Yesterday was the second session in a six week long project at the Urbana Free Library. Kristin, myself, Chris, and Chera (all CI graduate students) along with Carol Inskeep (UFL librarian) are teaching a group of teenagers (around the ages of 11-15) how to use camera equipment and formulate a script for a short film. The project is a partnership between the Urbana Free Library, Community Informatics students, and Urbana Public Television.
I was really impressed by the improvement of the teenagers from last week to yesterday’s session. Last week we gave the boys (yes they are all boys) quite a bit of free reign. We showed them how to use the cameras then set them loose on the library. They had fun, but the material they produced was all over the place with little focus. This week we sent them on a “video scavenger hunt” around the library. They had to film themselves completing certain tasks such as asking the reference librarian for pirate books while talking in pirate speak, finding a book about dinosaurs while wearing a dinosaur mask, reciting a poem out of a book for the camera, etc. Once the boys were provided with a little more direction and structure to their camera work, they did an excellent job of focusing and completing the tasks. It was a great exercise which I had a fun time helping lead.
The groups also sat down and brainstormed ideas for their overall video project. I’m looking forward to seeing how they organize the ideas into a film. They are a great group of guys who have a lot of potential. I hope the next four weeks go as well as last night.
-Susan
