The Stepping Stone community engagement video training programme provides non-UCT and UCT participants access to introductory training in television and video production while producing material that can be used for educational and public relations purposes by UCT departments.
the Stepping Stone community engagement video training programme was launched in 2012 to fulfil this vision, and is funded by CFMS and philanthropic contributions. Two to four short-courses of three to five weeks are offered for free to all selected and deserving participants each year.
The primary aim of the training is to provide participants access to introductory training in television and video production while producing material that can be used for educational and public relations purposes by UCT departments. Video topics are selected on merit, and focus on social responsiveness, research and educational content.
Two thirds of the participants for each round are from outside the UCT community. Our vision is to open up UCT facilities and knowledge to passionate aspiring filmmakers from disadvantage backgrounds, who would not have had the opportunity to enrol for UCT‘s CFMS programmes otherwise. The participants are selected based on their passion for filmmaking, whether they have alternative access to film/video/TV training and the level of their household income. After initial selections are made based on written applications, interviews are conducted in order to identify suitable candidates.
One third of the participants are selected from the UCT community. The applicants may include undergraduate students who are not registered for practical filmmaking courses or post-graduate students from various departments who would like to use video to communicate their research.
UCT TV finds it very important to serve multiple communities and to provide opportunities for creative collaboration and social interactions between these communities. We strive to have participants from different genders, races, languages and from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. Participants between the ages of 18 and 29 are given preference.
Short courses are intensive and run for 8 hours per day, 5 days a week. We currently offer the following short-course topics:
- Single camera short video production – 5 weeks
- Multi-camera studio production – 3 weeks