LLB student Rahaf Ramdhan won the OUP Essentials of Criminal Law competition which ran earlier in 2019. Entrants were asked to create a video of 3 minutes on one of six criminal law topics. Excitingly, the competition was judged by John Child and David Ormerod, authors of Smith, Hogan, and Ormerod’s Essentials of Criminal Law, who were looking for the best video explaining a key concept of criminal law.
Rahaf’s entry showed real creativity and innovation in how she explained the relevant law. OUP had this to say:
The judges thoroughly enjoyed the creativeness that Rahaf displayed in the video. By animating the video through drawings, Rahaf produced a unique insight into the topic of omissions.
OUP competition judges
I asked Rahaf to create something especially for tl;dr and here’s what she has to say about her process of creation…
Aim
The aim of this project is to simply provide a new, fun and modern way of learning for students who find the traditional methods unsatisfactory. It can be a bit dull and overwhelming to spend hours and hours reading and trying to remember hundreds of cases for your upcoming exam. Therefore, I’ve come up with an entertaining way to revise by watching animated videos! It’s great way to exercise your sensory and auditory memory, which will help you succeed in your exams. Also by doing this, we can shatter the heinous stereotype that law is a boring subject!
Materials
- Flipaclip app (Google Play store or Apple store)
- Tablet
- Drawing Stylus
- Royalty free-music:
Title screen music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/memories
Screaming: https://www.soundsnap.com/tags/surprise
Process
I start by researching the case I wish to animate. To do this I use textbooks, legal databases like Westlaw or LexisLibrary and some free online resources too. For this specific resource I looked at the fantastic Donoghue v Stevenson resources compiled by the Scottish Council of Law Reporting. I try to simplify the information as much as possible in my video to make it easier to understand.
Once that’s complete, I begin to write a script and draw a storyboard. The storyboard is drawn on a piece of paper, altered many times until I’m satisfied with the final version. I then record my script, ready to be animated.
I begin animating on my tablet using the flipaclip app. I select the number of frames per second, background, video quality etc. and then I animate frame by frame using the onion tool and the variety of tools available.
Once I’m done with the primary animation, I being to colour the slides. I ensure that every animated frame is in line with the script.
After many alterations and mistakes, I complete the final piece and show it to friend and family for approval before sending it off!
