revised report 1

8/9/2019 Revised Report 1

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Table of Contents Page

1.Background 22.Aims of the 9 day workshop 2

3.Products of the workshop 3

4.Impact/Results 3

5.Lessons Learned 3

Annexe I 7

Annexe II 9

Annexe III 10

Annexe IV 12


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EVALUATION REPORT for the BCMD video workshop July 2010

BACKGROUND

This was the third documentary video workshop organized by Bhutan Center forMedia and Democracy and the first time that the workshop was open to any young

person. In previous workshops, BCMD drew their participants from the media clubs

of select high schools in Thimphu. For this workshop, BCMD made an open call to

youth and to schools in Thimphu, Punakha and Paro and interested participants

applied for the workshop. The only criterion was that they had to be between the agesof 16-21 years old.

Announcements were made on the radio, and all high schools (public and private)

were contacted and provided the forms, an application pick up and drop off box was

also set up in Voluntary Artists Studio Thimphu (VAST) in Thimphu. Applicants

could also email their applications into the office.

BCMD received more than 45 applications, of which 20 students were selected based

on their evident interest. Some applications were immediately disqualified for not

fitting the age limit, or indicating a complete misunderstanding of what the workshop

was about. Participants were from: Mothithang Higher Secondary School, RinchenKuenphen Higher Secondary School, Nima Higher Secondary School, Punakha

Higher Secondary School, Kuenga Higher Secondary School (Paro), Kelki Higher

Secondary School Yangchenphu Higher Secondary School and Drugyal Higher

Secondary School (Paro).

The resource persons for the workshop were Greg Watkins, Stanford University, andDechen Roder, a Bhutanese filmmaker.

BCMD supports filmmaking for youth to enable them to give voice to issues of

interest and concern. It is also a part of the overall media literacy programme that

BCMD conducts in Bhutan.

AIMS OF THE 9-DAY WORKSHOP:

To familiarize students with documentary production filmmaking and all the phases

(planning, production and post-production)

To give students practical training and experience in making their own films, and toprovide basic tools for effective story-telling.

To teach students basic film language, teamwork, approaches to documentary

production, and the role documentary can play in forwarding democracy.

To expose Bhutanese youth to different film genres (documentary, short film) and

teach them how to view films critically and analytically.

To help the students express their concerns and interests through a new medium, and

to participate actively in their society through the potential voice of documentary.


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PRODUCTS OF THE WORKSHOP

In groups of 2-3 students, 5 short films were produced during the workshop:

1) Unbalanced Nature2) The Story of Tshering Yangzom3) Khaman Singh Ghalley is a Waiter4) Poverty 105) A Day in the Life of Ranjeet

IMPACT/RESULTS:

The 9-day workshop was successful in teaching the students the above aims. Given a

few mishaps with the computers, all 5 films were well made and executed. It is highly

evident that the students understood the overall aim of documentary being a medium

for new voices, as all the topics they chose to focus on dealt with social issues, or

shed light on mostly unheard stories.

The student evaluation reveals that the students learnt a lot about filmmaking and

communicating their ideas. Many students mentioned that they hoped for a 2nd

level

course, which would teach them even more. Many of the students realized both how

challenging it is to make a film, but also how exciting and interesting it is to be

involved in production. Students also learnt how truly collaborative filmmaking is,and learnt to work well in teams. After this course, many students revealed their new

or enhanced ambitions in becoming filmmakers or working in the media industry in

the future.

The workshop also helped to reinforce an understanding of the documentary film in a

society that is tending to veer towards fiction film and entertainment media.Participants also learned that all films are an articulation of a point of view and this is

an important realization in a country where media are young (TV was introduced in1999) and many youth have yet to develop the critical thinking skills needed to view

media.

The final day screening for friends and family enabled youth to meet with their

audience. It gave them an opportunity to articulate their experience and to take stockof what they learnt. This is valuable in itself and gave the youth the experience of

being accountable for the media they created.

