Film Club

Hey there!

So instead of my usual review of a film I'm going to update on how my time helping out junior school kids with their film club is going.

The first week was crazy with a group of young kids running round like they've never been happier, but that's just nine year olds for you. The brief was to create a short film about yourself; some kids went off and produced a news broadcast, others a documentary about cheese sandwhich eating aliens and others a vlogger style video.

It was interesting to see how different kids reacted to the brief. The girls, in general, went for the factual news broadcast where as the boys went for aliens and the gamer kids went for a youtube vlog style.

I hadn't really thought about how young these children were, I was reminded though when one such child just could not stand still to hold the camera meaning the shot was crazy. When he saw the footage he realised he'd have to stand still to get a decent shot and therefore stood as still as anything for the twenty seconds or so when he filmed; I don't think I've ever seen such dedication before!

This week they were asked to produce a school tour of classrooms and facilities they like, again, the girls went for facts and portrayed the school in a light they thought would impress. The boys tod stories of what had happened in each classroom and some groups interviewed staff on their opinions.

Not to draw on stereotypes but from the groups I've seen, girls are bossy and boys are laid back. I'd never before thought about how this might affect their work when asked to work in groups but I've found each group's imagination when reacting to a brief to be varied and unpredictable. It's very interesting to work with children at such a young age and I've found it's strange; how they craze independence and happily compile pretty good footage yet still crave your approval.