Media students at an Oxfordshire college had their day in court as they staged a remake of a well-known music video.

Members of Abingdon and Witney College’s BTEC creative media production extended diploma are working out of the old magistrates’ court in Witney They were challenged to take part in, direct and shoot a shot-for-shot remake of Plan B’s She Said video, with their temporary home lending the perfect backdrop for the courtroom-set video.

Course leader Tim Rose said: “We landed on our feet here because we have inherited a great facility with two massive courtrooms.

“The first thing they do on this course is a teamwork qualification.

“In the past we have done a film on the college, but we are in such a state of flux we had to come up with something else.”

The filming required 143 different set-ups and the 19 students had just a day and a half to produce the video, which was then edited by media technician Alun Hadlow.

The group split between those behind and in front of the camera. Many were using the technology for the first time.

Mr Rose said: “It was quite demanding but we were amazed at how quickly they fell into a rhythm. Seeing their faces light up when they came in and saw the edited video for the first time was really nice.”

Henry Dixon, 16, from Cogges, took the role of Plan B in the video.

He said: “It was challenging, but overall it was a very rewarding experience.

“It gave me a perspective on how much work it is to produce something like it.”

Suzy Frindle, 17, from Cogges, acted as first assistant director, making sure everyone was in the right place at the right time. She said: “It was exciting to be given something like this to do.

“Being given roles where we had to speak to each other was an ice breaker.”

The group now have reams of raw footage on which to practise editing techniques – and an idea from Mr Hadlow’s rough edit of what they could achieve with the material.

Mr Hadlow said: “It was dropping them in the deep end, but once we were up and running Tim and I didn’t really need to touch the cameras. They were superb.”

The video has been uploaded to the college’s YouTube channel, TOCA Media, and in the first night it had already picked up more than 100 hits.

The BTEC course will be based in the courtrooms while a multimillion pound building project is finished before the start of February half term.