The Crisis Youth Volunteering Programme is offering young people the opportunity to create a short production looking at their experiences of being homeless.

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Tuesday Mar 18, 2008

Team comments on the filming

Chris

This past week has been the most hectic by far. All the work that we did in the previous weeks seems insignificant. In the past few weeks, people have been having their doubts about whether we would be able to finish in time because out ideas weren’t quite together and our scenes had not been scripted or rehearsed but it was amazing, the amount of work we got done and how much we achieved in just one week. I am pleased with what we’ve done and I would like to say a big thank you to the BBC team for bringing our ideas together and making them happen and to all team members for being such a joy to work with and to our project manager Helen, for giving us this opportunity and so many others we’ve been able to work with. This has really made a difference in my life.

Terry

So this week has been mad, I mean I have never had a week like it but I must admit it has been very enjoyable. What with being with all the new friends I have made plus working with a very upbeat camera crew. So now it’s Friday and it’s the last day we will all be together. It’s really sad, I know we’ve only known each other for 5 weeks but it seems like a lot longer and we have grown very close and I’m really going to miss everyone because it’s going to be weird not coming to Crisis anymore and seeing everyone.

Adam

Hi this is Adam with my last blog and yes it is very sad! This whole experience has really changed my life; before I started this project, I used to think I would make a good actor even though I haven’t done any acting since high school, but this project has given me the chance to act and develop my confidence and this project has even given me the opportunity to appear in a play in the city. So this whole experience has helped me find a new talent. I want to say thank you to everyone involved in the project and wish everyone of my peers good luck in the future!

Anthony

I thought that this last week was very inspiring. It has given me a lot of experience and boosted my confidence even though I did not go in front of the camera. I hope to go back to the BBC to work with them again. I’ve had great fun, made new friends and learnt valuable lessons about life and all the opportunities there are.

It’s been great!!

Reece

This last week has been a different experience, working with a team, working with the BBC and also being in front of the camera where all eyes are on you. All-round, everything has been generally good, from the team work to the DVD, also working with each other. Experiences, making friends and sharing ideas have been good as well.

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 5:07 PM )
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Thursday - it's a rap

We've done it- we've finally finished filming. It's been a very long day. Chaos was the name of the game today. We were all running around like headless chickens trying to get everything together, making sure everything was put into place ready for filming. There were two cameras shooting at the same time. Everyone was panicking and some of us got the giggles from the pressure which didn't go down very well in front of the camera. Adam and Terry had to keep on doing the same scene over and over as they kept getting the giggles. It was hilarious but I don't think the film crew saw the funny side of things, oops!

There was a party scene that we had to shoot and at one point I think everyone thought we were really at a party! Chris did some of his break dancing moves. He's goooood!

We finished filming on time and everyone rejoiced with triumph and a sense of achievement. Then it was time to say goodbye to the film crew. They were really good to work with and we all made a good team. Thanks BBC film crew!

This week has been very hectic but it has all paid off in the end. We will go back to meet with the BBC team to help edit the material we have to finally get a look at the finished product. Oh- it's all so exciting!

Thanks for reading,

Mo

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 3:47 PM )
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Wednesday-Lights, camera, action!

We have finally started filming today!! It was all very exciting and everyone had to work very hard as we were pushed for time. Today we realised how much work is put into filming a drama-it’s not a walk in the park you know!

Although we had a lot of fun messing around with our ‘costumes’, everyone was disciplined when it came to the crunch of filming. I was very impressed!

I tried my luck in directing some of the scenes and was told that I’ve found my new career - apparently I have a good eye for small detail. I was quite proud of myself if I say so myself -maybe I can give Steven Spielberg a run for his money. No?...It was only a thought!

We have shot a few scenes today but still have plenty to do tomorrow, so everyone is feeling the pressure, but remain quite positive, as opposed to last week! I think everyone can see it all being pulled together so are not as sceptical about the whole thing!

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 3:42 PM )
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Tuesday - telling the story

Today, we arrived at the venue where we would be shooting for the week. We looked at all the rooms available for shooting.

We decided on how many scenes we would have for each character by storyboarding. This helped us find out what would happen in each scene, what props we would need and what characters would be needed keeping in mind of the time as we only had a total of 10 minutes. We also finalised who would be the 3 main characters: Adam, Qadra and Chris were the chosen ones!!

We then got into groups for each character to decide on the extras and looked into where we could shoot each scene from the rooms that were available. As we weren’t insured to take the cameras outside of the premises, we had to come up with ideas to overcome this problem by slightly changing the story. We got there in the end!

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 3:38 PM )
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Monday - meeting with the BBC!

Today, we met with the BBC film crew. Needless to say, we were all quite anxious as we didn’t know how they would be towards us but they were very welcoming and we received a warm reception. They seemed really friendly and very down to earth which we were pleased with as some of us thought the film crew might be a bit snobby!!

We all were introduced so we know who we were working with and what everyone’s roles would be during the week. The BBC team listened very intently to our ideas and what we thought would work well. They then put forward their ideas which worked with our own.

Today was all about putting the cards on the table and incorporating both the teams’ ideas and at the same time, making sure our messages for the DVD came across with the plans we made.

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 3:29 PM )
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