On Friday, Project Florence took part in the Day of Archaeology 2012.

The Day of Archaeology project aims to provide a window into the lives of archaeologists all over the world. On one day, Friday 29th June, hundreds of people working or volunteering in archaeology kept a diary of what they did. These diaries were then collected on the Day of Archaeology website to provide a glimpse into the world of archaeology.

For Project Florence, the Day of Archaeology coincided with the first day of filming for the Make a Movie project on site. This followed on from the training sessions at Salisbury Arts Centre last week, and we were all eager to start catching the action.

We started our after-school training session with the basics, running over the things we learnt last week like how to frame the shot and how to find the best angle. Our ever-patient instructors, Jamie and Simon, explained that we need to take a mixture of interviews and ‘pretty pictures’ to stick together in the edit. So, we set about filming wide shots of trench activity, interviews with the archaeologists and soldiers, and close ups of interesting finds, so far including an Anglo-Saxon brooch and some amber beads. Our highlight of the day was getting to film one of the soldiers, Al, and his son Ben, lifting the most complete skeleton on site so far.

At the end of a busy two hours, I asked the group what they thought of the session:

I found the archaeology interesting and liked learning about excavation and watching the skeleton being lifted.

Matt, 17

  

I really enjoyed learning to use the sound equipment today, especially the boom. I can’t wait to put all our shots together to make the DVD!

Jess, 15  

 

Find out more about the Day of Archaeology and read other entries at www.dayofarchaeology.com

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