LESSONS LEARNED

1) Understanding Editing Before Shooting

One thing that the resource persons took for granted, and did not realize, was that

most of the students werent familiar with the basic phases of filmmaking and

production (shooting and editing after). After their first shooting assignment, we

realized most of them didnt know that video is edited later. Many had shot thinking

that it was to be the final version, and had messed up a few times, and started over.

In future workshops this phase of being able to edit, and play with the footage in post-

production should be introduced before they go for shooting.

2) Editing Time, Computers, and Uploading Footage


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In the evaluation report, many of the students claimed that they did not learn enough

about editing and some also mentioned they would have liked to learn the process of

how the footage is loaded onto the computer. These comments and feedback indicate

a few suggestions for future workshops.

1)

Ensure that the computer to student ratio is better for future workshops. Thistime it was about 6:1 (students to a computer).

2) Give more class instruction on editing to the students. We had given them abrief overview (about 1-2 hours), and wanted them to learn individually. But

perhaps next time, it should be longer, 3-4 hours of class instruction/practice.3) Also teach students how the footage is loaded onto the computer.

3) More Hands-on Work and Applying Theory

Many of the evaluation reports from the students mentioned that they learnt the most

in the practical and the least in the theory. This is important to note, and

incorporate into future workshops. The workshop gave a lot of time to experience the

assignments on their own but the lack of computer and editing time did not allowstudents to fully grasp the process.

The first assignment for all the students was to have someone tell them what I

do.. and to cut visuals over it. This project was supposed to be done by every

student (shot and edited) and was to incorporate much of the theory taught. Due to alack of computer time, many were not able to complete their projects. It would have

been a very concrete learning experience (practical) to apply their theoretical

knowledge.

1) Again, this issue may be solved with a better computer to student ratio in future

workshops.

2) It may also help to think of more interactive ways to teach theory. A suggestionwould be to show clips from popular feature films and break down the sequence and

shots while discussing the language. Or have students watch a sequence and break

down the scene using the film language. We also did not have the students storyboard

shots (something that was done in previous workshops), possibly that should be re-

introduced in future workshops as an exercise in applying theory.

3) We did fine with the tripods we had, but it would be good to have one tripod per

group.

4) We should add, in either the schedule or the report, the value of watching 'dailies'

on the TV, both to remember the value of a TV in the room and to emphasize thevalue of sharing work along the way.

5) Similarly, though this would be another demand on time but it would have beengreat to have full rough-cut screenings of everybody's work toward the end. We did

this with one project for the class, but then had to go to just the teachers and each

group watching cuts together. This is partly the consequence of sharing computers,

which, in a sense, it cuts our time in half. With one computer per project, we would

be able to say, for example, "Let's edit all morning and watch rough-cuts in the

afternoon."


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4) I-movie Software Issues

During the course of our workshop, there were major complications with 2 Mac

computers and the students projects in I-movie. Two groups had to move their work

to another computer half way through their editing, and one group had to move twice.

It is extremely difficult to move I-movie projects (as opposed to other editingsoftware) and this meant the students had to start editing from scratch, which severely

compromised their final work.

We believe both problems arose from the I-movie software, not being able to handlethe heavy editing. If the software cannot be changed, certain precautions must be

followed in future workshops.

1) Make sure that everything imported into an I-movie project is of recognizableformat (for example .avi and .mp3). We believe that some of the problems

arose because I-movie could not properly read certain audio formats that the

students had imported, and this corrupted all the projects on I-movie.

2) Although we covered camera safety and handling, I think we were not clear oncomputer handling. We of course did not allow any food or drinks near the

editing stations, but we had not properly gone through handling the computer

with care. I think some of the computer problems arose because students

might have been too rough and impatient with the spinning wheel and hit

certain keys over and over, till the computer and program froze. For future

workshopsit should be clear to the students that patience and gentle care forthe computers is also required!

3) We had to buy the software Flip Converter for Mac in order to improve thefiles being imported from the Flip cameras. This is why the students weren't

able to experience uploading (it also had the affect of bogging down one of thecomputers for importing).

4) We should also note that the Flip cameras we have are going to be more andmore difficult to use as other technology improves. It's a question of budget,

of course, but newer cameras with better sound would help a lot.

