UCSI University's Mass Communications students
shooting one of the videos for their project
The students video-taping a scene in Putrajaya
The students preparing for the video shoot outside
of Starbucks
Professional. Mass Communications students test
the lighting at one of the video scenes
Mass Communications students prepare before
the video shoot
In action. Students shooting one of the production
videos
A video shoot at Starbucks
A briefing before the video shoot
Ecstatic. The students in a group photo together
with their lecturer after the succesful project
presentation
By Roslina Abdul Latif
Film & Television Lecturer
Mass Communication Department
When I started this class for the semester in January
2010 , I was a bit apprehensive because there were many
students from different semesters combined in this class.
I was worried and anxious that they couldn’t pull together
as a team, given the difficulty of this particular assignment.
This class that I teach produces corporate videos for corporate
clients. We do it as a student project to give the students
exposure to real clients, real industry players and most
important of all, teamwork in producing an 8-minute corporate
video, in terms of pre-production, production and post-production.
I guess I shouldn’t have worried. These kids were amazing!
I had 26 ‘crazy’ kids in my class, some with very creative
ideas. When the directors pitched their storyboard ideas
to me, we had an assortment of projects that ranged from
a cruise ship to a pub! Imagine that! I found their ideas
outstanding and I told them so.
I had chosen the directors based on the best scripts. Then,
the directors, in turn chose their crew. The kids took on
roles as cameraman, audio man, lighting man, editor, production
manager and producer. The directors basically doubled up
as scriptwriters too as they understood their scripts best.
As they left on their separate shooting projects, I reminded
them to have fun as this was their last project before they
completed their studies here at the university and graduate.
I also told them “Let’s see if I can use the word ‘outstanding’
again at the end of the semester when I see the final outcome”.
I took time off from my tight lecturing schedule to ‘visit’
them on location whenever I could. I went to Starbucks and
Putrajaya Cruise during the shoot and visited Sid’s Restaurant
and Joe’s MAC (Music, Art & Collectibles) after the project
was over to meet with the clients. The only team I didn’t
get to see in action was Original Bootcamp as there was
a clash in schedule, the client’s and mine.
After eight weeks of production and stress and sweat, sleepless
nights and burning more than the midnight oil, it was Presentation
Day. One by one the groups presented their corporate videos
nervously, waiting for my comments and feedback. I had invited
my tutor, Jeff Rahim to sit in, to view and grade the projects
with me. This added on to the students’ stress.
I normally have two set of grades for my production class,
‘nice’ for the good projects and ‘okay’ for the okay ones.
My students also know that my standards are high as I come
from the industry and these standards will always remain
the same if not higher. I always tell them that the industry
will not lower their standards for them, they need to rise
up to it.
The kids waited anxiously and held their breath for my closing
remarks. For a noisy class, this time you could literally
hear a pin drop… I just smiled and said, “Yes guys, I
can use the word again, the projects were OUTSTANDING!”
The silence was immediately replaced with hoots of happiness,
joyous cheers and “high fives” by these high-spirited kids.
I basically teach the students the fundamental rules about
broadcasting and how to break the rules the right way. These
kids managed to break almost all the rules with beautiful
results. They managed to use different approaches, adapting
to the environment of the assignment while fulfilling the
clients’ requests. I couldn’t ask for more.
It’s always good to walk away from a class knowing that
the kids had learnt and benefited from your teaching. It
was a great end to a terrific semester - 26 ‘crazy’ kids,
amazing ideas, fantastic teamwork which equals to OUTSTANDING
projects! Kudos everybody!
