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| May 2000 Multi-media production Creative shooting By Helen Chan Article from the same section: Not everyone has the chance to make a video, though many may have dreamt about it after they watched movies and videos. But some students now have the chance to fulfill this dream. With 13 digital video cameras, seven computers for editing, some microphones and tripods, a group of university students made videos about society through a project called the Multi-media Project-based Socio-cultural Education. According to the principal project supervisor, Dr. Ng Chun Hung, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at The University of Hong Kong, the project is an inter-institutional three-year project funded by a University Grants Committee Teaching Development Grant. “From 1997, eight courses have been held and more than 300 students from our university, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan College and Hong Kong Polytechnic University have participated in the project,” said Dr. Ng. Mr. Man Chow, 24, an applied mathematics graduate of Polytechnic University, took part in the course “In Search of the Hong Kong Person ’99”. Mr. Chow said he was already interested in filmmaking before he joined the activity. And he even dreamt of working in the film industry. “I joined the course to see if I really was suitable to work in the industry,” said Mr. Chow. “In Search of the Hong Kong Person ’99” was one of the workshops held. It was a 40-day workshop held from April to July in 1999. Said Dr. Ng: “Applicants had to submit topics while the supervisors suggested some. “Supervisors reviewed applications of students from the same institution and made comments. “Each successful applicant indicated preferences from 15 topics finally designed by supervisors, and then we drew lots to assign students to groups in the pre-camp meeting.” Some people said the topic selection method was not fair. However, Mr. Chow viewed this from a different angle. “When actually working in the field, we also have to do whatever topics we are given,” said Mr. Chow. Mr. Siu Keung is a student of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. He agreed with Mr. Chow after joining the course. “The topic should not be a constraint,” said he. Siu Keung said they could actually include anything they liked under the topic. Explained he: “For example, if you wanted to do something related to pirated goods such as pirated CDs and VCDs, and your topic is ‘The Tea Restaurant in Hong Kong’, you could talk about the tea restaurant that also sells sushi. “In this case, you are still talking about pirated goods. It’s just that the things being pirated are Japanese food,” said Siu Keung. Both Mr. Chow and Siu Keung found the camps impressive. “It was great fun to do hands-on shooting and chat with the filmmakers and other students in the camps in three days and two nights,” said Mr. Chow. From the programme, he also learned not to stereotype anyone. “Our talent was Mr. Chan Shek Man, the former Mr. Hong Kong, a fireman before entering the beauty contest. “He has got a bad nickname created by the media because he appears to be so arrogant and shows off too much. “Through close contact with him during the shooting, we feel that he is a good man,” said Mr. Chow. “He is so kind that he set up a fund for a charity farm.” Siu Keung, however, did not find the second camp, which was mainly video reviews, comments, talks on the films and filmmakers’ experience, as inspiring as the first one. “The filmmakers are experienced, but it seemed that they could not understand the beginners’ technical problems,” said Siu Keung. Miss Samantha Sung, 21, agreed. She is a Year 3 student studying business administration at The University of Hong Kong and participated in the course “New Dream Makers — Advanced Workshop in Multi-media Production”. “Although they are professionals, they are not good at teaching,” said she. Still, Miss Sung enjoyed the process. “I was amazed to learn how to make a video: from writing the script, casting, directing, doing the camera work, managing and communicating with the team to editing. “We learn how to use wide shots, close shots, what to include and exclude to express our ideas better,” said Miss Sung. Creativity is also enhanced through making the videos. Miss Sung gave an example. “We decided to wait till sunset, turned the camera to a darker mode and made our talent cover their heads with their clothes to imitate raining.” The filmmaker Jacof Cheung, who is in charge of the course, said whether the course is useful depends on the students’ eagerness. Mr. Cheung said that films are comprehensive, so students have to learn about films through actual practice. But he also said, “They have to ask the teacher to slow down when they cannot follow the progress.” Miss Sung said understanding could be facilitated if the materials were shown before Mr. Cheung talked about them since they may not have seen those films before. “We also need notes to refer to when we forget something, as we do not have textbooks,” said Miss Sung. Besides, the students said the equipment was not enough. “Two groups of us shared one computer for editing, so we always stayed late for editing,” said Mr. Chow. However, the students appreciated that Mr. Cheung brought them to the editing room of a production company to open their minds. Although most students said Mr. Cheung did a good job, Mr. Cheung, however, said he was not good enough. Explained he: “I should have had more active participation, especially in follow-up work. “I wanted to understand the unique characteristics of each student and go out shooting with them. “But, I could not do this because I was really too busy.” To solve this problem, Mr. Chow suggested employing full-time teachers or making the supervisors and filmmakers stay at the university for a short period of time. Dr. Ng said, “Employing teachers is a problem owing to the limited resources.” According to Dr. Ng, they tried their best to find experts in both technical and social-cultural areas after gaining experience from running the first few courses. Despite the problem, the project was successful. The video, “Route of Transition”, won the 4th Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards 1998 and “Existence and the End of Central” was presented at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. “We were waiting for funds to prolong the project to January 2001,” said Dr. Ng. “Actually, we want to expand the project so that more students will benefit.” According to Dr. Ng, however, there is a lack of atmosphere for multi-media education in Hong Kong. Said Dr. Ng: “That is why we held a conference consisting of the teachers and students from universities and secondary schools, artists, related groups and institutions to discuss the current situation and future prospects of multi-media education in Hong Kong. “We hope other universities will offer similar courses. Then students can take multi-media education as extra-curricular activities and learn in a more relaxing manner.” According to Dr. Ng, they tried their best to find experts in both technical and social-cultural areas after gaining experience from running the first few courses. Despite the problem, the project was successful. The video, “Route of Transition”, won the 4th Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards 1998 and “Existence and the End of Central” was presented at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. “We were waiting for funds to prolong the project to January 2001,” said Dr. Ng. “Actually, we want to expand the project so that more students will benefit.” According to Dr. Ng, however, there is a lack of atmosphere for multi-media education in Hong Kong. Said Dr. Ng: “That is why we held a conference consisting of the teachers and students from universities and secondary schools, artists, related groups and institutions to discuss the current situation and future prospects of multi-media education in Hong Kong. “We hope other universities will offer similar courses. Then students can take multi-media education as extra-curricular activities and learn in a more relaxing manner.” |
Learning filmmaking step by step: First, familiarization with a digital camera.
Then, shooting with a tripod.
Finally, learning how to edit. (Courtesy of Mr. Cheung Sik Hung)
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