BRASS Cast Episode 10 – Tools For Schools – Africa, Damongo Project
We had the pleasure to work on this BrassCast with a good friend, Marilyn Pottage who, along with Marilyn Ganger, spent many months last year distributing text books in the Damongo area in Ghana. She is now working on a project to bring teaching materials and training to the educators in the area. This is a great example of how existing content can be reused to produce an episode for a podcast.
Her original project – Tools for Schools – Africa, Damongo Project can viewed at www.tfs-africa.org.
Details for her new project can be viewed at http://www.givemeaning.com/project/damongo.
Marilyn Pottage was giving public presentations of her Tools For Schools project in and around the area. We got together to convert it into an online video which they could distribute via the web – YouTube, Google Videos etc and play in DVD format at live events, and to distribute as a promotional item.
Here are some details of the session…
The original presentation was over an hour long, so Marilyn trimmed it down to less than ten minutes. It was decided that we could produce a number of smaller episodes, with specific focus in each one.
As an educator, Marilyn has a long relationship with Apple Mac computers and her presentation was in Keynote – Apple’s presentation application. We converted it to MS-PowerPoint format with no problems.
We recorded the audio at her dining room table as these pictures show. We used my notebook PC to record her narration while she refered to her Mac Powerbook to follow the script and thread of the presentation.
In post production we added the narration to the presentation. The music was provided by Marilyn from two sources – a video shot on location of the St. Annes Girls Secondary School students singing and dancing and an audio recording captured on location in 1967 when Marilyn and her father were in Damongo.
With the addition of titles and transitions in a video editing software application we were able to convert her Keynote presentation into a movie on Google Video.
I look forward to working with Marilyn on more episodes for this project and when she returns from Africa in 2008 with more content from her new project. Thanks Marilyn!
Now onto the next project . . .
Dean Owen
BRASSmedia Canada 
Great work, Marilyn. I’m proud of you.
For those of you who are just hearing about this project for the first time, I can’t begin to tell you how much these two ladies (Marilyn Pottage and Marilyn Ganger), have invested into making this project the success that it is, physically, emotionally, and monetarily. As the volunteer creator and webmaster of the tfs-africa.org website, I am proud to be affiliated with such generous and caring spirits.
If you are one of those folks that occasionally finds yourself thinking ‘Gee, I wish I could find a legitimate and worthwhile charity to help out…’ then you really want to spend some time considering putting your support behind this wonderful project.
Keep up the great work, ladies.
Dean,
We have so appreciated you expertise on this project. Both of the podcasts you did for us have been seen many times and in many places. It is great to have someone with your level of expertise available to the Central Alberta community.
gain, our thanks.
Marilyn