Tag Archives: video editing

Hybrid Bespoke Video Training

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In our continuous effort to transfer our Participatory Video expertise as a tool to improve research, engagement, impact and social change, Spectacle over the years has trained hundreds of researchers and has always tailored its training courses to the needs of our trainees. We believe that video is a tool that researchers should not feel afraid to use as a support for their documentation, data analysis and dissemination of results. 

In recent years we have developed our methods in a range of projects, using remote work environments to reach out to participants in different parts of the world and adapt to circumstances when travelling is not possible or too costly. 

We have evolved a hybrid model to merge the best of what we learned about in-person and remote training. In-person camera production workshops is the best setting for hands-on practical experience and to have access to professional equipment. Remote training is an efficient and cost effective way to learn and collaborate on video editing projects, allowing participants to acquire new skills from home. 

We have recently been asked to design a hybrid bespoke training programme for the Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, where we have delivered a 2 day in-person Participatory Video workshop to a group of 11 researchers. Social researchers from the institute, all planning to include video in their ongoing and future projects, have learned how to use video to document and support investigations and explored the use of participatory video tools for research. 

Building on our 30+ years experience in community based video and thanks to our successful experience in pioneering the use of remote participatory video we have designed a hybrid bespoke training programme in two phases. 

During the first phase we have delivered a 2 day workshop: Spectacle brought to the Hutton Institute in Aberdeen our equipment, including a range of professional camera types, mics, lights, and tripods etc., to run an intensive introduction to the use of video tools.

In two days, along with demystifying the technology and learning how cameras work, we have shared tricks to work as a team, giving the opportunity to acquire hands-on experience on how to film interviews, document events and locations and approach visual storytelling in the context of research.

All attendees have really valued the way Spectacle delivered a great quantity of technical knowledge in a relatively short time, with practical exercises that are fun and illustrative of all the challenges involved in video making. The learning experience is designed so that it can be applied in any research field: assuming no prior knowledge, using transferable skills to establish a creative environment where everyone can develop new skills and feel confident that their ideas matter. 

The training programme will continue on Zoom with remote video editing sessions, a tool we have successfully included in our participatory practice as well as in our training activity. We will deliver a series of short modules exploring editing softwares, workflows, tools for editing and methods to enhance editorial collaboration and participation. 

All participants will be able to attend from their own computer and review in their own time the recordings of the training sessions in case they miss one. Our online participatory video editing, successfully applied in a range of projects, allows editorial control to be shared either among researchers engaged in the same project or with research participants.

If you want to learn more about our training courses and our offer, please visit our website or contact us at training@spectacle.co.uk. If you are a member of a research group and want to bring our training to your institution, we are happy to illustrate our bespoke training offer and discuss the content that best suits your needs. All our training can be entirely in person, remote or hybrid, and can include follow up tutorials, troubleshooting and project support as well as video editing support for participatory video projects and short documentary productions.

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New In-person Workshops!

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We are pleased to announce a new in-person 2-Day Video Production workshop. Designed as a stand alone intensive hands-on training course, it is also an option to replace sessions 1-4 of our existing programme of online video training courses.

Participatory Video Workshop

It has been great spending the last 2 intense years developing remote online workshops, training courses and Participatory Video projects, sharing our expertise in video making and collaborative work with dozens of passionate anthropologists, researchers, journalists, academics and aspiring filmmakers from all over the world.

Online courses

We learned a lot and developed a very effective online training programme including 7 courses, all structured in a sequence of modular live 3-hour zoom sessions scheduled to work across a variety of time zones (15:00-18:30 London time, including breaks). Our online programme will continue, allowing people living on most of the planet to attend our courses. We are also excited to meet in person with our trainees, as we have been used to do for over 10 years, offering again the option to share video tools in a practical face-to-face learning experience.

The new 2-Day Video Production Workshop

The in-person 2-Day Video Production Workshop is an intensive course covering in two days all the content of the first 4 sessions of our online courses. Participants will learn how to use various types of cameras and professional sound equipment, how to film high quality video interviews and collect engaging visual stories and impactful video documentation.

The workshop will run at our London Studio in Battersea (SW11), giving participants the opportunity to learn using a range of professional and semi-professional film equipment – DSLRs, camcorders, grip equipment, professional sound recorders and microphones – during the practical shooting exercises. The In-person Video Production Workshop is also a perfect opportunity for those who attended our online programmes to refresh their skills in a fun, practical and intensive 2-day stand alone course.

In person Workshop

Integrated with our online Video Training programme

The in-person workshops integrate flawlessly with all the online courses we already have. All our courses will be scheduled so that participants can choose their favourite mode of attendance: entirely online or a mix of in-person and online. Participants can learn the camera techniques face-to-face in our 2-day Video Production workshop (replacing the first 4 online sessions at no cost) and then attend all the specialist webinars and the video editing part (online sessions 5-8) remotely. If travelling to our studio is not practical, you can still attend the whole course entirely online.

In order to give every participant a real hands-on experience and plenty of time for shooting exercises, our in-person 2-Day Video Production workshops will have a limited number of attendees.

Book now in order to guarantee your place.

Video training for anthropology and social research

Visit our courses pages to explore their content and choose the one that suits you best. All courses below can be attended in combination with our new in-person 2-day Video Production workshop:

Participatory Video Workshop

Video Production for Anthropologists & Social Researchers 

Filmmaking 

Video Marketing 

Video Production 

The following courses can only be attended online:

Smartphone Video

Video Editing

Check the dates for our courses on our Calendar page.

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Spectacle’s Online Training for Oxford COMPAS Researchers

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How Universities Researchers are Adapting Online 

Imagine: you’re running an international research network and suddenly – a pandemic hits! All international travel is on hold for up to two years! It’s your worst nightmare. You’ve got researchers who are supposed to be flying in from all over the globe for a week-long retreat or training workshop! What can you do? 

This was the predicament numerous Universities found themselves in, but they found ways to adapt and continue projects – many turned to Spectacle’s Bespoke Training Workshops to help them creatively solve problems. 

Through 2020, video conferencing has become the norm and many researchers are now imagining how important and useful video making or remote online participatory video research could be for communicating their research or archive-based workshops going forward. Maybe we can help you too.  

Oxford COMPAS

This week Spectacle kicks off a bespoke training course for The Oxford Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS). Since 2003, COMPAS has established an international reputation for original research and policy relevance. 

The training we will provide is for the researchers focusing on sustainable cities. Researchers will join online from cities around the world including Oxford, Beijing, Bangalore, Cape Town and Medellin. 

Spectacle’s training will give these researchers the skills to film with a more professional production quality and edit with an eye for narrative flow. Going forward, this will enable them to make short videos to effectively communicate their research to a larger audience. 

Does this sound like the kind of training you or your organisation might benefit from?  

Bespoke Training for Academics

When it comes to making videos, the just ‘point and shoot’ method only works if you are extremely lucky. From inaudible audio, to interviewees that clam up as soon as they see a camera, to takes ruined by continuous autofocusing – the pitfalls are innumerable. 

Spectacle online video training

When looking to make video, academics have unique needs. They aren’t looking to become documentary filmmakers. They aren’t looking to invest in overly expensive filming equipment. They won’t have a large support crew to help with filming. And the need to make a final project where the medium (and mistakes) don’t distract from the message.

About Spectacle

Spectacle is an award-winning independent media company that specialises in documentary, community-led investigative journalism, and participatory media.

We have been leaders in Participatory Video (PV) practice and community engagement for more than thirty years, and offer training and workshops in every aspect of digital filmmaking.

We offer affordable, accessible, and enjoyable film, media, and video training. No prior knowledge needed! Learn what you really need to know to make quality videos with us. 

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Spectacle trains the Macular Society in video production and editing

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Spectacle provides video marketing training to clients in a wide range of sectors, including charities.

The Macular Society approached Spectacle wanting to learn how to use video to further their campaigns, to fundraise and to increase awareness of the charity as a whole, with the ultimate aim of being able to do more to help individuals effected by Macular Degeneration disease. 

Andrew Gray, of the Macular Society, arranged and attended the video training session and found it “perfectly suit[ed]” their needs.

He said: “If you’re thinking about incorporating video content into your work, whether you’re starting up from scratch or looking to fine tune your existing skills, we’d have no hesitation in recommending Spectacle to help you.” Andrew also felt Mark, the tutor, was excellent and helped the participants to really understand the best equipment, and how to use it to improve the content they had already created. 

