Matt and Sav from digital works showed them how to conduct an interview so that the children are prepared for when they go to the National Maritime Museum and the Greenwich observatory on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Monday, 28 July 2014
Westminster Muniment Archive
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| Looking at the artefacts from the Association |
Peter Daniel talks about how Shovell's memorial doesn't celebrate what was achieved by him, instead it shows his tragic death and an admiral that led his crew straight to death. The is far from a representation of an admirable sailor that worked his way up the ranks from the very bottom and brought back many riches for Queen Anne.
I also spoke to some of them about when we visited the Abbey muniment archive.
Ruby, what did you think of the muniment archive? Can you remember how many books there were?
Ruby: Yes! There were 14000 and it was a bit like Hogwarts, it was really dusty!
How old is Westminster Abbey's muniment archive?
Millie: It's a thousand years old
And how old were the books?
They were about 400 years old
We looked at the book called the Westmonesterium in which John Dart commented on how Shovell's memorial gave him "great offence". This was due to the fact that the memorial simply shows his death and not his achievements which should be remembered.
Lady Shovell and John Harrison
Lotte was asked to play the role of a young Sir Cloudesley Shovell, he was fighting against the Dutch and the ship he was on had lost its mast, the admiral of the ship called Sir Christopher Myngs asked for someone to volunteer to take a message for help.
Millie said; "I like Lady Shovell she got us to act out the story and made it interesting instead of just talking, I felt a lot more involved."
Harrison explained why pendulums were so inaccurate in his day, the metal used expanded and contracted depending on the temperature. We asked Millie what she had learnt about how this affected the accuracy of clocks at this time. Millie said; "When the pendulum was shorter it went quicker, when it was longer it went slower." Harrison went on to explain how he solved this problem. He used a pendulum made of brass and steel so that when one metal contracted the other expanded so they balanced each other out. This was called a bimetallic strip.
Mr. Harrison explained to the children that the world is divided up into twenty four sections which are called meridians. He told us there are 360 degrees in a circle, so if there are twenty four segments it would mean that each segment must represent fifteen degrees. Well before Harrison's time sailors would only ever travel close to shore, as soon as they started to travel long distances such as America the problems began. We asked Millie what these were. She told us that as there was nothing out at sea to look out for like landmarks navigating became very hard for the sailors.
The children were told that Harrison made five clocks; he showed them a picture of his first clock. He made his first clock and came down to Greenwich to meet Edmund Halley who was the Astronomer Royal. Halley introduced Harrison to the clockmaker George Graham who helped him refine his first clock H1. In the morning the children saw George Graham's grave which is right beside Harrison's memorial.
They filmed Isaac Newton's memorial as well - Isaac was on the board of Longitude, he was one of the people who would decide who would win the £20,000 prize. He believed that it was impossible to create a clock accurate enough to find Longitude and that the winning solution would be an astronomical one.
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| The man who solved the problem of Longitude: John Harrison |
Filming in Westminster Abbey
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| The children recap what they learnt on Friday |
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| Lady Shovell talks about her husband's memorial and the night he died |
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| The cameras are set up in Westminster Abbey, ready for filming in front of the alter |
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| Filming: the group records John Harrison talking about his accomplishments |
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| Cloudesley Shovell's memorial |
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| John Harrison's memorial |
Thoughts on Today's Activities
I spoke to some of the participants and asked them what they thought of this morning's session
Gracie: What did you enjoy about this morning's activities?
I enjoyed the practise interviews with the camera, and learning how to control it.
Alice: What was the most interesting thing you learnt this morning?
I liked finding out how they told the time before clocks existed and learning how to use W.I.F.F.L (W.I.F.F.L is the acronym for (W) white balance, (I) iris, (F) focus, (F) frame, (L) levels - sound)
Lotte: What was your favourite part of this morning?
I really liked learning how the camera worked.
This project is about the Longitude act, what was this all about?
In the old days lots of sailors died because they didn't know where they were going, so they came up with this thing called the Longitude act. There are different time zones all around the world; in one place you might be having your breakfast, whilst in another part of the world you might be eating your lunch. Knowing the time it was where you were in the world was an important thing you needed to know your Longitude.
