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: