‘7 Hour Film Challenge’

Mr. M. Sweeny
March 14, 2018

On Friday 9th March, 85 Year 10 students took part in a 7 Hour Film Challenge. This workshop was run on the school grounds by Nathaniel Francis, a local film producer and actor who has won awards for his work at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2014 and 2016. Students were taught about the various job opportunities that are involved in the filming industry, the number of people involved in creating a film and what roles that people can hold. More importantly, they learnt about the skills that are required to be successful in this industry. Nathaniel provided students an insight in the different shots that directors and producers use in film and the reason behind their practice, including the medium shot, the close up shot and the wide shot. In groups of 5 or 6, students were given a film title, a line they had to include in their script and also an action or prop they had to contain in their film. They were then tasked with the challenge of creating a one-minute film. Students had 1 hour to come up with a film idea which included writing a script, choosing their location to film while also ensuring they included their assigned title, line and prop. Not an easy task in the slightest! Nonetheless, students got stuck in and were extremely creative with the ideas they came up with. With an hour and a half to film their shots and scenes, they then had two and a half hours to edit their film by putting their shots in a chronological order, creating a smooth transition between shots, while also editing music to create emotion and drama to their film. All students gained a true understanding of what I means to work under pressure and to work in a team to meet a deadline. Some came upon obstacles in editing where they realised they had to re shoot some shots for their film to make sense, but their resilience and determination drove them on, and at the end of the day there were 14 completed films. Nathaniel had a tough job to choose a winner, with some groups bringing a real dramatic sequence of events to their film, some provided comedy while others really grasped the concept of using different angles to engage the audience and allow us to get to know the characters. In the end, there could only be one winner which consisted of students from 10K2. They were, Louie Watson, Kash Martin, Matthew Earl, Bailey Ayres, Sam Forward and Kayley Powell. Their title was ‘Being Small’, which had to include a line ‘Get me one to?’ and an action/prop of a ‘clock adjusted to 12.05. I think you will agree they they did a fantastic job when you watch their film!

Well done to all students involved. The other 93 students of this Year group will tackle this challenge on Friday 23rd March.