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Released: 19.03.10

A double decker bus with a difference, working with UCP Marjon and the University of Plymouth last week, gave school children from Woodlands, Sir John Hunt and Whitleigh Primary the opportunity to produce short films about their expectations and feelings about the forthcoming London 2012 Games.

Looking very much like a standard double decker bus on the outside (albeit a very colourful one), the ‘tardis-like’ Media Bus, has been cleverly converted inside into an innovative state-of-the-art digital media facility. Founded in 2009 by the team at Poole’s White Lantern Film, the project aims to bring formal and informal training and educational opportunities to rural and disadvantaged communities across the region.

RELAYS, the Regional Educational Legacy for Arts and Youth Sport, has organised the visit as part of a regional tour designed to engage young people in the South West with the 2012 Games. On Wednesday 11th March the Media Bus was  with a group of UCP Marjon students and students from Woodlands, Sir John Hunt and Whitleigh Primary on the Woodview Learning Campus. The focus of the day was for students to work with the Media Bus team of skilled professionals to develop a short film about the Olympic Legacy.

‘Working with Media Bus is really exciting for us,’ explains Leanne Dingle, Project Manager for RELAYS.  ‘This bus is truly amazing. The students will have a unique chance to learn about film creation, editing and production. We are also excited to learn about their views on the 2012 Games. Young people are usually very clear, and vocal, in their opinions and ideas and it will be very interesting to understand what they really think; what they like and what they don’t like about the Games. Now that the Canadian Winter Games are over, the UK is the next host and we want to gauge what young people feel about that.’

UCP Marjon Sport Development Manager Jamie Oxley said; “The plan was to use this event as the launch of a new UCP Marjon Sport Media Team who will be working with schools and the community to cover the Olympics and other sporting events involving young people. With some talented young athletes in the city and the likely impact the 2012 Games will have on young people it is vital we capture the views and stories from a young persons’ perspective”

The Media Bus is fully kitted out with high-end digital media technology, including a number of high-definition still and video cameras, with 11 iMacs and three Mac Pro Final Cut Edit Suites, which run a range of software including digital film editing and sound mixing software, and various Adobe packages. It will be touring around the South West throughout the month of March, visiting several of the region’s universities and hoping to engaging teenagers from all areas.

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