Shakespeare on Film.

A really enjoyable afternoon on Thursday watching the Level 2 presentations in the lecture theatre. The assignment was to create a five minute DVD trailer for a proposed touring production of The Winter's Tale aimed at programming directors in mid scale venues and looking to attract a booking. The groups began work on this in January.

The results were wonderfully eclectic - some incredibly well produced, some conceptually clear, some a lot of fun - but what was evident was that every group had put in a huge amount of imagination, thought and energy into both thinking through their approach and then into the manufacture of the DVD itself. I'm really pleased that the idea caught fire and that, perhaps driven on by the efforts of friends or colleagues in other groups, the standard of work was raised higher and higher. It's the kind of synergy that gives a value added to the learning and takes the work beyond the lecturer's input.

This cohort of students are always the pioneers. The new degree began with them and the idea to produce DVD's was an attempt to find a more creative possibility to assessment by presentation. It must have been time consuming and occasionally frustrating - working with technology always is - but I also hope by mixing the pathways and bringing in the expertise of the Joint honours students - whether from Media or English to support the editing and scripting of the trailers - that the first two years of the programme have been consolidated a little and that we've learnt some new skills from each other.
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