A training video

More student work I stumbled across - one of the EMAs from the last presentation that I didn't mark.  I think this is a really nice example from one of the groups of students we were interested in teaching about video; media professionals who wanted to extend their skills base and develop their video skills to complement their existing practice.

Anthony Kennedy is an executive coach with a creative background, with a website at
http://ipadcoaching.com/, and two books under his belt. His training video is a cracking example of the genre and you can see the value of his experience in the production values he displays - have a look at the behind the scenes documentary.



Open University T156 EMA (EMA option 1 - Training Video) from Anthony Kennedy on Vimeo.


EMA Documentary (EMA option 1 - Training Video) from Anthony Kennedy on Vimeo.

Love those lists

We're nearing the end of our third presentation now, and starting to think about what it is that the course  achieves.  Some of this is OU-facing - to make sure that we capture some of the teaching innovations.  We're also starting to think about what next and it's helpful to take the time to see what already marks T156 out as different.

One reflection has been that the course focuses on process and this distinguishes it from some of the online alternatives.  I'm not claiming that we're the only place you can learn about production, but I do think that it's systematically built in to the fabric of the module and that T156 offers a structured way for students to learn about workflows and ways of organising their production, from pre- to post-

Seeing this in action is very encouraging:

Afterwards...

One of the really pleasant surprises this weekend was seeing some work from a former student on Facebook

It's a really powerful piece and nice to see that his film-making hasn't stopped.  Even better he's decided that he's going to make 9 more films this year, as an alternative to getting a student loan to do university study.  So hopefully there'll be plenty more to come.

Chris

Assessment engines

I've just been making final tweaks to the module website for our next (3rd!) presentation.  We've been able to streamline the early weeks a little, and have also added some material in a new FAQs section.  One of the things it's brought home to me yet again is just how much work goes into assessing student projects, and how many people are involved.  The trigger for thinking about this was having to explain that: 

Unfortunately that you can't make your videos 'private' and nominate who can watch them.  Your EMA films need to be accessible to all the people involved in the assessment systems, and we can't always name all the people you'd need to make it accessibe to before you submit.

The issue is that as well as first and second markers, the curriculum manager and the exam board, there are all sorts of other bits and pieces of the university with a legitimate interest in looking at student work - students services, projects and portfolios, etc. etc. and that's before we get into the territory of appeals, plagiarism and other queries that need to be investigated.

The positive side of all this is that I'm proud to work somewhere that takes assessment very seriously and puts a lot of staff time into being able to be sure our grades reflect the great work our students do.  Unfortunately it means I can't provide a list of everyone who might need to look at a video in advance.

Enthusiasm

Since I joined the OU staff 8 years ago, there's a been a decline in the number of opportunities to meet students at summer school.  This is a pity because it was always a great opportunity to meet students who are enthusiastic about their studies.  One of the joys of T156 is that the forums brim with enthusiasm and you get a peek at some of our students other interests through the magic of video.

This piece was a beauty and produced a lovely and occasionally surreal thread in the forum:

Making a film bag from PaulaJT156 on Vimeo.

Posting work live to the internet

Our intention from the very beginnings of T156 was to have students work in conditions that matched the environment in which they could reasonably be expected to make films afterwards.  This is reflected in the task briefs, the steer towards solving problems through asking for help from those who're able and willing to provide it, and building up confidence and trust so that feedback is helpful for improvement rather than threatening.

One of the things we are going to have to sharpen up on is making clearer that we expect students to post their work live on the internet.  The most practical reason is that we can't compete with the likes of YouTube for development time and server space to produce an easy platform for uploading video that looks good across a big range of input file types.  In a followup course it might be worth insisting on ogg files of less than 7MB for sharing, but it would be valuable for the challenge rather than because it matches the way most video is distributed these days.

However, it's also valuable for the challenge it presents.  There's some emotional work to be done in making your work public.  It puts an honesty and a discipline to the process.  Not all students are keen to use video in this way, and of course we'd rather negotiate something with them that works well enough.  But the preference is still very much oriented towards putting work online and seeing what the reaction is.  

...and it's working again

Now I know last presentation wasn't just an accident.  We've got the same great mix of different talents and levels of experience, and they're enjoying helping one another out.  The first introductions are appearing in open studio and I'm intrigued to see how many students will get past the first hurdle.

...and we're live

After all the rush to get everything up on the new VLE (don't ask) with members of the team dropping like flies all around us, it's a different kind of rush now.  The best kind really, this is the closest to the thrill of running a workshop that I've felt with online teaching.

