Help required

[Al Cain]

right, here goes!

 

I have to give a workshop on thursday next week to 30, 10 year olds.

 

I am taking along the following equipment to show them and let the try out.

 

Strand 520i

2 Betapacks

2 P64s

2 Codas

2 Sls

2 1K Fresnels

4 Trackspots

 

I am alsoo going to prepare a powerpoint to show them on lighting.

 

I was woindering if anyone else had done anything similar, or had any advice?

 

thanks.

Alex

 

:D :)

[pritch]

There have been some threads on this before. One that springs to mind is this one:

 

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?show...=13704&st=0

[gareth]

Leave the trackspots behind and take more conventional kit. From experience, I can tell you that if you introduce any lighting 'toys' into the inventory for a workshop, especially for younger kids, all they'll want to do all day is to play with the toys and you'll never get them interested in the other kit.

[LDODD]

I did this for the same age bracket at a school in Swansea.

 

I took a bunch of generics and a moving head - the moving head was really loved, as it looks like a "robot".

 

The kids seemed to like the idea of touching the lamps, so consider sticky (and burned) fingers, H&S etc....

[Ynot]

right, here goes!

 

I have to give a workshop on thursday next week to 30, 10 year olds.

OK.

I did some workshops a few years back to just such a group of youngsters as part of our summer scheme.

The ages ranged from around 8 to 12.

 

Best advice - keep it simple.

I have a slight advantage, having a 10-yr old daughter, so can perhaps see where she might get more out of this sort of thing.

 

First off, do you have to present to them all at once? 30 kids of that age can be rioutous and WILL be if you're not used to classroom techniques!! :D (Wife's also a primary school teacher so again I speak with some knowledge!!)

If possible, split them into smaller groups - 3 if you can. That gives you less of a crowd problem and also allows them more of a chance to actually get hands-on.

 

Start off with the basics - what light is, the ways you can change it (ie shape, colour, intensity, position etc) and demonstrate each one.

 

Get the kids involved - ask them simple questions that lead into slightly more technical explanations but be careful not to go over their heads (don't start talking watts & amps, for example).

 

As a next step, show them how mixing colours can change what they see - use the classic 3-colour profiles mixed onto a white-wall (you'll obviously need 3 identical profiles) and mix 2 at a time then all 3.

 

Do you have a couple of scrollers? That might be a good option.

Also take some gobo's to show them light patterns.

 

Lastly, do you have anything simpler than a 520? Whilst the 520 is going to be interesting to older kids maybe, it'll just look like a box with knobs & buttons to the 10 yr olds. Possibly using something more basic like a 100 or 200 if you have such a beast would be better. That way they can operate the sliders themselves to make the lights change.

That being said, as the 520 has subs, and if it's all you have to hand, then obviously just program the subs with the relevant dimmer channels.

 

How's that?

[paulears]

What is the purpose?

 

What about gel, stands so they can fiddle etc.

 

Far too many clever items and you'll spend too much time making things work. I'd suggest that a 500 series is a bit overkill.

 

Kids are bored to death with powerpoint - yawn yawn.

 

What tasks have you designed?

What will they get out of it?

How long is the class?

Can you talk and programme at the same time?

Is the gear insured? Seems a bit valuable to me - and schools rarely have insurance for items brought in and not owned. They may well say they have insurance till you ask for a new 500 as this one got broke!

 

I'm not trying to be a killjoy - but 10 year olds have little idea of danger, no technical knowledge and very small attention span - AND most of a general group are not that excited by lights.

[Ynot]

One other thought.....

You will have a qualified teacher present at all times, yes?

In these days of CPS legislation I'd be surprised if not, BUT also knowing how schools work, that may not in fact be the case! Unless you are a teacher yourself, you may be leaving yourself a little open if you're on your own with the little, er, darlings.....!! :D

[Al Cain]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

The kit is insured.

 

I do have access to a 100, however the point of the trackspots was to show them some fun lighting, plus I have to use the kit to light a music video they are making.

 

Of course I will be taking gel and stands.

 

I will not be able to take any scrollers since they are all being used.

Please keep the ideas coming.

 

the workshop will be 1 hour long and a teacher will be present throughout.

 

By the way, I have to give the same workshop 3 times to 30 kids each time!

[gareth]

If you've only got an hour to get the workshop across to 30 kids, you're really against the clock. If it was me, I'd definitely not bother with the moving lights - you'll need the whole hour to explain the basics to them and let them have a go at rigging, focussing, playing with a bit of colour, etc.

[Al Cain]

but I might get slightily longer.

Depends......

[gareth]

Unless you've got a whole day, I'd still keep it simple if I were you. The last workshop I did was for two groups of about 12 participants - I had a two-hour session with each group, and still only barely had time to cover the very basic stuff thoroughly. There's no way I'd have had time to integrate things like moving lights and scrollers into the session without compromising on other more important aspects of what I was showing them.

[Al Cain]

I will take the movers but not demonstrate them to the kiddies.

[Ken Coker]

Have a chat with the class teacher and see what they are up to in science.

Take three of things, then you can do three colour mixing

Shapes & patterns are good - so I'd keep the Trackspots

Get some swatchbooks and they can do stuff like writing code messages with colour pencils - use the right colour filter and the right letters appear.

Shadows getting bigger and smaller....that sort of stuff

 

Have a look at upd8.org.uk/ - activities, mostly to do with the physical sciences for a slightly older age group, but a useful source of ideas one can adapt. Might be worth looking at BBC - Bitesize too; once again an older age group but some useful ideas perhaps.

 

Hope some of that helps

 

KC

[Al Cain]

Thanks.

 

I was taking the trackspots to show colours and more adavanced lighting to them any way.

Thanks very much people.

 

More ideas welcome.

Alex

[Ekij]

P64s and 1K Fresnels are big, heavy, hot and sufficiently bright to damage eyes if the children looked directly into one while it was turned on. (Just because YOU know that would be a stupid thing to do and even if you TELL them it's a stupid thing to do they're still 10 year olds so they'll do it).

Do you not have any MR16s they can work with?