Jackie Griffin (Company COO): 084 419 8511, Jackie@africa-media.org
Fiona Ayerst (Owner): 082 604 5893 (not to be shared)
Camdeboo Reserve (service provider):
Monkeyland (service provider): 044 534 8906, info@monkeyland.co.za
White Shark Africa (service provider):
Derrick (Guesthouse farmer): 078 996 9348
Working hours for course instructors / field specialists
Working days / hours on the program are Monday to Friday, 8AM to 5PM. One hour for lunch and other coffee breaks as needed throughout the day. Midmonth on the reserve you will be required to work one weekend Whilst on the game reserve, you will also be required to work later and earlier on occasion as requested by students in the case of night shoots, sun rise and sun set time lapses etc. Optional. You can optionally drive and guide weekend trips for additional cash payments. This time and effort is entirely separate from your course instructor / field specialist work
Food and catering for Course Instructors / Field Specialists
Whilst working on the course you will be entitled to eat standard meals provided by Africa Media and the game reserve. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner. If you choose not to eat, no additional compensation will be offered.
Accommodation for Course Instructors / Field Specialists
If required you will be provided with accommodation whilst working on the program. This will be in a shared room with a maximum of one other course instructor or field specialist. On occasion, you may be required to share accommodation with students when on the game reserve. If you choose not to take advantage of accommodation offer, no additional compensation will be paid for your own accommodation.
Can I film whilst on the reserve
During your time on the game reserve, you will only be able to film for the following
What reserve(s) do we visit
Reserve choice will be determined by company CEO prior to month start and dependent on student number, and space availability. The current reserve options are
What dates do we go to reserve?
The precise dates vary from month to month, but typically will be the second Wednesday of a month, between the 11 – 14th. 8 nights will be spent on the reserve.
Payment Terms
Course instructors payment will occur on last working day of month following compleation of program. Bonus payment will occur when (a) student videos are successfully uploaded onto Africa Media Youtube channel / photojournalism playlist and link of proof is sent to company COO amd (b) all expense slips have been submitted to Company CFO. As instructor is freelance postion, no taxes or benefits will be withhold
Welcome
This set of tabs outlines the daily activities and important notes (goals) that course instructors and field specialists need to adhere to during the teaching of this program.
Please note – the schedule offers some more advanced options for ‘experienced students’ who either arrive with a high degree of skill or partake in the program for two months. But also appriciate the program cannot be ‘rewritten’ for the individual needs and wants of each student.
Morning | Afternoon | |
2nd | (Orientation - Africa Media). Orientation to program, life at Africa Media, weekend activities, covid, how meals and board run, safety etc. (Orientation - Wildlife Film). Orientation to program specifically. Instructor to introduce to team, give plan on month, and hold discussion on who the students are, their ambitions from program and long term, and their current skill level. (Administration). Student gives to sign liability waivers on equipment and dangers etc. | (Lecture 1 - Intro to wildlife filmmaking). Quick spoken recap on wildlife filmmaking and ensure all the students have watched videos online before arrival. Make sure that if they havnt to watch in evenings. (1hr) Workshop 1 - Ethics. Conduct ethics in filmmaking workshop. (2hr) Premier Setup - Ensure all students have premier downloading and working on their computers and ensuring they have access to the editing software for at least one month. Students who are setup, can recap on some of the online lessons. If students need new harddrives then can take them to mall to purchase from Game. (1-2hr) |
3rd | (Gear Issuing). Gear Issue - All individual gear issued (including harddrive), and checked as working with the students. Make notes on any issues with gear. Ensure students put the gear away for themselves in an accessible yet safe place, and then look after it and use the same gear throughout the month. Introduce communal gear and how that will work - issued when needed and shared amongst students. Have students sign checkout sheet. (Workshop 2 - Camera Use). Conduct workshop going through all the functions on the cameras (Hvx200) and DSLR cameras (sitting at desks). Continue with filming outside guesthouse with cameras to learn functions and operations. . | (Workshop 3 Gear Maintainance). Students taken through care and maintainance of all equipment. Specifically, demonstrated weakpoints in all gear and showing how to treat it when using it in the wild and also how to clean and maintain the gear for longivity. This includes 1. Camera, 2. Tripods, 3. Lens, 4. Cards, 5. Batteries, 6. Drones, 7. Effects cameras. etc. (Data Management) - Take students through downloading and storing their footage on harddrives. Recap online lessons about file systems and backups. Hve them use test footage to download, store and organise. Use footag from camera use workshop to transfer it onto premier. . |
4th | (Workshop 4- Farm Production). 2 hours working on filming animals on farm - including Goats, donkeys, birds (weavers), rabbits and chickens. (download footage, clean cameras) (Data management). Download farm footage. During download ensure students take time to clean equipment, put batteries onto charge, ensure everything is ready. | (Workshop 5 - Editing) Have students spend 3 hours putting content onto premier timeline and editing. Use time to go through workshop on editing with your computer plugged into TV screen.