The next cohort of students have begun to poke around in the forums and to share videos in OpenStudio.  They look like a good bunch and I'm sure they're up to the challenge that the last group set.  It's a high bar, but I really do think that if you provide a good space to work and give students their head they will excel, help one another and have fun.  What else do you need?

Partnerships III

I've always wanted to make links with other organisations through the course - It's good for our students, and I think our students could do good in all sorts of contexts.  So two developments in the last few months are really pleasing.

The first is an initial project with Open Cinema, working with homeless in Birmingham.  We'll bring some OU expertise and learning material to the table and if it develops there'll be lots of scope for using the T156 project to feed into something very satisfying.

The 2nd has just been signed off - an institutional membership for Shooting People.  This will give our students half price membership and gives us the chance to list our course on their site for anyone interested in developing their production skills.

T156 goes global

One of the basic design criteria of the course was always that anyone in the world with a computer and a camera capable of stringing together a video should be able to study it.  

We've just been added to the list of courses that are available globally, and the result is that if you want to study film-making with us you can now sign up at: http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/t156.htm#register from any country in the world.

Examples of students' work 4 : Trailers and campaign videos

The final in my series of posts showing student's work relating to the end of course project briefs.  Options 7 & 8 were trailers and campaign videos.

Trailers

The brief for the trailers was to create a trailer for a film, one-off programme or series.  The idea was to allow the space to imagine a larger piece of work, and then make a short film that expresses that idea.  This gave a lot of space for special effects and drama, and the trick was to weave it together to suggest that a full story lay behind it.

Nature of Chaos

Trailer playlist

Campaign videos

The campaign brief was to make a persuasive, issue based film.  Many students chose issues and causes close to their own hearts, and once more some of the results were incredibly professional


Critical illness and the patient experience from NeonFox on Vimeo.



Making of Critical illness and the patient experience from NeonFox on Vimeo.

Examples of students' work 3: Video Essays and Promos

The third in this series of posts looks at project submissions that were classified as video essays or promotional videos.

Video Essays
For the video essays we asked for students' perspectives on some aspect of their local surroundings, presenting arguments or meditations on a chosen theme: an incident, person, idea or event.


Lake Constance: Autumn Timelapse from Adonis Pulatus on Vimeo.

Promos
The promos are straightforward promotional films or more subtle viral films.  Such films are often used by an organisation to sell itself to a customer and will endeavour to put forward all of their positive aspects in a neat video.  The first video in the playlist is an accidental promo really, as it was intended to be a spoof, but has been taken up by the barefoot running community and is proving popular.



Playlist of promos

Examples of students' work 2: Music videos and dramas

The next in this series of posts looks at the 3rd and 4th options for the end of course project.

Music videos


One of the challenges with the music video was to make sure that the students had rights to the music they used.  We reminded them about creative commons music, but several found (or were) artists who were willing to let their music video be used.  The overall standard for this option was very high, and includes some of my favourite films.



Music video playlist


In Michigan - Sunny Side Up from Amy Walker on Vimeo.


Behind the scenes doc - In Michigan from Amy Walker on Vimeo.

Dramas

The drama option was linked to the fashion for ultra-short dramas for film competitions.  This didn't mean our students had to enter a competition, but rather that the rules (and the resources that often accompany such a competition would help them to shape something short and sharp)



Behind the scenes report for 'Lonely'

Drama playlist

Examples of students' work 1: Tutorials and idents

In the following set of posts, I'd like to share some of the work that students have made during the first presentation of the course, and I'll base it on the EMA (the final project) options.  I've mostly picked these from ones that I've marked and have chosen ones that I think are interesting or quirky.

Tutorials 


The tutorials have produced quite a wide range of ideas, from sailing to cookery.  The challenge here is to think through what people will be interested in, and how to show and tell a process effectively.  Good editing compresses time so that essential features are still shown, but inessential ones are removed or shortened.



Tutorials playlist

Idents

An ident is a short piece of video that acts as a logo for a channel or programme (or studio). The idents option was quite challenging, I think.  We included it too allow for people who really wanted to explore animation and post-production, but this also meant that the course material was less explicitly helpful than for some of the other options.  There was quite a range of quality as a result, including some very professional ones.




Idents playlist

Marking

We've almost finished marking the first set of projects from T156, and it's been a pleasure.  I normally dread marking because it's so repetitive - students on bigger courses which teach things and then examine whether they've stuck produce remarkably little variation.  Especially after a few years when the tutors have decoded the marking criteria and start teaching the exam (and even the project).

T156 is a complete contrast, and the main challenge has been how to score apples and pears on the same scale.  At least they're all fruit, and it's been reasonably easy to find a common agreement between the three markers.  I will share some of the final bits of work once we've got them safely dispatched off, and here's one for the road, purely because I marked it today: