Case Study: Helping the Community
Darlington Public School
In early 2005 Darlington Public School, a small school in inner-city Sydney, won a $5000 grant to produce a CD-ROM for children who were about to begin kindergarten.
We were delighted to offer our help in creating the video inserts for this wonderful project.
In February we consulted with the teachers about how to best produce the video – the idea was that the teachers and selected Year 6 students would be doing most of the work, including shooting the video and devising the CD-ROM structure. In addition to video and text materials, we also suggested using still photos and drawings from the children already in kindergarten, which could be scanned and included in the video inserts, creating more visual interest.
In October we were asked again to help make the videos happen. The teachers and students had been filming a number of test sequences, but they were having a little trouble making it look just right. We spent a morning training the teachers and Year 6 students on how to achieve the best shots with their equipment and existing know-how. We then supervised one day of shooting around the school. Finally, we edited the finished material into small snippets for inclusion as QuickTime videos in the finished CD-ROM.
We had a lot of fun on this project, and enjoyed giving something back to the community. We’ve since been suggested for another, similar project that the school have gained funding for. Congratulations Darlington!