Again using the ideas from Flotsam as our starting point myself and Nina brought in images of  Star fish,  Seahorses and other underwater creatures in on cards so the children could colour in and cut out. The idea was to make an underwater world like in Flotsam and give the children the opportunity to take photographs of their own magical world. The children worked very hard to create their world and a lot of glitter was split. But eventually  each nursery created something. At The Pump the staff were fantastic and really pulled out the stops. We even had the sound of water splashing. The children were very proud of what they did and each took time in the magical made up world taking photographs of the sea life they discovered. We wanted to carry on with this activity next week so both nursery’s have decided to keep their underwater world for the time being.

The feedback we have been getting from the both staff and parents for the project has been fantastic. The staff especially have said that have been amazed at how the children have got involved in the project and how much they have retained week by week. Our aim is to make being creative with the camera second nature to the children and already they know exactly what to do and what they would like to photograph. We want to take this idea further and give them the opportunity to show us how they see the world.

At The Pump I have been showing films to what is turning into a Reminiscence group for residents over fifty. We watch ‘Meet me in St Louis’ which went down a storm. We are now developing a film / mapping project with the group that will involve young people from the area. 

I am also developing the ‘Painting on Film’ which is going well although time consuming. I will post some of the work I have been doing on that shortly.

BuggyCam - Week 2

For our second BuggyCam session with the children we again brought in the puppet. Again we started of at Norton hall Nursery in the morning and went to The Pump Daycare in the afternoon. As in the previous session the puppet brought with him a ‘present’ for the children to help during the session. Infact myself and Nina had decided that we would bring a number of things to the session. The first would be David Weisner’s book ‘Flotsam’ and the second would be a box full of Camera’s. We read the book to the children, which again referenced the camera. We then told them that ‘Pinky’ had brought everyone of them a present to help them. We then revealed an old brown box which had inside eight Vtech KiddiZoom cameras. The camera’s are prefect for early years children to discovery photography. The cameras are also durable and can take a lot of bangs and knocks.

The children was shown how to turn the camera on and how to take a photograph. The big issue was getting them to look through the viewfinder. It is new to them and it will take time. They took it in turns to take a photograph of the puppet, which they enjoyed immensely.

We then played games. The first was again the ‘Freeze Frame Dance Game’ in which the children would dance and when the music stopped they would freeze and pull a face. The idea was that one child would have a camera and take a picture of the child that they thought pulled the best face. They then played a version of I spy with the cameras in which myself and Nina would ISpy objects in the room and then the children would have to photograph them.

At Norton Hall we had the opportunity to go outside to the children’s play area and take photographs of underwater themed wall murals that for the children was good because it related to ‘Flotsam’. The main aim of this session was just to get the children use to the cameras and taking photographs. 

BuggyCam - Week One

Last week Reel Access began BuggyCam, an innovative project which gives early years children the opportunity to be creative through photography and film. In collaboration with Norton Hall Nursery and The Pump Daycare the project began on Thursday with a group trip at Canon Hill Nature Centre. The idea was to get both organisations together for a day of fun and exploration. Unfortunately it rained but that didn’t stop everybody having a really good time. (As you can see from the photographs taken by Dave Boynton) The children loved the Nature Centre and they had an opportunity to draw the animals that they discovered. Film Practitioner Nina Jones and Photographer Dave Boynton helped during the day. I want to say a big thank you to Donna and Perminder and their teams that made the day go so well.

The day at the Nature Centre was in preparation for our first creative session which began on Friday 16th of October. Myself and Nina Jones went to Norton Hall Nursery and the Pump Daycare with loads of  ideas to get the children thinking about composition. We didn’t want to introduce the idea of cameras just yet to them and instead came to the session with frames in which the children enjoyed decorating. The idea was to get the children thinking about framing images through their everyday games and activities. We also brought  a puppet which both groups independently from each other called ‘Pinky’. The puppet will help them each week by bringing gifts that will help them during their creative Journey.

The next session is on Friday 23rd of October and ‘Pinky’ will be introducing the picture book ‘Flotsam’ by David Weisner to the children. The book is about a boy who finds a camera washed up on a beach. He develops the photographs and finds a magical underwater world he thought didn’t exist. We are trying to get the children thinking about the creative possibilities of cameras.  I will do a weekly update on BuggyCam so I can keep track of the projects development. It is quite exciting and I am very happy that it is finally underway and that  all our planning has finally coming to the fore.

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Reel Access has taken part in an Open Day at The Pump in which we made a number of animations with young people who attended and a small five minute film that looked at what The Pump is and what it can offer young people in the community. The Open day was a great success and the team met alot of people who were interested in Filmmaking and wanted to know more about what Reel Access was doing as part of the Residency.

As Part of our summer programme here at The Pump we are at this very moment taking part in a ‘Playscheme’ working with 30 young people from Lea Village and the Glebe. The first week of the Playscheme was introducing the young people to filmmaking and giving them access to the equipment. We made a number of small films and animations. The second week has been about making something more substantial, so we have turned into an Advertising Agency in which we will make animated adverts about the playscheme and the area to show other young people what’s on offer not only in terms of the playscheme but the surrounding area.

It’s been a fun experience so far and the young people have been great to work with. The staff at The Pump are brilliant and have been very helpful and understanding about what I would like to do as part of the Residency. Charlotte, the Centre Manager at The Pump has been especially helpful to us and she has already been someone who we can rely on.

Hopefully soon we can expand what we doing are doing and begin working in other areas. We are hoping to begin work with Shard End Community Centre and we have just been notified that we have obtained funding from Creative Futures for a project with early years called ‘Buggy Cam’. This project will take place at The Pump and Norton Hall. We are also in the process of developing a project with the BBC that will hopefully take place in partnership with the International School in Hodge Hill. We are now very much committed to working here and we are trying to making connections with other Reel Access projects. All the support we have been given so far has been great in helping us develop our program of activities and we are currently working on our ideas for the autumn period.

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