28/1/02 The children's express project has been on hold since Christmas due to major changes in the group. There are only two of the original group left but we now have three new members. Connor's commitment and enthusiasm has been one hundred percent throughout and for this reason the decision was made to make him head of the project with all others in support of his vision of what the project should be. This is justified by the fact that Connor has shown real ability. As well as the new group members, Connor will also have Children's Express for support. As the project is about CE as it investigates the story, it was decided that their role should reflect their strengths in particular the writing of the story, setting up interviews etc. Dean 28/1/02 Connor spent the day learning how to use the editing software as well as basic story editing techniques. As ever he absorbed everything quickly and was able to work on his own by lunchtime. The rest of the day was spent capturing his shots from the training shoot and then making a rough edit. The majority of the edit was done without my intervention and I was very pleased with his work. A decision was made to make the next session Thursday. This will be the first time that the new group will meet. Dean 31/1/02 I am pleased to report that the first meeting of the new Children's Express group went well. We started the session with a brief explanation of the project and the problems that have been experienced to date. This helped to give the new members an understanding of what is to be expected of them and also helped establish a new meeting day that suited everyone. We then had a more detailed discussion about the project and what support they can expect from Northern Visions and Children's Express. The group then had a brief overview of the edit suite and the software that they will be using to make their film. They then watched Connor's rough-cut of the practice video, which helped give them a better understanding of what Children's Express do. There then followed a brief discussion on what they had watched and its relevance to the project. The rest of the afternoon was spent training with camera and sound, which they all enjoyed. Connor was very relaxed with the new group members and seems to be happy with them all. The afternoon was concluded with a discussion about the music to be used in the project. As both Amy and Sarah are musicians the idea was put forward that they could compose the music to the film, something that seemed to grab their imagination. In all, it was a very good meeting. Dean