Quantcast
Channel: GH Notes | Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases » clean water
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2

In Austin, striking a balance between work and play

0
0

[This is the fourth in a series of  posts by Steven Norton ('12), who is a part of a student team making a documentary film about clean water in Tanzania.]

students of the world office in Austin

Students of the World office. Photo by Gladys Manzur ('13)

The beginnings of the 9-5 mentality are starting to appear for the Students of the World team. Actually, it’s a bit more like 8:30-6. We’ve been producing rough video cuts to send to Children’s Safe Drinking Water, creating photo and Soundslide stories, writing op-eds and press releases, preparing recruitment plans and finding outlets to showcase our work in the Austin community. But while we get used to the office setting, we also realize that there’s a reason we sometimes come in early or stay late — we’re enjoying what we’re doing.

No other job has allowed me to work with a group of extremely talented peers on creative projects that we get to see through from beginning to end.  The creativity that circulates through the office on a regular basis is an invigorating thing to experience, not to mention a push to increase my own creative output. Sure there have been struggles, as with any job. Difficulties with Final Cut, a written project that somehow disappeared off a hard drive, the list goes on. But every accomplishment outweighs these obstacles and, although at times we’re slowed down, we never stop moving forward.For the UNC team, our challenge in the past two weeks has been building a video piece from scratch, having little direction in terms of storyline. The film will eventually be our Children’s Safe Drinking Water submission for the Clinton Global Initiative. It will highlight CSDW’s prior CGI commitment, showing how it exceeded its goals and is continuing to provide support for those without safe drinking water. With that in mind, our goal is to create a compelling, innovative film in under 90 seconds.

For those of you with film experience, you probably know that 90 seconds isn’t as much time as you would like to tell a story. But it’s clear that today’s media is becoming more fast-paced and varied, so it’s important to make your media stand out, and to do it quickly. We’re now in the process of experimenting with graphic animations, music, and creative uses of text to tell CSDW’s story in the best way possible. View our Soundslide videos about clean water in schools here.

austin film studios 3 and 4

Two airplane hangars converted into sound stages at Austin Film Studios. Photo by Nicole Bell ('11).

During our down time, we continuously discover why Austin’s a great place to be. From cliff jumping at the Greenbelt, tubing down the Guadalupe river, checking out live music at a backyard show, touring Austin Film Studios and so much more, there has certainly been no shortage of things to do. The University of Texas at Austin team (which traveled to Kosovo with SOW this summer) has been showing us all the things they love about Austin, and we’ve embarked on our own explorations to find some lesser-known parts of the city.

More updates are coming, including details about our wrap party and potential plans for our work to be showcased at UNC. Until then, check out sowunc2010.wordpress.com for updates from everyone on the team.

Cheers,

Steven


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images