(Crit Session). Students to present timelines to class on projector. Critique on the shots, where they struggle, where they are going good, what they as individuals need to work on. (Prep Session). Recap on shooting sequences in preperation for tomorrow trip to Monkeyland and Birds of Eden |
5th | (Workshop 6) - Monkeyland & Birds of Eden trip). Trip to monkey land and birds of Eden. Conduct Birds of Eden (First) workshop whilst guiding students and assisting them in capturing content. | Workshop 6 - Monkeyland & Birds of Eden). After lunch break, conduct Monkeyland section of workshop whilst guiding students and assisting them in capturing content. REturn to Mossl Bay Data management. Download content and arrange it. Maintain equipment and clean cameras and lens. If time is available they can start reviewing / editing footage |
6th | Lecture 2 - Audio in wildlife film. Do lecture with microphones out Lecture 3 - Working with talent Workshop 7 - Interviews. Recap on audio and take students throuh different audio equipment. Then get equipment together and look for a location to run the intervierws workshop. Run workshop on interviews. | Workshop 5 - Editing). Conduct full editing workshop and spend entire morning editing a two (approx)1 minute long sequences from Monekyland and Birds of Eden with interview content placed into the timelines. Crit Session. Conduct crit session between students. Have them show their films and talk abut challenges. Students review work of the others. What worked, what did not. |
Morning | Afternoon | |
9th | Lecture 5 - Story. Conduct brief lecture on story - recapping online lessons. Workshop 6 - Story Development.. Conduct workshop 6 on story development - issue magazines and have students write and develop their own narratives based on stories that they like. Do crit session on the story. | Personal Time. Students need to pack their equipment and personal items. Personal shopping, and writing story ideas for researve. Instructor to be on hand to assist in equipment prep and story development. |
10th | Travel. Depart from Mossel Bay at 8Am to arrive at reserve at 14h00. Stop for snacks and lunch purchases at either Colcester (Schotia) or Graaif Renuit (Camdeboo). |
Orientation drive. Once at the research, drop of personal gear and unload / setout film equipment. Then conduct an orientation drive (students can carry personal cameras). Instructor and students to build relationship with guide(s). |
11th |
Practial - Story Development. Morning spent writing stories, talking to guides, and pitching final idea to instructors and guides. (instuctor to organise gear during this period). Need to have agreement on story and viability. | Practical - Filmmaking. Lunchtime briefing for filming plan, then afternoon spent filming wildlife. Download (over dinner period) and content management (after dinner) - Evening review on progress to enable plan for next day |
12th |
Practial - Filmmaking. 15 minute morning briefing on morning filming plan then out collecting content for students story. Break for breakfast and then continue filming | Practical - Filmmaking. Lunchtime briefing for filming plan, then afternoon spent filming wildlife. Download (over dinner period) and content management (after dinner) - Evening review on progress to enable plan for next day |
13th | Practial - Filmmaking. 15 minute morning briefing on morning filming plan then out collecting content for students story. Break for breakfast and then continue filming | Practical - Filmmaking. Lunchtime briefing for filming plan, then afternoon spent filming wildlife. Download (over dinner period) and content management (after dinner) - Evening review on progress to enable plan for next day |
14th |
Practial - Filmmaking. 15 minute morning briefing on morning filming plan then out collecting content for students story. Break for breakfast and then continue filming | Practical - Filmmaking. Lunchtime briefing for filming plan, then afternoon spent filming wildlife. Download (over dinner period) and content management (after dinner) - Evening review on progress to enable plan for next day |
15th | Practial - Filmmaking. 15 minute morning briefing on morning filming plan then out collecting content for students story. Break for breakfast and then continue filming | Practical - Filmmaking. Lunchtime briefing for filming plan, then afternoon spent filming wildlife. Download (over dinner period) and content management (after dinner) - Evening review on progress to enable plan for next day |
Morning | Afternoon | |
Day 11 - (Free diving land) - Floater Key Goals of Day
| (Lesson - Free diving) - Lecture on the theory behind free diving and holding your breath
| (Workshop - Freediving Land) - Land based practical on free diving breath holding and testing the ability of students to hold breath on static and dynamic apnea. |
Day 12 - (Shark Diving)
Key Goals of Day
| (Dive - Cage Diving). Students to join WSA cage diving trip. To film with gopro on handle at high frame rates of sharks. Topside to film with personal camera if they want. . (Cleanup). Clean up of cameras, charging of batteries (camera and lights), rinsing and drying of housing, . | (Edit) Start white shark cage diving scene with particular emphasis of shark - and realise limitations without b-roll, other subjects and perspective in shots
