Education

Films are invaluable for training and education – they promote discussion, explore issues and stimulate emotions. We have fully compliant insurance and enhanced disclosure CRB certificates so can work with all ages and groups.

Our biggest educational project to date has been working with Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zurich, a Swiss publisher producing two series of films to accompany a weekly workbook for school students learning English. The projects involved working closely with the authors to produce films that portrayed the lives of school students in England, Wales and Ireland. We also filmed drama students in Zurich performing acted pieces to illustrate some of the topics explored. Twenty stand-alone films were produced as a result. The workbooks and films have received excellent feedback and are used in schools in Switzerland.

Other educational projects include a 10-part DVD to illustrate the work and practice of Sam Warner, an educational psychologist. The DVD consists of a documentary, a fiction and a series of lectures. We worked closely with Sam to meet her vision and the films will be used to teach social workers, psychologists and support workers how best to work with a specific client group.

We also worked with the University of Kent on six films for their social work course. The films highlighted what it feels like to be seen by social workers and featured, amongst others; looked after young people and parents whose children had disclosed abuse. The film has had a great impact on students who have reported that it raised their awareness and helped them reflect on their practice.

INVOLVE is an organisation that promotes public involvement in research and is affiliated to Leeds University and the National Institute of Health and Research. They approached us because they needed a series of films to accompany their report ‘Changing Our Worlds’. We worked collaboratively with the author and filmed five of the featured groups who were based in Durham, Leeds, Bradford and Clacton. All of the films had subtitled and British Sign Language versions.

Teaching Filmmaking

We teach the practice of filmmaking to both groups and individuals. We have been working with CanDo Films since 2003. We trained the members to use professional camera equipment, interview and direct. They have made ten films and seven are used in NHS staff training. They received Oxleas Best Practice award in 2004.

We also design bespoke training courses tailored to the needs of individuals and small groups.