IB Theatre - Collaborative Project (last assessment 2023): Making Your Video

Video recordings are included as part of the formal assessment requirements for Task 4, the Collaborative Project.

On this page see:

Making Videos of the Collaborative Project
Tutorials
Choosing the Right Moments of Video

For these video recordings, it is important that the students are clearly visible and that the sound from the presented work is captured clearly.

Pre-Production (Before the assessment)

Plan the video and gather any resources you might need. Students should make sure:

• The camera is fit for the purpose and capable of capturing high-quality images and sound.
• The camera is mounted on a tripod. Make sure the tripod is level and adjusted to allow for any necessary panning. 
• The camera is plugged directly into an AC power supply (where possible). Any trailing leads and extension cables should be taped down securely. 
• There is enough memory to capture the entire presentation. Clear the hard drive or memory cards in advance of the assessment date, and ensure there is additional storage space at hand. 
• The camera focus and exposure levels are appropriately set to ensure all the student actors are clearly visible, particularly when any additional lighting is introduced. 
• The presentation space is sealed off from general access to avoid interruptions and distractions. It is useful to alert passers-by that an examination is in progress through the use of signs outside the space. Audience members should be reminded to switch off their electronic devices completely. 
• Student actors are given time to walk through their presentation prior to filming, to give an indication of how the space will be used and the most appropriate way of framing each section. It might be a good idea to film the walkthrough to ensure that the recording equipment is in full working order.

Production (During the assessment)

Some suggestions to keep in mind when filming live assessments:

• Vision and sound are equally important in most video, so learn how to capture good sound as well as good pictures.
• Check to ensure that the camera is recording before the assessment commences, and leave a few seconds at the end of the assessment before stopping the recording.
• Camera work should be steady, in focus, well-exposed and well-framed.
• Try to avoid zooming in and out excessively while filming. A helpful rule to follow is to have a medium close-up on solo presenters or performers (slowly panning as they move left and right), and to move to a still wide-shot when there are groups of student actors or other presentation elements that need to be seen in the shot. 
• Do not switch off the recording at any point during the presentation.

Post-Production (After the assessment)

Once the recording is finished:

• Transfer the video recording to a computer to ensure that the work is backed up.
• Clearly label the video recording to ensure it is easily identifiable at a later date.
• Do not alter the video recording in post-production. Sound and brightness levels may be raised where appropriate, but there must not be any other interference with the authenticity of the recording.

​For Task 4:

Collaborative project, students are required to select footage from the video recording to demonstrate their artistic choices. This process will require basic video-editing software to select the footage chosen for submission by each student from the full recording of the theatre piece.

The footage from the video recording that the student selects for the examiner needs to show his or her contribution, artistic choices and how these were realized.

Students might choose, for example, to select a moment that they had a hand in creating, a section they performed in, a moment they have directed or a moment that shows their lighting design.

This choice will be dependent on what their focus was in the creation and presentation of the piece.

In order to choose the best footage for the assessment task, students need to be aware of what their contributions to the creation of the piece of theatre were. 

Use the IB handout below to identify your specific contributions. 

Tutorials from MediaCollege.com, a free educational website for all forms of electronic media.