FRA#3 - Shooting the first video report - E-STAFF Erasmus+ project 2018-2020

Last Friday, the E-STAFF class started to shoot the first "Behind the Scenes" video report to be shared with the other partner schools. This report focuses on the French E-STAFF group and is based on the study of an actual video from youtube made by English students.

WEEK 1 : The group of students first selected global themes to present the French E-STAFF class: number of students living in Annonay or in a village, number of students who have a pet, etc... but we aren't going to spoil everything now...!

The students then prepared something more personal to say to the camera. In that way, each French participant to the E-STAFF project will be identified through a specific defining characteristic, such as an unusual hobby, personality or talent.

Thanks to the Erasmus+ grant, we could invite Laurent Ganne (www.jus2pom.com), a professional reporter. He prepared a studio in a near-by empty classroom, so that he could record the students and, at the same time, train them to make a report. After a brief global training to the whole class on how to shoot a report, we started to shoot the individual comments, one by one.

In the mean time, all the remaining students rehearsed and prepared next week's shooting.

Preparation time, in the E-STAFF classroom

Laurent, preparing the studio in a near-by classroom

The E-STAFF students, shooting with a tablet

WEEK 2 : we started shooting the first "behind the scenes" report of the year for the French team. This week, we completely finished the shooting part.

Laurent, our external professional partner, came back but this time we decided to set the studio up in the school canteen, instead of in a standard classroom. While the five last students recorded their personal comments and studied the technique with him, the rest of the group rehearsed outside, in the school yard, to become the future presenters of the French E-STAFF group.

Rehearsing in the school yard

Going in the school yard allowed to avoid any interference that could have disturbed the remaining shooting parts that were taking place within the school canteen. We had quite a good - but yet chilly - time in that partly cloudy and partly sunny Friday afternoon, as it was a bit windy on Annonay too. The students quickly decided to put their jackets back on for the rehearsal.

As you will see, the part of the video we shot yesterday will be based on more general characteristics of the group, using five different polls we actually made in class. A limited number of so-called "presenters" did the job, as if they were presenters on a real TV show. Everything was recorded in very little time, just a few minutes before the weekend. The students started to be very nervous and anxious, and sometimes they panicked...!

Laurent, our partner, recording the "presenters"

The third lesson, which was supposed to be dedicated to the editing part, will definitely not take place as we are going to the beautiful city of Gdansk, in Poland, next week, for our first ERASMUS+ mobility. A pack of volunteer students from the E-STAFF group is ready to leave, in about 12 hours from now. Of course, we'll tell you about our adventures - in video - when we return.

As the students won't edit their own video this time, our partner Laurent will do the job himself. He will return this winter to resume the training and teach them how to edit reports in a more professional way. This is the result of our work :