Document Actions
What the students thought
Find out about what the students felt about taking part in the project and the facilitator’s observation on what one student learnt.
A perspective on a student
J was one of the quieter members of this over 60s group, appeared nervous and worried at the start of the project. She declared an early interest in the display of preserved foetus during the introductory sessions. This interest expanded when the group viewed a film installation within the museum in which ‘voice’ was given to chosen exhibits. Overwhelmed by her first attempts at filming, J clearly expressed her fear about not being ‘up to the task’ in a brief, filmed feedback session. However, the skilful pairing, by the film maker, of J with a more calm and confident member of the group, led to her rapid growth in confidence and development of skills in both the filming and editing process. J’s contribution to ’10 Words to John Hunter’ is a sensitive and well-crafted telling of the mother’s story that marks her own unique and remarkable journey through this project.
What did I learn? H’s tale
I’m a retired chef who began taking art classes at the Mary Ward Centre after retirement and it was through the Mary Ward Centre that I learned about this project. I was very interested in it because I knew nothing at all about film although I enjoyed going to the cinema.
There were so many different learning activities within the project, all of them fascinating and stretching. We learned how to work effectively as a large group and in smaller teams. We set agreed targets and practised the negotiation skills essential to achieving successful outcomes. We began to look at the museum and its exhibits in a new light, and learned from the other members of the group how many different ways one can perceive the same object. We learned how to operate a flip camera and how to use a storyboard to lay out our ideas. We learned how to use dialogue, sound effects and music in film. Finally, and perhaps most challenging of all, we learned how to edit our material to make a finished product.
I benefitted immensely from all the learning activities. I now look at film in a completely different way, appreciating the technical aspects of it instead of simply watching the plot. I’ve already put into practice some of what I learned in that I use my camera differently, taking pictures so that they link into a story line, rather than taking a series of separate images. In a sense I’m making a film in still images.
My next goal is to use the technical filming and editing skills I acquired on the project to make a short film (or even a series of films!) about my family history. I think that a film would be an accessible and effective way of sharing with my relatives the research I’ve done on our family.
This project was truly a life-enhancing experience for me that introduced me to new technologies. And that in turn has opened up new horizons. I’m very grateful to have had the chance to participate in the project and for the wonderful guidance and stimulating input we received from our facilitators and from all those who participated in the project.
PPP - P’s perspective on the project
When we were first told of the initiative that was to make it possible for groups of people following further education creative courses to link with medical museums to produce a short film, my tentatively positive reaction see-sawed with the prospect of all those bones, bits of bodies-bits of diseased bodies, at that. Our group was to be all over sixty – an ideal time to be embracing an enthusiasm for skeletons?
But it was the very oddity of the proposition and the opportunity to learn the elements of filming that confirmed my interest and so I signed up.
Our two principle guides for the course were Jean Campbell, to introduce us to the Museum, and Marianne Holm Hansen, to teach us how to make and edit a film. Handsome sketch books and pencils were provided and in sessions over a period of three months we were invited to make our own personal map of the Museum and to note and draw particular exhibits that intrigued us. We met various members of the Museum’s staff, including the Museum’s director (Briony Hudson), who showed us their favourite exhibits, explaining their background. And we were shown the storerooms, too, where astonishing stacks of exhibits could be seen on request. My storeroom favourite was a drawer revealing rows and rows of jawbones, a grinning skeleton circus, reminding me of Ogden Nash’s poem for the Carnival of the Animals: “At midnight in the museum hall the fossils gathered for a ball …”
The objective was to record our response to the Museum both as a group and as individuals to be contained in a film of only five minutes. True, we all came from the Mary Ward Centre but we were still a pretty disparate group and it’s a tribute to all concerned that we tussled over ideas with generosity and good humour. We finally agreed that each student would choose one word to express their response and illustrate that word with a segment of film of not more than thirty seconds.
As we embarked on learning how to film, something new to us all, we were lent the small, easy to use, Flip cameras and were able to move about the Museum practising gleefully. The challenge then was to develop a ‘story’ for each of our segments, beginning with a storyboard, a script, or both. We were divided into groups of two or three, so each person had one or two people to assist. Voice-overs, poetry, music, and quotations were added, enriching the mix. We found how filming really focuses just where and how you look, if you want to show and share your discoveries effectively. One session found me lying on my back in the middle of the Crystal Gallery, so keen was I to capture a 360 degree view in order to express my delight in this astonishing, glittering cave, my absolute favourite part of the Museum.
Learning to edit followed and here we really did wish we had more time to get the hang of the process. But patient Marianne soothed our frets and frustrations, supporting us through that final stages, so we went on learning until the last detail was in place.
We began in December and in March were given the great treat of being able to see the film in one of the Royal College of Surgeons’ Lecture Halls, with friends and family invited to share this first screening, followed by wine and a tour of the Museum. Then two weeks later we had a jolly day out to the Leeds Thackray Museum to a showing of all the films, which proved to be very interesting and surprisingly varied.
We got to know and love the Hunterian Museum, and to appreciate the people who run it who were so helpful and hospitable. We learned how to use a Flip camera and the basics of editing. The experience was a happy one, encouraged and guided by excellent teachers who taught us new skills and gave us the confidence to use them.
Our grateful thanks to all those who made this unique experience possible.
