Student Casual – Student Filmmaker – Education and Social Justice – Grade 4 – 907730

Please note that this vacancy may be taken down early depending on the number of applications received. We advise you to submit your application promptly.

Our offer to you

At the University of Birmingham, Worklink is the dedicated student employment service which helps students to find flexible, well paid part-time roles that fit around your studies. Each year, the University invests more than £2.5 million to employ 3,000 of our own students in a wide range of roles, supporting our student community into part-time work. Roles available via Worklink include a range of positions, including administrative roles, support staff such as cleaners or baristas, research roles and many more.

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Our jobs are flexible and can be scheduled around your academic commitments, so you can focus on your studies first. Our team are passionate about supporting students into work. Worklink are based in a central location on campus which is easily accessible for students and can also be contacted online.

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Job context

This post is part of The Languages Around Us: Exploring Multilingualism through a Young Researchers Project, a funded project led by Yue Zhou and Nicola Smith in the School of Education. The project works with a group of Year 6 pupils in a Birmingham primary school and supports them to explore multilingualism in their school and community as young researchers. The Student Filmmaker will work with the project team and pupils to co-produce a short film of around five minutes that shares the pupils’ experiences of being young researchers as part of the project outputs.

Job summary

The role will involve independently leading the filmmaking process from planning through to filming and editing, with input from the research team on project content and safeguarding requirements. The Student Filmmaker will prepare for the film-making activities, develop a simple storyboard framework, and facilitate a one-hour workshop with pupils to co-plan the film. A separate one-hour session will then be arranged for filming with the pupils, followed by independent editing of the footage into a short final film of around five minutes.

Main duties

• Plan and manage the filmmaking process from pre-production through to filming and post-production, in collaboration with the research team.
• Develop a simple storyboard framework with input from the research team, and facilitate a one-hour workshop with pupils to co-plan the film.
• Lead a separate one-hour filming session with pupils, with support from the research team and school staff as appropriate.
• Edit the footage into a short final film of around five minutes.
• Make reasonable revisions in response to feedback from the project team.
• Liaise with the research team on project content, practical arrangements, consent, safeguarding and data protection requirements.

Required knowledge, skills, qualifications & experience

• The successful candidate will be a current University of Birmingham undergraduate or postgraduate student on a film degree programme.
• Experience of filming and video editing, with confidence in managing the filmmaking process independently.
• Ability to use appropriate filming and video-editing equipment and software.
• Access to suitable filming equipment, either through their programme/department or their own equipment.
• Good visual storytelling, communication and organisational skills.
• Ability to work to a project brief while using independent creative judgement.
• Ability to manage their own workload and deliver work to agreed deadlines.
• Ability to work professionally and sensitively with children and school staff.
• Experience of working with children or young people is desirable.
• Experience of working in multilingual or culturally diverse settings is desirable.

Further details

• As the role involves working with children in a primary school setting, the successful candidate will be subject to the relevant DBS requirements.
• This role will consist of 3 hours per week for the duration of the contract

For any informal queries, please contact Yue Zhou (y.zhou.13@bham.ac.uk)

The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 20 hours per week during term time for a maximum of 13 consecutive weeks. If your application is successful and your course does not follow the usual academic term timetable (e.g.  PGT, PGR or PhD student), you and your supervisor must formally agree vacation periods if this role exceeds 20 hours per week. In addition to this, please be aware if you are an international student you will be required to apply to the Registry for the appropriate authorised absence.

You are only eligible to apply to this role if you are a current University of Birmingham student. If you are not a University of Birmingham student your application will not be considered.

To work you will need to carry out a right to work check. These checks will need to be completed prior to work commencing.

Regarding the use of AI in applications, we review hundreds of applications and shortlist candidates based on their unique perspective, motivations and potential. Cover letters generated through, or edited by, AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT or CoPilot) are easy to identify. They produce generic answers and will not score highly enough to progress. You may use AI tools for research, but all written content in your application must be your own work. Authenticity and originality are key to standing out in this process.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we’re unable to contact all applicants individually. You can check the progress of your application by logging into the Worklink jobs portal using the same email address you used to apply. If you haven’t heard back within six weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful.