CRASAC Filming Day Monday 28th July

Hi all, Just would like to thank you all for your hard work - we got a massive ammount of footage on tape today. I know most of you still have your main scenes to shoot but even being an extra behind the main actors etc as in the canteen scene is very important to the look of a film and it never hurts to watch professional film makers setting up shots etc.

URGENT REQUEST!!!

I received info on a dance event in London on the 8th March. Based on a 1 day & 1 night stay, the cost of this would be £79.00 per person.

This would include

train fare
accommodation & breakfast (aboard HMS Belfast!)
A Hip-Hop class
A Musical Theatre Class
A Cheerleading Class
And the chance to watch some live performances on stage.

Target number for this to be a viable trip is 8 to 10 members.
We need a MUM to volunteer to come along (expenses paid) otherwise we can't go.

Tickets to the classes are selling fast PLUS I'd need to book the accommodation very soon so please contact me ASAP if you think this is something you'd like to do.

The accommodation would be aboard a ship that served on the Arctic Convoy run and would provide an excellent pre-HMS Ulysses experience!

For more info, see the "Move It" website. Type "dance london olympia" into google. Remember I'm a bit limited with my phone communication at present, but I can be called on 01326 250219

Well Done Folks!

Those of you who put together the bid for our lighting rig can give yourselves a pat on the back.

Our buid was successful! Hopefully we will have lights in time for Ulysses. Also we can think about using lights inside for filming - creating film sets and lighting effects. Pretty exciting stuff really!

Tuesday 8th January - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone, hope you have recovered from all that Christmas food!

With the holiday over, we need to get serious about Panto Rehearsals! More on that later, however.

TUESDAY 8TH JANUARY's SESSION WILL RUN FROM 6pm - 8.30pm.
Please come wearing your KYSPA T Shirts for that added level of professionalism. Thanks.

That's half an hour EARLY, folks!!! (Remember to wrap up warm!)

This will NOT be a panto rehearsal but the first pre-production meeting for the CRASAC DVD. Present will be representatives from CRASAC, the film company and Tir Na. Parents may attend if they wish. Just a few of our members will be needed at this session so if you don't hear from me, you do not need to attend at this stage - learn your lines instead!

For anyone new, read about this project in the September archive on the 11th and 16th September. Let me know if you would like to be involved.

All participants need to regard this as a professional acting project - because that is exactly what it is albeit unpaid. The film is for national release into schools and youth organisations. For anyone interested in acting or TV/Film as a career, this is a unique opportunity and important first step.

I expect you to approach this project as young adults and professional actors. I'm expecting a lot of you, but I know you can, and will, deliver. Please arrive at the building quietly and in the right frame of mind to get down to some serious work, rehearsing and discussion. Our reputation rests quite heavily on the success of this project and you will be making a first impression upon a growing local film company we may wish to work with again.

SNOW WHITE rehearsals will be scheduled for Sunday pm at the end of the week. From here on, we will rehearse at least twice a week, possibly 3 times. We need to be ready by the end of the month. Just a "heads up".

Successful meeting!

The meeting between CRASAC and KYSPA's members and parents was very positive. For those of you who weren't there, this is a main summary of the points discussed and the decisions taken.

1. The content of the educational video will focus on the issue of grooming and keeping safe. Many shots will not reveal the identity of the actors at all, but all footage will be sensitively handled and there is no content which will be uncomfortable for our young people to act.

2. The script will be developed in partnership with the actors. Parents will have the opportunity to look at the script before shooting and raise any concerns.

3. Parents are welcome to attend shoots if they wish.

4. Parents will preview the finished film before general release. The views and wishes of parents and actors are paramount and permission can be withdrawn even at a late stage if either are uncomfortable with the films content. However, we hope that through discussion and involvement throughout the project this will be avoided.

5. Parents and actors need to be aware, though, that this film will be a high profile, national resource. images will be distributed around the UK to schools and youth organisations.

6. Given the subject matter, it was agreed that KYSPA's name will not appear in the credits - to avoid any chance of actors being widely recognised in terms of where they live.

7. The DVD is being produced in a format which means it cannot be copied. This ensures that copies will go to authorised organisations only.

8. There was support for this project, subject to these safeguards, from parents and our members.

CRASAC are happy to discuss this project and any concerns at any time. They can be contacted on: help@crasac.co.uk or on : Kim Lyall Cornwall Rape And Sexual Abuse Centre 01872 262100

Tues 11th Sept

MEETING FOR PARENTS
Tuesday 11th September 6.30pm

As you will be aware, KYSPA obtained a significant grant from the Cornwall Community Foundation this year. Another organisation which benefited from this charity was the Cornwall Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre. They received money to make an educational DVD for use in schools and education projects around the county on issues relating to young people, sexual abuse and rape.

This DVD will be produced by a professional media company who have won a tendering process to be awarded the contract. The DVD WILL NOT feature any kind of graphic scenes of abuse taking place. However, it will be fairly hard-hitting and aims to make young people aware of situations in which they may find themselves at increased risk – and thereby avoid those situations.

KYSPA’s members have the option of taking small acting parts in this DVD along with older actors from another Falmouth theatre company (Tir Na, I think).

Obviously, this is a very sensitive subject matter and so two members of CRASAC will be coming to our evening session on Tuesday 11th September to discuss the project, meet our young actors and their parents. They will outline the scenarios that actors are needed for and can answer any questions from parents our members and KYSPA’s own Trustees who will no doubt want to learn more about this project.

This project may not be suitable for all our members. Parents may feel uncomfortable with it, and this is also quite understandable. Our members themselves have expressed a desire to tackle important issues, and this is about as important as it gets. I do foresee some key advantages to our participation.

Our members will, themselves, gain a great deal of knowledge about how to keep themselves safe from partaking in this project.

Actors will be working in a semi-professional capacity with professional film makers.

Participating in this project may make a real difference to a key aspect of youth education in Cornwall.

I would urge parents to keep an open mind and to attend the Tuesday 11th meeting where we will all learn more about what is involved. CRASAC is a professional organisation working with vulnerable people. This project will be handled in an appropriate and sensitive way. KYSPA’s leaders will attend shoots with our actors, if the project goes ahead, for supervision.

Update from our friends at YoMo

If you log onto http://www.yomo.co.uk/ and go into the latest news section you will see a couple of items of interest! Firstly, the National Event in October is one we have been invited to. KYSPA will be running a 35 min presentation/workshop about our own experiences setting ourselves up and what we have done since our training.

We can only take about 4 members to this event which is on the 25th - 26th October. If you would like to attend and raise KYSPA's profile NATIONALLY, then please find out from your parents if you are free on those dates.

The ONLY expense will be transport and possibly a couple of meals. accommodation and admission will be free as we're "exhibitors". If you are interested, I need to know SOON.

Picking just four members is going to be tough. I don't want it to be random (names out of a hat) and I don't want to choose myself - because it looks like I'm "playing favourites".

SO, if you want to go, I will give you a questionnaire to fill in with some of the topics you will need to talk about. These will be filled in anonymously using your "numbers" from the Making Waves folders (A1, B5 etc.) The Board of Trustees will then pick the four best candidates based on these forms, making it perfectly fair.

If I had my way, I'd be taking all of you - you'd all do us proud, but since we have to choose, this seems the fairest way. ALL of these forms will go into your Making Waves folder and will count as evidence towards your certificates so even if you don't go, the form will still be helpful.

Secondly, if you select photos on the YoMo latest news page and click on the "Devon April" section, you'll see... yourselves! All the KYSPA photos from our Lindridge trip are on display in that folder. Enjoy!

KYSPAs Extended Schools Workshops

DAY TWO

The second day of the summer film making workshop saw four groups move on to make a longer piece of film. The subject matter varied again, but a certain ammount of death & murder will no doubt be involved! (I let the groups choose what they film - nothing to do with me!).

Although Hannah was ill, and sadly unable to join us (hope you're feeling better now) Flo & Ruby both continued to help their respective groups with filming and advice - as well as lending their acting skills to support the plot!

Overall, this was a successful workshop which has left me with HOURS of editing to do (fun,fun,fun!) but once it's done we will be arranging to show the entire collection at a mini premiere where DVDs will be available.

The photos collected over the course of the two days will hopefully be enough evidence to secure at least two Youth Activity Leaders Awards for my hard-working helpers! Thanks to all of you for your hard work.

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Filming in progress making use of the great weather we had to film outdoors.

Ruby setts up the camera for an internal shot of a mystical spy base occupied by a strange long-haired cooking guru!

We also managed to get some editing done on our new Imac!

KYSPA's Extended Schools Workshop

DAY ONE

KYSPA is delivering a film making course as part of this year's Extended Schools summer activities programme. This has provided some of our members with the opportunity to gain some experience towards their YoMo certificates by running some of the games and supporting the workshop participants with their film making activities.

As you can see, having been put through some tough team building exercises by YoMo, KYSPA's members are only too happy to see how other groups cope with the same challenges!

We played some games too, mainly to help learn everyone's name (which I'm still working on)

We've had rather a lot of people enroll on this course and although we've only two cameras, four groups worked on seperate films over the course of the day. In the picture below, a case of mistaken identity leads to a large crowd of Nelly Furtado fans gathering in the hope of an autograph - requiring a quick exit by the person mistaken for this populat artist!

As ever, stories of spying and bloodthirsty deeds seemed popular with our young film-makers this year. The films made today were short films of about 2 minutes or less. These provide an opportunity to learn the process of film making - and some of the problems that go with it - before tackling a larger project on Day 2.

Film Premiere Pictures

As promised, here is a selection of pictures from the KYSPA Film Premiere. As you can see, everyone had a fantastic time in the Limo!

In addition to the films, there were a couple of excellent performances including "Jump" by Girls Aloud.

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Making Waves at the Premiere

Well done everyone for Tuesday night! What a great celebration of our First Birthday! For those who missed it, the KYSPA First Birthday Bash comprised of a Limousine ride (pics to be posted shortly), a party and then a showing of some of our films. Mixed in with the films were performances by Tia and Katie, a dance piece and a solo performance of "On my own" by Jodie. Oh, and I put in an appearance too but we won't dwell on that!

The highlight & finale of the evening was the showing of the YoMo DVD from our residential at Lindridge House. This was a genuine premiere as no-one (not even me) had seen it before. I think we're all pretty pleased with the film - thanks to steve et al for all their hard work!

The YoMo DVD contained a good selection of pics, a few of which I have included below.

Action Plan in progress!

Strange goings on!

The infamous "KYSPA" shot!

First Birthday Party

Film Premiere – the final arrangements!

Due to availability issues we MUST undertake dress/tech rehearsals on Tuesday (better late than never). Therefore, please come to the Youth Space at 4.30pm on Tues.

Please bring a contribution of party food or drink.

We will rehearse the dances, practice the intro speeches and check the equipment is working.

The upstairs room will be available for changing & getting “made up” for the party/Limo ride between 6pm and 7pm

We NEED the £5 Limo contribution on Tuesday ; KYSPA’s finances are too hard-pressed to afford non-payment for this activity though we can consider instalments for families with more than one member.

DO NOT leave the event without helping to tidy up! I don’t want to be tidying into the small hours of the morning!

There will be a short piece about KYSPA on Radio Cornwall on Tuesday at 3.45pm.

Films, Dance and Limousines!

A busy session for our members this week as we completed planning for two short films to be shot over the next couple of weeks (using our new camera!). That done, we have begun to think about an evening premiere where we can show all of our films to the public.

This will combine with some live entertainment (dance and song) from our members and possibly some interactive fun for the audience too! To celebrate the films, and KYSPA's first anniversary, our plan is to hold a "Gala Premiere Evening" with members arriving by Limousine to an event which boasts glamour and style and includes food and drink for both members and guests.

Rehearsals have started on one of the dance routines as you can see below. We will keep you posted as our plans become more concrete; there's still a lot to do!

Camera Unit 1

We have purchased our fist full camera unit today for in-house film making. The Equipment, bought using our Cornwall Community Foundation, Making Waves money, includes a mini DV camera (with night shot), case and tripod.

These will be put to good use shortly when we visit Pendennis Castle to shoot the silent films we've been working on.

Here you can see the new camera being tried out as a snooty office worker finds her favourite park bench occupied by a dirty tramp!

Coming Soon....

Just a little pre-warning post! We have a date for "The Big Shoot" which is the second of the Making Waves events funded by the Cornwall Community Foundation. Over the weekend of the 7th & 8th July, Penryn will become Cornwall's Hollywood with up to four seperate films being shot in and around the town under the guidance of the experts from Firstborn Creatives.

Four groups of between 5 & 6 young people will shoot a film each with the general theme of issues which affect either them or other young people in their community. These films will be submitted for the Cornwall Film Festival and "Fresh 7" YP Film Festival in Bristol.

With all of KYSPA's members taking part, there will still be room for other local budding film makers to take part in this event. The best brains in KYSPA (well, ok, me) are working on a system by which interested young people can apply to take part. Details will be published in the local press shortly. Keep an eye out for posters about the place too! In the meantime, if you are interested in taking part, drop us an email.

Getting things done

Whilst KYSPA's internet command centre has been spitting sparks and blowing black smoke from the vents, our members have been moving ahead with many of the ideas on the Making Waves planning sheet. After the previously discussed "boring" planning session, we've been looking at how we might run activity workshops for other young people locally.

Our first opportunity will be at the "Party in the Park" event next month. This all day event provides ample opportunity for our members to apply their new-found skills and run activities for others. The last couple of weeks has been taken up with first planning a workshop (who runs which bit etc.) then trying it out on some willing volunteers to see if it works.

As a result, we've run a successful dance workshop AND shot two short films (James Blunt 007 and an as yet un-named horror spoof). A third group, also working on the 007 theme are now ready to shoot "Jane Blonde".

Part of the workshop activities include team games along the lines we learned at Lindridge. After rummaging around under the stairs I found my "games" book & we've been trying them out. These games are designed to improve communication, team work and drama skills. If they result in pictures of our members in daft positions, so much the better!

KYSPA's new Email accounts

As part of our aim to give members more direct responsibility for running the society, some of our members will coordinate publicity, workshops and film making activities.

To do this, it is helpful if they have access to Email. It is KYSPA's policy that our members should NEVER release personal Email or contact details to third parties as this can put young people at risk. Therefore, we have set up hotmail accounts for the above areas of responsibility which will be monitored by the Trustees and can be checked by the parents of those members regularly.

For those members entrusted with a KYSPA Email address, I must request that they use the account ONLY for KYSPA mail and in a manner which will reflect well on our organisation. Misuse of the account will result in the password being changed and future access denied.

Our new Email addresses can be found on the side bar above my profile.

The Seven "Ps"

Last night's session was not perhaps one of the most inspiring ever, but it was REALLY IMPORTANT! Following on from the excellent planning we did on residential, the group completed the remainder of our "Twelve Month Plan". Group members have been given responsibility for project areas and we will see some rapid movement towards our goals in the next few weeks.

• Publicity will step up a gear, raising awareness of the group and what we are doing. Our website should pop into existence fairly soon too.
• We are planning to run workshops for local young people at both the Party in the Park event and over the summer holls. The latter will raise money to pay for another fun residential.
• Whilst practising how to run workshops, we'll make a short film or two, just to keep our hand in.

And that's just this next month! in July sometime we'll have our second major "Making Waves" funded activity - film making with Firstborn Creatives for the film festivals.

The odd boring session is necessary to make all this stuff happen! It's the seven Ps.

Prior Preparation Prevents Poopy Poor Performance!

If we plan well, we'll achieve lots. Hold that thought folks!

PS. We'd like to extend an official blog welcome to the new member who joined the group last night. Hope the insane E-number fuelled antics of our weird and wacky membership didn't scare you off!

Plans for the Future

As well as getting into a muddle and having a great time, there was a serious side to our residential weekend. The trainers from YoMo helped the group to create a twelve month plan for the "Making Waves" programme.

The first stage of this process was to think about all the resources in Penryn and Falmouth and then to consider what issues affect the area - particularly for young people.

After this, the group selected some specific goals and issues which the Making Waves programme would focus on. This in turn led to the group identifying a series of actions (over a twelve month period) which they would carry out to achieve those goals. This plan has returned with us to Penryn and we will begin to organise the first steps over the next couple of weeks.

The final challenge of the weekend was linked to this activity. The group planned and shot footage for a professional quality DVD aimed at promoting both KYSPA and the "Making Waves" programme. The lighthearted DVD will be used to raise awareness of what the group are trying to achieve over the course of the project and could be used in schools and to tap sources of funding. It is hoped that the DVD will be completed in the next few weeks.

Planning for the "issues" section of the DVD.

"What happens if we try this?"

KYSPA's members attended their second residential last weekend at Toc-H's Lindridge House in Devon. Aside from making plans for the rest of the "Making Waves" project (details to follow), the group extended their team work and communication skills through a series of challenges.

This was the "electric fence" challenge. Simply put, the group had to get everyone from one side to the other without "electrocuting" themselves. Easy enough, you might think, but they also had to hold hands for the entire process. If anyone let go, or got zapped, the whole activity had to begin again. They got there eventually, but there was some head scratching along the way!


As you can just about see, the solution involved two lucky volunteers acting as "steps" which allowed the rest of the group to gain the necessary altitude to clear the deadly fence (I know it looks like a rope but use your imagination, folks!).

The fence was by no means the only cunning challenge our intrepid team had to face. A real stumper was the simple test of walking in a line from point "A" to point "B". The only rule was that the group's feet had to be touching for the entire journey. As you will see below, this is really quite tricky but Tia came up with a different approach in the end. Not dignified, I'll admit, but it worked!

Yes, well I told you it wasn't that dignified! Not that I can talk after my little incident with the rope loop (I got a bit stuck) but fortunately there's no photographic evidence that I'm aware of so we can move swiftly on!

One of the last outdoor team building activities was the "nightline". This required trust, teamwork and communication skills. The group split into their two teams. All but the group leader were blindfolded. They then had to follow a rope trail using touch and the instructions from the group leader to guide them. This activity was quite a good example of how far the group had come from their earlier efforts. Both groups made it to the end of the "nightline" without major incident and, in the case of the group pictured below, as a single team unit.

So, we got rather used to asking "What happens if..." It's a good way of solving problems and sometimes having a good laugh along the way!