Lights, Camera, Literacy!
Date: (22/05/2012)
Local filmmaker Dylan Drummond, who trades as Son of the Sea, has been celebrating the completion of his first BBC commission. Dylan has been making films of one kind or another in the city for around 12 years. He has had films shown at film festivals across the world and one of his short documentaries 'Top of the Hill' won an award at the Milan Film Festival in 2006. The commission was for two short films to be broadcast online at the BBC L.A.B Scotland website, a classroom resource for schools and colleges around the UK. The L.A.B Scotland is an outreach project designed to develop digital media literacy within Scotland, working with a diverse range of groups to create their own content.The commission was to make films with two community groups in Dundee and also to support them to learn about filmmaking themselves.
Images: Dylan Drummond & Lindsay Brown
The first of the two films commissioned by the BBC was conceived to tie in to the build up to the Olympic Games this year. The pupils of Fintry Primary School were chosen to explore the concept of Global Citizenship which is a key component of Curriculum for Excellence and taught in various ways in our schools. In exploring the concept, the class researched the links between Dundee and India, and the film also features Dundee's jute museum Verdant Works.
As the Olympics will be a huge event this year in the UK, schools will be looking for a means to teach this in their classrooms. Global Citizenship was deemed by the BBC to be the perfect vehicle for this as the Olympic values and the Global Citizenship values have much commonality and overlap.
Images: Dylan Drummond & Lindsay Brown
The second film involved working with local adult literacies support group CraigOwl Communities. Around one quarter of the Scottish population face occasional constraints due to difficulties with literacy. The intention of the film was to provide a platform for those involved to communicate more effectively and develop their literacy skills, enhancing their employability and emotional wellbeing.
Dylan aims to make his films have a strong storytelling element and was delighted to be given this chance to allow a platform for the stories, thoughts, and feelings of these two inspirational community groups.
One of Dylan's next exciting commissions is to be one of only two photographers working closely with the organisers to document the entire Scotland visit by H.H Dalai Lama in June this year. Dylan says 'I feel blessed at the moment to be part of exciting things happening in and around the City of Dundee.'
The Global Citizenship film made with Fintry Primary School can be seen here at BBC L.A.B Scotland.
The Adult Literacies film made with Craigowl Communities can be seen here at BBC L.A.B Scotland.
