Angela Clarke is the director for Real Families: A Child’s View and writes here about her experiences making the programme.
I would be lying if I said the trope “Never work with children or animals” didn’t flash through my mind in July this year when I signed up to direct Real Families: A Child’s View for BBC Wales. How hard could it really be to work with kids for a whole summer?
On paper the brief seemed simple enough. Giving kids their own cameras to tell their own stories, we hoped to capture a unique child’s perspective of what it’s like to grow up as an 11-year-old in Wales today. And thanks to our refreshingly honest and amusing participants, I’m glad to say we achieved our goal.
Freya and her brother Geraint from A Child's View
Yes it’s true kids can be unpredictable. But they’re also utterly compelling because they allow you to look at the world with fresh eyes. Kids not only keep you on your toes, they re-invigorate your zest for life. They remind you that life is there for the taking and you should relish every moment because, much like the summer holidays, it flies by too quickly.
These days it’s easy to assume childhood has changed beyond all recognition. At first glance, kids do have more technology at their fingertips than ever before, and maybe they don’t all play outside as much as their parents and grandparents did. But the world has changed, and kids just like the rest of us, are trying to negotiate their place within it.
Scratch the surface and you’ll see kids still value the same things as previous generations. Friendship is still important to them as they navigate the tricky waters of impending adulthood. They still love eating ice cream and chips on the beach; they still argue with their siblings; they still covet the latest toys; they still sing pop songs in their bedrooms; and last but not least, they still relish every second of their freedom, in their own unique ways.
They may occasionally use ‘text speak’ (thankfully my younger, trusty sound recordist Rebecca was on hand to deconstruct the latest phrases so that I didn’t look completely uncool!). But by and large, kids are still just kids.
Open your eyes to their world and they can teach you a few things that as adults we often overlook in day-to-day life. So Millie, Georgia, Rana, Freya, Catrin, Osian, Ellis and Harrison, thank you for letting me into your world and reminding me to:
- Value my friendships
- Try new things
- Appreciate my siblings and older relatives
- Enjoy every second of the sunshine
- Occasionally do what I want to do and not what I need to do!
And to those in the industry considering working with kids in the future, my top tips would be:
- Don’t wear flip-flops during filming! Kids, to the contrary, run much faster than you think, and it’s pretty hard to give chase while carrying a camera and wearing inappropriate footwear!
- Familiarise yourself with the latest pop music. Nothing hurts more than a pitying look from a child as you admit you don’t know who 5 Seconds of Summer are! It will make you feel so incredibly old.
Real Families: A Child’s View is on Monday 6 October, 10.35pm, BBC One Wales.
