Helping out
March 18, 2016
Next to making working on my own project, I'm also helping out others. In this case, a project Amanda and Rosie are working on about international students and as an international student myself I've been helping them out.
Past Sunday we filmed several scenes at my flat, to be used in their video. Before the filming, however, I wrote a short piece about being an international student at Kingston. The whole text can be found below.
Iris Rouschop, 23, The Netherlands
I had been to London before I moved here. I got invited to stay for a couple of days to try out Kingston as part of a diversity and widening participation program. It was the first time I flew in an airplane alone. It was a way to learn more about the university and about what life would be like on my own. There was a mix of people from different backgrounds, but mostly from the UK. I think the biggest shock to me when I really started living here was how diverse the community actually is. In the Netherlands, I lived in a city where the majority of people are white and Dutch, with very little visible international influences, and here I am, on the outskirts of London and there were so many people coming from so many places. I don’t actually miss home all that much. I think it has given me the distance I need to see my life more clearly. That’s not to say I don’t miss my family sometimes, but I don’t miss my country. I’ve changed enough for my family to hear a British accent when I speak Dutch. I sometimes don’t even know how to speak my mother tongue anymore. The biggest difference between here and there is me. I’ve figured out that I’m more social in the English language than I ever was back home. I’ve learned so much about myself since I started living here. I’ve made great friends, and finally understand that I can do a lot more than I ever thought I could. I’m going forward, everyday looking to be better than I was yesterday. It makes me sad sometimes, looking back at where I was before. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, and not leave my dad behind all alone. But this is better, for both of us. I’m happy in my new life, speaking English while he goes on with his, speaking Dutch. And every week, I touch the keyboard and he answers Skype and everything is alright.
This text has been recorded in the FASS audio suite. I've been using the recording studio for a while now and know very well how to get the best recordings. So when we recorded the voice-over before the filming I helped Amanda out, although Neill explained most of the basics to her. Not all of my text was used, as there would be an intercutting of four international students in the video and only parts of each text would be used.
The recording of the shots went very well, especially because Amanda and Maddy had made a shotlist and knew exactly what they wanted. I've never acted before, so this was a very new experience. I'm very glad I did not have to learn any lines as everything is done through voice-over.
0 comments