Today was the last day of our 2012 Media Literacy workshop series around the theme ‘Why watch the Olympics?” with author and broadcaster David Goldblatt. We’ve welcomed 5 schools to 6 workshops, with 136 students attending a morning lecture session in the cinema watching film clips of some of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics from the last 100 years, followed by writing a drama workshops continuing this theme.
This year we have been making a film about a number of the elements that we’ve working on for the last four years in our RELAYS programme of activities and this includes a feature on our Media Literacy Workshops, so come back to this section in September to see the completed film.
Posts on the three previous Media Literacy workshops from 2009, 2010, and 2011 can also be found in this section.
We were delighted to welcome to Watershed yesterday Millbrook Academy from Gloucester – the first school from outside Bristol to participate in our annual Media Literacy Workshops with David Goldblatt and volunteers from the BBC. (more…)
We’ve just opened the booking for our well established Media Literacy Workshops – they don’t take place until June but with all the activities we’ve got planned for 2012 this year’s going to be busy for RELAYS at Watershed so we need to get confirmation by March 6th. So, if your Year 9 English, Media or PE students are enthusiastic about the Games, bringing them to our Olympic-themed Media Literacy workshop will help them learn more about how the Olympics has been represented over the last century – on film, on TV, in art and graphics.
If, however, they’re already bored by the very idea of sport, it’s more than likely they’ll find some intriguing, entertaining and challenging ideas in the wide range of movie clips they’ll watch from previous Olympic Games that include personal rivalries, political showmanship, bizarre costumes and things that go wrong at opening ceremonies – as well as some iconic sporting moments.
Watershed’s day-long Media Literacy Workshops – part of our programme of RELAYS activities – take place late in the summer term when David Goldblatt, writer and broadcaster, with input from the BBC, will invite students to unwrap some of the stories from what has been described as the greatest show on earth.
“Thank you for a really enjoyable and valuable experience yesterday….we had a fabulous day! ”
“Thank you for an excellent day at the Watershed”
These quotes are from teachers who brought their students to this year’s Media Literacy workshops at Watershed. The theme was ‘Why study the Olympics?” (see below for more information) and Opening Ceremonies through 20th Century Olympic Games provided the focus for the morning screening session, which included clips of Leni Riefenstahl’s innovative 1936 Berlin Olympics film, Los Angeles 1984, and the astonishing 2008 Games in Beijing.
Photos from the workshops can be seen in the gallery.
We’re just finalising details for this year’s Media Literacy workshops for secondary schools (follow Media Literacy tag on the right to see information on previous years’ workshops) and thought we’d tell you a little bit about our plans and the theme “Why study the Olympics?”!! Here’s an introduction to the topic for teachers by the workshop leader David Goldblatt:
“The Summer Olympics are an extraordinary event. What began as an obscure, eccentric Hellenic revival and sporting gymkhana has become one of the world’s most important and most watched public spectacles. Now over a century old, they have survived every twist and turn of global history and grown ever larger. Up to six years in the making, the scale of a modern Olympic games is immense: 20,000, athletes, from over 200 countries, compete in 23 sports over three weeks, and most of the planet will be watching some of it. (more…)
Here’s a chance to view what over a hundred Bristol school pupils experienced when they came to Watershed in May for the Media Literacy Workshops. With teachers in mind we recorded one of the morning sessions led by David Goldblatt so schools who haven’t attended before but are interested in coming to future workshops, can get an insight into the process.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the Media Literacy Workshops please contact liz.milner@watershed.co.uk
Building on the established and successful format of previous Media Literacy Workshops, writer, broadcaster and teacher David Goldblatt, led the workshops with a World Cup theme to explore the use of language, cliche and meaning in sports’ media.
Five Bristol schools each came to Watershed for a day bringing 134 year 9 and 10 students from Bridge Learning Campus, Brislington Enterprise College, Bedminster Down, Fairfield and St Mary Redcliffe schools. To see more photographs and storyboards go to the Gallery, and for a full video recording of David’s presentation visit this page.
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Audio excerpt from Media Literacy Workshops 2010 – David Goldblatt on Story making
This audio-slide show about Watershed’s Media Literacy Workshops uses photographs and audio recordings made during the workshop sessions which were part of the RELAYS at Watershed season ‘Let the Games Begin’ in June 2009.
Excerpts from David Goldblatt’s talk introduce the themes for the workshop and are followed by edited interviews with teachers, BBC film-crew volunteers and the pupils participating in the workshop.
Select the play button below to continue.
The voices heard in the sound track do not necessarily belong to the people depicted at the same time in the photographs.
‘Sport + Culture + Passion: Let the Games Begin’ – Media Literacy workshops for schools at Watershed, Bristol.
As part of the RELAYS project, Watershed ran a programme of Media Literacy workshops for schools during June in conjunction with Bristol City Council’s Children and Young People’s services and the BBC. Each workshop was a day-long session held at Watershed and was attended by over 200 students from 5 Bristol schools, with 16 volunteers from the BBC helping out during the sessions. Go to the Media Literacy Workshops gallery to see more photos.
