Sights and Sounds of the Countryside

StillWalks - Sights and Sounds of the Countryside StillWalks will work with three primary schools and a community group to develop their interest, understanding and enthusiasm for their local natural environments and create resources that will encourage a sustainable approach to further environmental conservation work to be carried out later in the year through the John Muir Award. The project now has a Project Facebook Page The Crowd Funding amount is required for the later stages of the project. StillWalks has gained 86% funding for the Sights and Sounds of the Countryside project budget. Existing funders are the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), WAG Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) and Literature Wales. However, there is still a shortfall in funding of £1698. The project will take place between Autumn 2012 and Spring 2013. What is the money for? The amount of £1700 will allow the writers a full day instead of a half day with the schools / community group in post production to develop there location notes towards poetry / prose for use as voiceover for the videos (£1000). It will also cover the cost of a commercial grade HD TV screen and stand for sole use in the project exhibitions (£700). Please note that this screen cannot and will not be used for anything other than exhibition purposes for 5 years after the completion of this project. Aims Sights and Sounds of the Countryside is a project that will work with a Year 5 class (30 9 - 10 yr olds) from each of 3 primary schools and a community group (10 people) to produce a DVD of four videos aimed at: Supporting and developing young people s awareness, appreciation and knowledge of the natural environment. Promoting to the participating communities, understanding of and involvement in their local natural environments. Prompting schools and communities to interact in a sustainable way with the natural environment. Providing an environmental and cultural focus and resource for future cross curricular and community work. Objectives Two artists and three writers will work on a series of production and post-production workshops to publish a set of bespoke StillWalks videos to be published as a DVD resource for schools and communities. Provide the schools and communities with the technical skills to carry out the project work. Skills will include photography and video production, sound recording and editing, visual and written note taking. Using specific heritage, geographical or historical subjects linked to the designated environment for each school. This will help to emphasize links between the environment and our place in the world. Present an exhibition and screening event in each participating community. Examples from a previous similar project focusing on the artist Josef Herman can be seen on Vimeo. The full DVD produced on this project was recently screened on the BBC s Big Screen in Castle Gardens, Swansea. Creating Resources Audio / Visual Database - Birdsong is likely to be a feature of the sound recording carried out by project participants on the production day for each walk. Identification of the birds recorded will help to sustain interest in the natural environment. A birdsong expert will identify the recorded birdsongs and tag the identification through SoundCloud. This will provide a free and easily accessible online resource to all schools that will also allow school children to quickly learn more about the birds they have recorded through the RSPB website. Consultation towards identifying the best ways in which the project materials and other existing resources may be used to develop a plan to sustain and develop the interest of the participants in their local natural environments. This will include integration with John Muir Award work being carried out with the school by Swansea Nature Conservation Team. Exhibitions / Publishing - A project exhibition / presentation will take place for each school / community and will include as part of the project: A video presentation of the walk produced on the project.* Selected printed photographs from each project. Printed copies of poetry / writing produced. Printed copies of notes taken during pre-production. Sketch work. A large-scale OS map showing the countryside area concerned and the routes taken for the walks. Copies of the full DVD featuring all four project videos.** * Video will be produced in a range of formats suitable for viewing online and in HD. ** Copies of the DVD will be provided for each school, the community group, the local library and the Nature Conservation Team. If individuals would like their own copy, these will be available at a price to be agreed. Schools / groups taking part in the project and production locations: Pontlliw Primary School - Llys Nini, Pontlliw. Pontarddulais Primary School - Coedbach Park, pontarddulais. Knelston Primary School - Berry Woods, Gower. Swansea Carers - Bishopston Woods, Gower. Production work for each school will include: A pre-production recce walk. (0.5 day - x 3 wrkrs) School and Community Workshops Day 1 - A pre-production workshop in school / community venue to intro the project, StillWalks, tasks to be carried out on walk, use of equipment. (0.5 day x 1 wrkr) Day 2 - Production - Location photography and sound recording walk, note taking and sketching to be carried out by school / community group with StillWalks. (1.0 day x 3 wrkrs) Day 3 - Post production 1 (1.0 day x 1 wrkr) review recorded sounds, trim and edit. review photography and make selection 1. review photography 2 & 3 and crop to 16:9 format. final photography selection and edit. Export images as video. Review video with class and lay in selected environmental sound clips. Day 4 - Post Production 2 (1.0 day x 1 wrkr) Pupils develop poetry with poet / writer based on production experience and rehearse for recording. Day 5 - Post production 3 (0.5 day x 2 wrkrs) Record poetry with pupils. Day 6 - Post Production 4 - studio (1.0 day x 1 wrkr) Overlay poetry recording. Review. Export video

by stillwalks in Swansea