POSTIVE PRACTICES:

1) Showing short films/documentaries

We were quite diligent in showing short documentaries and films to the students

through the course, and that was a good exercise. After each film, we would discuss

the approach, the intention, the style, the content, and the visuals. As Bhutanese

students are not used to seeing any Bhutanese media that is not a feature commercial

film or a program on BBS, I think it was important to expose them to different genres

and possibilities, and most importantly to have them talk about it. We had the students


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talk about what they thought, rather than we tell them what the films were about. This

was essential to having them understand these films better and also have them think

about their own films.

2) Discussion and Debate

We also often made the students give feedback on each others ideas and projects, and

this was very successful in the brainstorming phases. It forced the students to view

ideas critically and analytically. These sessions led to interesting debate and

discussion, and also made the students understand that every individual can have adifferent perspective and approach to the same story or issuesomething crucial to

documentary filmmaking.


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Annexe I

Daily Activities

July 5, 2010- Monday

MORNING. What is documentary film?

How is documentary different from fiction?

What are main elements of documentary?

3 phases of production

Understanding themes vs. story

AFTERNOON. Camera- Techniques, safety,

film language, composition, lighting, sound.

Say it, Dont Show it B-roll

Ice-breaking Activity

WATCH:

Short Bhutanese films and short

documentaries.

ACTIVITY: Brainstorm in groups possible

documentary projectstopics curious,

confused, concerned

Everyone must share one topic or idea withthe class.

ACITIVITY: Watch parts of GNH

documentarythink of b-roll to insert tomake it more visually interesting.

ACTIVITY: go out in groups to film: Have

a person talking.

Compose shots according to assignment.

July 6, 2010- Tuesday

MORNING: Watch footage from yesterdaydiscuss what the shots mean.

Interviewing and sound techniques. Eye line,

Getting interesting answersReview composition and film language.

SOUND and lighting

AFTERNOON. Begin editing short clips from

yesterday.

Other group- watch clips from movies.

Different approaches to filmmaking.

Observational, Personal, Classic

ACTIVITY: break into groups. Take turns

interviewing each other. How can you makethe answers interesting?

WATCH:

Clips from documentaries

ACTIVITY: start editing


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July 7, 2010 Wednesday

MORNING: Watch edited works from

yesterday

Discuss more on approaches.

Storytelling: How to write a script. How tobreak down a story. How to plan an approach.

AFTERNOON: few edit on imovie stations,

rest of group do shooting exercises

interviewing each other, and overlapping

action.

ACITIVITY: break into groups, come up

with mock script and approach for given

story.

ACTIVITY: continue editing

Finalize groups and brainstorm with ideas

for documentaries.

July 8, 2010- Thursday

MORNING: Watch edited works from the day

beforeDocumentary ethics and Research methods.

Brainstorm ideas and come up with a storyline

and shooting script.

Make sure there is enough to show it and not

say it.

How to write a shooting script.

How would you go and cover this?

What is the approach? Write a shooting

script to cover this.

ACTIVITIY: Start shooting

July 9- shooting, and some groups start editing

July 10-

More shooting

watch short documentaryunderstand b-

roll and editing visuals, and all make lists of

all the elements included in a film (sound,

graphics etc.)

July 11- July 12 Editing

July 15- FINAL SCREENING


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Annexe II

List of Participants and their documentaries.

"Kaman Singh Ghalley Is a Waiter"

Kencho WangdiPhuntsho WangdiUgyen Wangchuk

"Poverty 10"

Santosh RaiChimi Wangmo

Yeshi Tshomo

"A Day in the Life of Ranjeet"

Khina Maya

Choney Wangmo

Tashi Choden

"Imbalanced Nature"

Dorji Tashi

Rupa Devi Rai

Sonam Rinchen

"The Story of Tshering Yangzom"

Karma Gyeltshen

Kuenzang Jambay

Pema Rinchen

*15 participants: 9 boys and 6 girls.


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Annexe III

Evaluation Report


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Annexe IV

Invitation and Poster designed by the participants

revised report 1

Documents