Grahamstown Film Recce
Earlier this month, Funda Wande conducted our first on-site filming at a primary school in Grahamstown.
The two-day scoping trip was designed to give our team an important chance to prepare for our first wave of filming that’s coming up in October. Before diving into filming the real videos for the course, we wanted to “practice” a bit, and make sure of a number of key things: Would the scripts that our academic partners have been writing run smoothly? Would the teachers be camera shy? Would the grade 3 learners be able to cope with the camera?
To try to answer these questions, we brought a small film crew with us to Holy Cross Primary School who generously hosted us. We wanted to see which teachers best fit with which lessons, how would a group of grade threes would interact with cameras and microphones, we tried out different filming styles and aesthetics, and we captured hours of footage we could begin to use with our new film editor.
It was a huge success (and relief!). Our three all-star teachers blew us away with their infectious energy and natural ease with the learners. The kids were natural film stars, barely being phased at all by the cameras and microphones. And we’ve already begun working with the editor turning the footage into the first short videos for the course.
The whole team at Funda Wande would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Holy Cross. Principal Karol McConnachie welcomed our team with open arms and Permie Isaacs, the grade three teacher at Holy Cross and one of our course authors, did an exceptional job both on camera and welcoming our other teachers to her class.
In just a few days we’ll be doing another short recce at Ntisko Primary School. Stay tuned for updates!
