Digital Media projects highlight areas issues
From Gangs to Rough Sleeping - Two very diverse projects utilising music and video.
Portsoken Projects Officer, Liam Barnes, has run a series of media projects in November which have culminated in a recording of an original song written and performed by a former rough sleeper in the City. The media sessions were focused on film and music and have been made possible by the purchase of soundcards, video camera and hard drives that recent grant funding has provided.
The project has focused on former rough sleepers and has taken place at their hostel and in the Community Centre. The client group have a range of underlying issues that have led to sleeping rough, including ex-offenders, substance abusers, bankrupts, etc, so it is a very mixed and interesting group to work with.
The project officer has been teaching computer based sound recording and mixing techniques as well as using social media hosting (youtube myspace, etc) to get the media online. The recorded song has been received well and the project is now looking to make a video for it.
Liam is working in partnership the City of London’s Youth and Play team with a group 13-19 year old boys on a documentary project about gangs in the city. The project involves arranging and filming interviews with residents, Police, frontline workers, gang members and peers.
The course carries an AQA accreditation and has reached some of the hardest to engage youths from local estates. As well as filming, the boys are editing (Final Cut Pro), creating graphics (Photoshop), titles (Livetype), transitions, etc. A separate group is working on music for the film.