by Tania Russell-Owen | 5th Jul 2018
ProMo-Cymru recently developed a film-training course to engage with 25 hard-to-reach young people in Cardiff. The aim was to develop a course that reflected the young people’s interests of rap and hip hop music. They learnt how to create their own music videos over a period of four months. This gave them an opportunity to showcase their talents in an engaging way.
The course took place between November 2017 and February 2018 with funding from Ffilm Cymru and the South Riverside Community Development Centre (SRCDC).
Green Screen Training
To create music videos and other films on a low budget we taught them how to work with green screen. They learnt all about the equipment needed for filming and the green screen tools. As part of their training, they learnt how to set up a film set, using lights and backgrounds. They helped to set up the camera and how to connect it to the computer. We showed them how to add different backgrounds and how to identify and mark the areas where they should perform in front of the green screen.
We took a non-traditional, youth led approach to the training. This involved an element of risk due to numerous barriers faced by the young people themselves. Our approach was adjustable and innovative in order to engage the young people and ensure that they would benefit from the course. They certainly felt inspired and thousands have watched the films online already.
Partnership working
“ProMo-Cymru encourages partnership working by making sure that young people from existing local provision are targeted,” says Dayana Del Puerto, Multimedia Producer and Director at ProMo-Cymru.
“We worked closely with young people from SRCDC, delivering sessions on their premises and the Riverside Warehouse.”
The young people who took part in the training come from the Riverside, Grangetown and Buetown areas of Cardiff.
The project encouraged further learning and engaged with a BME audience of young people, many of them fall within the NEET category. The project offered an Agored Cymru accredited qualification and ProMo-Cymru helped signpost the young people to further education opportunities and to other organisations that were working to the objectives of the Fusion/Pioneer programme.
Taking ownership
“Many of the young people had never attended this type of training before,” explains Dayana.
“It was the first time that they helped to organise, set up and direct some filming. Their confidence built very quickly after we allowed them to take ownership of what they were producing.”
One of the young people that came along to the training was Sonny Double 1, who performs alongside the Cardiff band Astroid Boys. Although he had done some professional filming before, he’d never had the opportunity to learn how to set up a filming set, lighting the scene and previewing the recordings.
“I found the training very useful and it’s encouraged me to make more videos about our local community,” he said.
Moving on
Joel Britton, one of the youth workers at the Riverside Warehouse, also took part in the training.
“You could see how well the training engaged with the young people involved. I actively encouraged all the young people in the community to attend,” explained Joel.
“We are now interested in investing in a green screen for the centre. This will allow us to continue to make films. It will also compliment our recording studio.”
Everything starts with a conversation
ProMo-Cymru works towards building positive change and lasting relationships between individuals, families and communities. Providing innovative and creative solutions through meaningful conversations and digital technology. If you’d like to discuss how our TEC Model can help your organisation then get in touch.
