17 year old Declan is a FE Level 2 Deaf Academy student completing a BTEC Introduction to Vocational Studies.
Declan has a special talent in visual media, and a keen interest in marketing, and asked if he could do a work placement with the Academy’s Marketing Team.
Fitting his work placement around his timetable, Declan has been working with our Marketing Manager Helen on a weekly basis to help develop his media skills and gain some professional experience in the world of work.
His project is to create, shoot and edit a short film in British Sign Language (BSL) for social media. Over the past three weeks, Declan has attended “creative meetings” with Helen to share ideas for his film, he has sketched a storyboard to visualise the scenes, and enjoys sharing his work in progress with the marketing office.
There are lots of challenges around making sure the Academy’s marketing work crosses language barriers between Deaf BSL-users when English is not their first language, and the hearing community, but Declan has tackled this like a pro!
Declan’s short film is called ‘A Day in the Life of a College student’ and he began shooting on location this week. He is on track to finish his film for the end of term and we look forward to sharing his hard-work with you.