Macular Degeneration is a disease affecting the central part of the retina, which can over time cause partial or full lose of vision. Researchers predict that by 2020, there will be 679,000 people with AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) in the UK, therefore it is crucial to raise awareness of the sight-affecting disease. Macular Degeneration can have devastating effects, causing some people with the disease to eventually become legally blind.

Video is a powerful and effective way to raise awareness of important causes like Macular Degeneration. It can help raise awareness and market charities, visually, which can often be more effective than words. But out sourcing video can be expensive.

Training staff to record and edit videos themselves is hugely time and cost effective. Also, results can be better without a film crew of a strangers, making the project’s outcome more powerful.

Spectacle ran a bespoke training course on location for The Macular Society, but also offer the course in our south London workshop. We can teach participants all the stages of video production and editing process in an informative and clear manner.

To find out more visit Spectacle Training  or contact us on: training@spectacle.co.uk

Training on your video production: promotion for voluntary sector

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Are you a small, socially engaged organisation? Do you want to promote the great work you do using video? You have no money to commission a promotional video nor enough confidence or equipment to produce in-house engaging video content? Do you have your promotional video idea in mind and need help to make it real?

Spectacle wants to support you by skilling you up while helping you produce your amazing first promotional video!

Why Spectacle?

We are a small, socially-minded company whose profits go back in to funding our community based work. We therefore want to support other organisations with a bespoke programme that will help you produce your first video while being trained in video making. We have applied a generous discount to our standard prices in order to help you reach your aims and to contribute to your success.

Spectacle is an award winning independent television production company specialising in documentary, community-led, investigative journalism and participatory media. Spectacle’s documentary work has been broadcast and exhibited internationally. We have produced work on commission for clients including Amnesty International, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Council of Europe, Groundwork, the London Health Commission, the NHS, Big Local and the Wellcome Trust.

As well as undertaking productions, Spectacle runs short, sharp, affordable training courses and community based media workshops. We are based in London but can travel within Europe to deliver bespoke group sessions. We believe our courses are the best around, largely based on the exceptional feedback we have received from the hundreds of people we have trained over the years.

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What will you get?

You will have your first video professionally produced by an award winning production company. You will also learn how to make your second video, building up confidence and practical knowledge that will scale up your outreach and marketing strategies.

What services are provided?

We are offering a bundle of services that will guide your staff (up to 8 people) through a specifically designed programme of training and production based on your video project.

You will attend practical workshops on video making and you will be assisted in your real shoot by our director. You will have complementary equipment (second camera, audio recording, lights) and extra crew if needed. Then we will train you on how to effectively use video editing software, sitting together  in front of your project to get the editing process started. Our professional editors will finalise your video and guide you through uploading and promoting it on you social networks and media platforms.

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Discount applies to voluntary sector only and is not applicable after 31/05/2018 

We are offering two options, depending on how confident you are already in video making and on the nature of your projects.

Option1 (groups up to 8)

2 Day Bespoke Training in Videography

1 Day Shooting (assisted with extra equipment and crew if necessary)         

1 Day Editing Workshop (Introduction to Software and workflow. Preparation of Edit)

4 Days Professional Editing.             

TOTAL normal price      4000

TOTAL for voluntary sector 2000

Option2 (groups up to 8)

1 day Bespoke Training in Videography 

1 Day Shooting (assisted with extra equipment and crew if necessary)   

1 Day Editing Workshop (Introduction to Software and workflow. Preparation of Edit)

2 Days Professional Editing.            

TOTAL normal price    2800

TOTAL for voluntary sector 1600

Contact us for more info at production@spectacle.co.uk

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Bespoke Group Video Training for Anthropologists at Edinburgh University

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Sorry for the long silence: Spectacle’s video training team has been extremely busy over the past few months!
Alongside our usual sessions in London, we recently ran an extremely successful video production course for anthropologists and social researchers at the University of Edinburgh – and then another session shortly afterwards for media students at Birkbeck, University of London.

The good news is, we are now taking bookings again for the new academic year!

We can run bespoke short courses for academics (students and staff) on location at universities and institutes anywhere in the country, where a group of between 4 and 20 people want to learn how to use video for fieldwork.

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Over the years, we have trained hundreds of students and we continue to receive excellent feedback after every session.

Our hands on approach equips students with the ability and confidence to go out and shoot on their own after our training.

