Ella Williams, Grade 11
UWC Mostar
Prior to joining UWC, I took a class in Media Studies which I thoroughly enjoyed; this class is what ignited my interest in media, but more specifically, social media and how it is used in the current world where everything is online. While Media is not a class that is offered at UWC Mostar (where I attend), I knew I wanted to continue my engagement with the subject. This led me to join “Keeping UP With UWCiM”.
At the beginning of my experience, we had a CAS fare where all the CAS options for activities were presented to us. Keeping Up With UWCiM CAS presented their aim to create promotional videos to show the life of our students to prospective students, parents and current parents, other UWC students and alumni and anyone who is interested in the movement. This caught my attention as, while I had previously explored photo editing and print media, I had not done much in the way of videography. In addition to this, I realised that UWC is a very well kept secret and I feel it is important to advertise it as much as I can as I believe so many people don’t know about the movement and would love to apply.
At our first meeting, we sat down as a group of about 10 and discussed ideas for what we wanted to do. We talked about how to advertise our Instagram page and get traction on our Youtube channel. We discussed what kinds of videos we could make and what we think would be most useful and get the most views. I became very excited at the idea of creating and editing videos. After a couple of sessions of sharing ideas and creating our channel, we were ready to film our first video.
We decided that the best debut video would be a day in the life video as these often get quite a lot of views and it would be useful for applicants to see what it is like to live the life of a UWC student. We each filmed our days including waking up, getting ready in a room with other people, going to classes, lunch, after class activities and so on. During that day, when I explained to people what I was doing, it was really fun to see how many people, who weren’t a part of the CAS, wanted to be involved. I had so much fun talking through my day and showing what it is like to be a part of UWC.
After the filming process was over, each uploaded all the videos to a drive, and I edited them all together. This part of the process always feels a little weird, watching and listening to myself talk is quite unusual, but after a while, I got used to it and really enjoyed choosing the best clips and putting them together in a way that made sense. I learned a lot about editing and the process of filming, cutting and producing a video, with the help of my fellow CAS members, we posted the video later that week to Youtube, and it has accumulated over a thousand views. Since the posting of the video, we have continued to post more with a similar process, and it has definitely continued to be an enriching experience for me.
I have loved how much I have learned from this experience, from what people watch, what is the best length for a video to keep people interested, how to edit, and so much more. I have had many conversations with people from outside school talking about how these videos have been useful to them and that they like what we are doing and that is really encouraging to me. Being a part of this CAS has also allowed me to continue my interest in media in a more practical way. I look forward to continuing to produce content and come up with ideas when I return.
At the beginning of my experience, we had a CAS fare where all the CAS options for activities were presented to us. Keeping Up With UWCiM CAS presented their aim to create promotional videos to show the life of our students to prospective students, parents and current parents, other UWC students and alumni and anyone who is interested in the movement. This caught my attention as, while I had previously explored photo editing and print media, I had not done much in the way of videography. In addition to this, I realised that UWC is a very well kept secret and I feel it is important to advertise it as much as I can as I believe so many people don’t know about the movement and would love to apply.
At our first meeting, we sat down as a group of about 10 and discussed ideas for what we wanted to do. We talked about how to advertise our Instagram page and get traction on our Youtube channel. We discussed what kinds of videos we could make and what we think would be most useful and get the most views. I became very excited at the idea of creating and editing videos. After a couple of sessions of sharing ideas and creating our channel, we were ready to film our first video.
We decided that the best debut video would be a day in the life video as these often get quite a lot of views and it would be useful for applicants to see what it is like to live the life of a UWC student. We each filmed our days including waking up, getting ready in a room with other people, going to classes, lunch, after class activities and so on. During that day, when I explained to people what I was doing, it was really fun to see how many people, who weren’t a part of the CAS, wanted to be involved. I had so much fun talking through my day and showing what it is like to be a part of UWC.
After the filming process was over, each uploaded all the videos to a drive, and I edited them all together. This part of the process always feels a little weird, watching and listening to myself talk is quite unusual, but after a while, I got used to it and really enjoyed choosing the best clips and putting them together in a way that made sense. I learned a lot about editing and the process of filming, cutting and producing a video, with the help of my fellow CAS members, we posted the video later that week to Youtube, and it has accumulated over a thousand views. Since the posting of the video, we have continued to post more with a similar process, and it has definitely continued to be an enriching experience for me.
I have loved how much I have learned from this experience, from what people watch, what is the best length for a video to keep people interested, how to edit, and so much more. I have had many conversations with people from outside school talking about how these videos have been useful to them and that they like what we are doing and that is really encouraging to me. Being a part of this CAS has also allowed me to continue my interest in media in a more practical way. I look forward to continuing to produce content and come up with ideas when I return.
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