Video Exercise

20 April 1998

This exercise is intended to improve your video-making skills, but don't take it too seriously; it's just a bit of fun. This evening, you should plan and script your video. Over the next four weeks, you should film and edit your video, outside normal club meetings. You can take as little or as much time as you like over that period. (Bear in mind that there is no club meeting on 4 May, so your group can meet then if you wish.) I would expect filming and editing to take time equivalent to one or two club meetings: that is, two to four hours. [Note 10 September 1998: The total time our group spent on this film came to about 30 hours.] We will show the results of this exercise at the club meeting on 18 May.

You will have been put into groups. One person in each group is the director. The director decides what the other people in the group will do.

You are to make a video about an unimportant or little-known aspect of a place, thing, person or organisation. However, you should treat that aspect as if it was the most important part of your subject, perhaps even the subject's sole reason for existing. When it is edited, your video must last no more than five minutes. Below are some ideas for titles.
 

  • The Tourist Attractions of Borehamwood
  • The Park Benches of Borehamwood
  • Great Tea-Breaks of Our Time
  • My Sock Drawer
  • Top Ten Train Timetables
  • Classified Advert
  • The Gap Between the Stations (railway stations or radio stations)
  • Dust
  • String
  • Opening Titles
  • Closing Credits

    • These are just suggestions. You can pick your own if none of them appeal. The most obvious approach is probably a documentary, but you could also make a drama or a comedy.

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