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Isambard Documentors

Documenting Flux: The IDs

The IDs (Isambard Documentors) are a group of Year 7 and 8 students at Isambard Community School working in collaboration with film-maker Paul Gilbert and photographer Elise Hurcombe.

The IDs are a core part of the Flux Evaluation, and their role is to gather exciting and creative documentary evidence in a variety of ways that informs the Flux evaluation, and that can shape and influence the ongoing delivery of Flux.

In January 2009 two IDs interviewed Prime Minister Gordon Brown when he officially opened Isambard Community School.

Background

In December 2007, the first IDs had two intensive days training in ‘How to be a documentor’.

As well as some hands-on training in using digital cameras and camcorders we looked at:

• What does evaluation mean?
• What does it mean to be a documentor?
• Interviewing techniques
• Observing and focusing
• Composing photographs
• Critiquing our work
• Combining text with photographs

On our first day together as a group, we asked: what does ‘documenting’ mean?

• It’s just to get someone else’s point of view … to know what someone else thinks.
• To get different people’s opinions on things.
• To show other people – to prove something and answer questions for them.

Where we Live - some impressions of Priory Vale

As part of this training project the group went on two outings documenting the local area with photography and video, and conducting video interviews to find out how local people feel about the development of Priory Vale as a place to live.

Here are some of the images we selected:

The IDs interviewed each other about their experiences of photographing and interviewing local people on video:

"At first I felt a bit nervous going up to people and saying 'can we film you?' but in the end it was really good because we built our confidence."

"You got to talk to people you haven’t met before."

"It was fun … it was different!"

Here are some films taken by the Isambard Documentors, during Arts Blast 1 (October 2008).