad that I didn’t lead on that task, as I don’t think I would have had a clue as to what to do- Odira did well leading. But that also raised the question of the responsibility you have as leader and the decisions that you have to make, as well as communication and team work; they were big factors.

I had to lead on a task where my group and I had a long piece of wool that we had to make sure was a square shape, equal at all sides, whilst being blindfolded- again! At  first, I found it difficult because I didn’t have a  clue how to resolve the problem, but after talking it through with my team mates, I sorted out a logical way- we measured using arm length! But it kind of worked… Anyway the moral to this exercise is that  there is no good leader without followers, and that you must communicate. Communication is key, especially when you’re being blindfolded!

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