Oscar: Why did so many sailors die in the past?
They didn't know where they were going, they knew their Latitude (North, South) but not their Latitude (East, West), they needed a clock,
What did sailor's need to know to be able to know their Longitude?
They needed a clock that could tell them the time in two places.
Why are their twenty four meridians?
There are twenty four because the world is divided into twenty four time zones.
Oscar do you know how many degrees are in each meridian?
There are 15 degrees.
If I was travelling West from Greenwich and it is 10am local time, when it is noon at Greenwich, how many degrees Longitude will I be West of Greenwich?
That's easy, if I am two hours behind Greenwich time I am two meridians away. If there are 15 degrees in each meridian that must mean I am 30 degrees West of Greenwich.
Libby: What was one thing you learnt today?
We had to make sure the sound levels were correct as if they were too high they can damage your hearing.
Overall, the group enjoyed learning how to use the equipment and got grasp of it quickly.
Gracie: What did you enjoy about this morning's activities?
I enjoyed the practise interviews with the camera, and learning how to control it.
Alice: What was the most interesting thing you learnt this morning?
I liked finding out how they told the time before clocks existed and learning how to use W.I.F.F.L (W.I.F.F.L is the acronym for (W) white balance, (I) iris, (F) focus, (F) frame, (L) levels - sound)
Lotte: What was your favourite part of this morning?
I really liked learning how the camera worked.
This project is about the Longitude act, what was this all about?
In the old days lots of sailors died because they didn't know where they were going, so they came up with this thing called the Longitude act. There are different time zones all around the world; in one place you might be having your breakfast, whilst in another part of the world you might be eating your lunch. Knowing the time it was where you were in the world was an important thing you needed to know your Longitude.
Oscar: Why did so many sailors die in the past?
They didn't know where they were going, they knew their Latitude (North, South) but not their Latitude (East, West), they needed a clock,
What did sailor's need to know to be able to know their Longitude?
They needed a clock that could tell them the time in two places.
Why are their twenty four meridians?
There are twenty four because the world is divided into twenty four time zones.
Oscar do you know how many degrees are in each meridian?
There are 15 degrees.
If I was travelling West from Greenwich and it is 10am local time, when it is noon at Greenwich, how many degrees Longitude will I be West of Greenwich?
That's easy, if I am two hours behind Greenwich time I am two meridians away. If there are 15 degrees in each meridian that must mean I am 30 degrees West of Greenwich.
Libby: What was one thing you learnt today?
We had to make sure the sound levels were correct as if they were too high they can damage your hearing.
Overall, the group enjoyed learning how to use the equipment and got grasp of it quickly.
Friday, 25 July 2014
Rehearsals of En Pointe's Horn Pipe Sea Shanty Routine
So Ruby, how many times did you go through your dance routine?
We practised the dance routine five times.
What was difficult?
We had to learn new places and it was very hot. We are very tired after a long day and we only had seven people where there are usually fourteen.
What was it like being filmed?
I was a bit scared but excited at the same time; it was hard trying to not make mistakes because we were very hot and bothered.
Why did you need to practise?
We are performing it on Wednesday on the meridian line in Greenwich and it is going to be filmed so we need to make sure we know it.
Libby: How does it feel dancing on film?
I felt self conscious, it was hard not looking at the camera as it was very distracting.
The dance will be performed on Tuesday on the meridian line outside Greenwich observatory
We practised the dance routine five times.
What was difficult?
We had to learn new places and it was very hot. We are very tired after a long day and we only had seven people where there are usually fourteen.
What was it like being filmed?
I was a bit scared but excited at the same time; it was hard trying to not make mistakes because we were very hot and bothered.
Why did you need to practise?
We are performing it on Wednesday on the meridian line in Greenwich and it is going to be filmed so we need to make sure we know it.
Libby: How does it feel dancing on film?
I felt self conscious, it was hard not looking at the camera as it was very distracting.
The dance will be performed on Tuesday on the meridian line outside Greenwich observatory
Learning How To Make Interviews Look Good and Using Equipment
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| Learning how to make an interview look good |
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| The equipment is explained |
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| How to use lighting |
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| Looking on as the camera is explained: the children learn how to use the camera best for when they film their interviews. |
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