Project Summary

Join this Volunteer Camp for At Risk Youth: Putting Film Into Action in Belize and share your film and photography skills.  You can inspire the youth of Belize to inspire environmental socio-political change and give them skills for a career. By sharing your skills and knowledge volunteers can help empower students and guide them produce a film to be shared through online media. It really is a fantastic opportunity for these young people One of last year’s students is pursuing a career in online film-making and another in photography.

The project aims to provide a free camp for the youth and to enable them to do so, volunteers are needed to help drive it forward and to act as mentors during the camp. The project wants to involve international volunteers as this will also enable the students to make connections in the international film industry and those with photography skills, something needed within Belize’s fledgling film industry. The camp is split into 2 sections with the first two weeks focusing on film-making and the second 2 weeks looking at the photography element of media production. This really is a fantastic opportunity to help to inspire the youth of Belize.

Why choose this project?

It is a great opportunity for you to volunteer within a multi cultural team and share your areas of expertise. By imparting your knowledge, not only will you be inspiring others to pursue their passions, and potentially create a future career for them. Some volunteers will also donate items that the students will be able to use to continue their work once they have finished the camp, this is a vital element of this placement.

Role of the volunteer

As a volunteer on this youth camera action camp you will share your skills and experience with the youth of Belize and support local experts with the delivery of the following programmes:

Film-Making (2 weeks)

The first week focuses on film evolution, telling a story, examining classic and contemporary tales and looks at the media landscape, critiquing meanings behind short films and clips. The students will be introduced to media literacy examining types of media, creators motivations and approaches to storytelling, reviewing documentary versus narrative filmmaking. The second week focuses on story creation, translating images into words, script development process, character development and screenwriting. Students write their own scripts using the skills and techniques learned, have an introduction to the photography process and on the final day design and deliver a photography project using the student’s text based work, experimenting in mixing media

Photography (2 weeks, following on from the film making camp)

The first week looks at camera operation and use this knowledge to develop a topic-based photo essay and are introduced to story-boarding and the production process. In week 2 students learn about the creation of suspenseful scenes and how to convey visual language. The 2 weeks culminates with a short film production in groups using the skills they have learnt.

Your role will very much be determined by your own skills and experience and passions but primarily you will be supporting the students with their work, and those leading the sessions.

Skills Required

The project is looking for volunteers who have hands on experience of the film industry so that a balanced and detailed training can be given. Any of the following will be highly valued by the project; videographers, producers, scriptwriters, photographers or editors. You will be asked to send your CV/resume before being accepted onto this project and may also be asked to attend a Skype interview to discuss the specifics of the camp. Bring your passion for film and inspire others.

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