(Lesson - perspective) Recap on perspective and b-roll lesson. Will be used over next days |
Day 13 - (Free diving water) - Floater
Key Goals of Day
| (Workshop - Pratical on duckdive). Session at dolosers to practise duck diving and maintaining depth on a free dive at the dolersa. Specifically on techniques, and correctly weighting yourself to be neturally buoyant on free dive. . | (Workshop - Freediving pool). two hour pool session on practising free diving techniques for static (max 3 minutes) and dynamic apnea (max 50m). . . |
Day 14 (Shark Diving)
Key Goals of Day
| (Dive - Cage Dive). Students to join WSA cage diving trip. To film with gopro on handle at high frame rates of sharks. Topside to film b-roll of bait handler, faces, sharks. (Cleanup). Clean up of cameras, charging of batteries (camera and lights), rinsing and drying of housing, | (Edit) - White Shark Cage Diving scene with particular emphasis of using b-roll and perspective shots to fill out the scene. . |
Day 15 - (B-Roll / Perspective)
Key Goals of Day
| (Dive - Perspective) - Boat dive on a reef with a lot of structure (walls, gullies, reefs). Dive to collect footage where you create shots with a subject, foreground and background content. Maximise perspective. Also focus on content that has perspective without major subject - to be used as B-Roll . (Cleanup). Clean up of cameras, charging of batteries (camera and lights), rinsing and drying of housing, | (Edit) - Boat dive on a reef with a lot of structure (walls, gullies, reefs). Dive to collect footage where you create shots with a subject, foreground and background content. Maximise perspective. Use b-roll footage to insert into an existing timeline as effective b-roll |
Morning | Afternoon | |
Day 16 (Talent D1) Key Goals of Day
| (Dive 18 - Raggie shark dive). Dive at Raggie Point to film and locate large raggies. Focus is on positioning low on the reef and allowing the raggies to apprach and find the diver. . (Cleanup). Clean up of cameras, charging of battereis (camera and lights), rinsing and drying of housing, | (Workshop - Talent & Communication). Recap on lesson on working with talent and communications. Students break into pairs and conduct training (using cheat sheet) of underwater signals to get footage of them together with farm animals. |
Day 17 (Talent D2)
Key Goals of Day
| (Dive - Communication Dive). Students to do dive filming talent (each other) and using communication signals to direct talent (Dive - (Talent dive) Dive at Mitches reef or fluffies. Aim to film a sequence of talent cleaning reef by collecting fishing line. . (Cleanup). Clean up of cameras, charging of battereis (camera and lights), rinsing and drying of housing, | (Workshop - Editing). Have students work personally on building and editing sequence from the pervious two days diving with talent. |
Day 18 (Talent D3)
Key Goals of Day
| (Dive - Water Entry Dive). Specialist training dive working on filming water entry to a diver from multiple angles. Namely self filming (gopro), waiting submerged, and boat frame. . | (Workshop Editing). Finish editing a sequence using human talent and fishing line, water entry to cleanup a reef. Include fish and b-roll (Workshop - Soundscapes). Workshop on editing techniques to build multiple audio tracks (voice, narrator, ambinat, music) and mixing them correctly onto a sequence . |
Day 19 (Pitching & Stock) - Floater
Key Goals of Day
| (Workshop Pitching). Recap on pitching lesson. Prepare a personal pitch to present the pitch via (a) a written pitch treatment, and (b) and standup pitch.
(Workshop Stock). Recap on stock footage licencing and exporting . Work with students on choosen stockclips | (Workshop - Stock Footage). Students set up profiles on two libraries and upload content. Namely - Pond5 and Nature Footage. Get best stock clips uploaded. |
Day 20 (Editing & Presentation)
Key Goals of Day
| (Editing). Clean up of cameras, charging of battereis (camera and lights), rinsing and drying of housing, . | (Exporting). Students to export sequences, and stock clips from their month of diving. Aim to show some of the sequences that evening. . |
Instructor notes
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The aims of this workshop are
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The aims of this workshop are
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The aims of this workshop are
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The aims of this workshop are
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The aims of this workshop are
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The aims of this workshop are
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Optional if students have compleated online learning
Africa Media is a premier supplier of production services, experiential media training programs and interactive edu-tourism expeditions throughout Southern Africa.
Our mission is to build an enthusiastic generation of wildlife and environmental specialists who have the skills and passion to build successful careers or make significant contributions in the wildlife and environmental media industry.