Our courses are flexible and can be easily tailored to your needs. We can arrange anything from a one day introduction to video production or editing techniques, to a full three or four days of training covering the entire filmmaking process from start to finish.

We can schedule the course across consecutive days or leave intervals between sessions.
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We can also offer training in participatory video techniques.

More information on our bespoke courses can be found here: www.spectacle.co.uk/training/bespoke-group

We also run weekend courses for individuals at our premises in London, with the next one scheduled for 23-24 September.

Many academics have taken and enjoyed our courses, and you can see feedback here: http://www.spectacle.co.uk/training/testimonials/

Video: Four Day Filmmaking Course

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Want to know what it’s like to be part of a ‘real life’ project during our Four Day Filmmaking Course?

Well, you’re in luck – a recent batch of Spectacle trainees shot some lovely footage on location at Thessaly Road Playspace in November, and production intern Lucia has kindly edited their shots together into this short video.

…Want to join us on a  “well designed”, “very comprehensive”, “hands-on”, “accessible and practical” short course – with “great atmosphere and content” – like this?

We still have spaces available on our next Four Day Filmmaking Course running 6-9 March.

Or if you can’t make that, 2-5 May.

More about the course

Our Four Day Filmmaking Course takes participants through the entire digital video production and video editing process, from start to finish; that means we cover planning, filming on location, video editing using Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, and delivery of a final edit online and on DVD, all in just four days.

The course is unique in that it is centred around a ‘real life’ project. This means that we create a real world production process by collaborating with a mock client – usually a local charity or community group. This gives participants an unparalleled opportunity to gain meaningful, ‘on the job’ experience.

The ‘real life’ project also means the Four Day Filmmaking Course is extremely hands-on; practical exercises on location are complemented by ‘view and critique’ and editing sessions in a workshop environment.

As our most complete training programme, the Four Day Filmmaking Course is aimed at those who want to be introduced to a full set of digital media skills in a short space of time. Our aim is for participants to leave feeling confident enough in all their new skills to carry on practicing on their own, without the need for additional training.

Each participant will have the opportunity to practice all aspects of filmmaking – camera, sound, directing, interviewing, lighting etc. There will be a maximum of 3 people to each camera set up. We use HD camcorders and DSLR cameras.

The Four Day Filmmaking Course reiterates, puts into practice and develops the skills and techniques gained in our Video Production Weekend Course and can be taken either in addition to or instead of this.

Professional filmmaker and teacher Mark Saunders leads all sessions himself.

 

Interested in learning to produce video with Spectacle?… You’re in great company

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Do you want to learn how to produce and edit high quality video to promote your business, organisation, or institution?

If so, you’re in good company: we’ve trained numerous individuals and groups from large and small institutions, organisations and companies in the past six months. All of them have left happy, and many have come back for more training.

Spectacle clients so far in 2016 alone include:

—The Science and Technology Facilities Council (a UK government body)

—The International Baccalaureate

— Save the Children

— Sentura Group

— The European Parliament

— Autotrader

— Department for Culture Media and Sport (a UK government department)

— King’s College London

— The Open University

— Capcom

 

Some notable clients from a little longer ago include Cambridge University Press, Watford Borough Council, and Redbridge Council

To find out more about what we offered these clients, and what we could offer you, send us a quick email to training@spectacle.co.uk

 

Take out our video production and video editing training courses

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Do you work in media communications and marketing? At a university? In the third sector, at an NGO or charity? For an established business or a rapidly growing start-up? A local council? Or a publishers?

If you have a group of people who would like to learn to produce beautiful in house video, we can travel to you and teach essential video production or video editing skills in two days. We bring all our own equipment, so all you need to supply is a suitable space.

Please see our website for more information or email training@spectacle.co.uk for a quote.

In the meantime, have a look at the excellent feedback we received from Angela Farrance, Senior Communications and Engagement Officer at Watford Borough Council:

“We work for a local authority, and want to promote our services, activities and places to visit in the most accessible and fun way, to a wide range of people.

I liked the flexibility that Spectacle offered; the training was completely bespoke and reactive to our needs, but still covered everything we wanted to learn.

The team had varying levels of experience, and all felt it was a really well spent few days. Everyone is very keen to get started!

I would recommend the training, and already have to fellow comms officers in Hertfordshire. Mark made the sessions fun, accessible and everyone is really excited to get filming.”