Three weeks to go….

… and our participants have started preparing for the course in earnest. They are making films of their everyday lives to share with other participants. Life in Morocco and life in Tindouf and life in Layounne (and in the other participants’ countries) are all very different. Understanding where everyone else is coming from is an important part of the course.

Some of this footage may end up in the documentary we’re making of the project. The idea is that the highly personal and edgy nature of this material, interwoven with professionally shot material, will bring the film to life.

The students are also writing blogs, detailing their feelings as they prepare to leave their homes and travel to Oxford. It’s going to be interesting to read their perspectives on the course, and – for some of them – their first trip overseas. They’ve also been asked to bring an object with them that says something about themselves or their homes.

This week also saw the completion of a preview trailer for the course. It was fascinating to see the creative ideas behind the film take shape.

Johnny and Ade on the film team have been recruiting their crew of camera people, production assistants and runners. The more I learn about the film process the more complicated it seems. There will be dozens of students, and thousands of inactions, both in class and out of class. The film crew need to make sure they capture all the important and telling pieces of the action and then keep track of them. They ordered 300 DV tapes this week. That will be a lot of footage!

On the logistical front, the first tranche of students’ flights has been booked, leaving a big smile on the face of course director Andy. He’s been putting the finishing touches to the course schedule. There have been some inevitable last minute changes with glimpses of a few exciting new additions on the horizon.

And our website has undergone an overhaul. Check out the UWC Talk Together livery. Or have a poke around in the news section and find links to the feature that was published in the Oxford Mail’s education handbook recently. Let us know what you think.

(Website hint: If you aren’t seeing the UWC interlocking globes logo at the top of each webpage, you need to go into Tools in your browser and hit ‘clear private data/cache’ or similar.)

Four weeks to go…

……. and the final pieces are slotting into place.

The Talk Together film crew looked over the site last week and were pleased with what they found amongst the quads and cloisters of St Edwards. On a sunny day in Oxford it’s a striking environment and a real contrast to the vast desert flatlands of Western Sahara, and refugee camps in Algeria where some of our students will travel from next month.

These highly contrasting environments are highly photogenic for wildly differing reasons. I wonder how the students from North Africa (whether living in Morocco, Western Sahara, or Algeria) will react to their new temporary home?

The team’s now on the search for an Arabic speaking camerawoman. Have you seen one hanging around lately? The Talk Together film crew is hatching a plan on how best to capture the action during Talk Together fortnight. While much of the action will take place in the classroom (or dance floor – during the tango for conflict resolution sessions), it’s likely that some of the most telling interactions will happen in the corridors and students rooms. Hence the preference for a female camera operator. And if she speaks Arabic then so much the better.

In other film news, the team’s just heard their latest funding application has gone through to the next round. Fingers crossed.