Over the two weeks (9 days) at Al-Bustan Camp 2013, teen campers spent half their day in video-making with media educator/filmmaker Nadia Awad, who describes the experience as follows:
This year’s teen video was inspired by the satirical news show, The Daily Show, and Bassem Yousef’s al Barnamaj. The students had a distinct interest in comedy and narrative film, which was evident from the first class, and they created the concept, drafted script, shot the video with a greenscreen, and edited it using found footage and graphics.
Our class focused on three different threads: understanding the significance of Egypt to world cinema, in particular Umm Kulthum’s unique historical role; cultivating a critical media lens by looking at experimental, documentary, and new media pertaining to Egypt and the latest uprisings; and learning technical skills in video production and post-production. Each day we focused on a specific topic – lighting, point-of-view, camera angles/shots – and addressed each topic from these three threads.
For the first week, we focused on understanding and looking critically at media and building basic technical skills with camera and sound. The second week, the students conducted research for their video. We discussed the ways in which comedic narrative film can provide an effective commentary on current events. We watched various news clips from different geographical regions and read articles pertaining to the recent events in Egypt. After scripting and rehearsing the story, the students worked out a shot list and delegated roles. Each student participated in acting or crewing up for the shoot. We watched the footage together and discussed ways to approach this in editing.
I see our video as a culmination of our discussions, analysis and technical skill-building. The video speaks to the students’ critical understanding of current media as well as their tremendous creativity and talent.
Please watch and let us know what YOU think!
