Unleashing Creativity: The Year 9 Film Festival

In the last three days of term, the Year 9's were introduced to the challenging and engaging world of film-making! Over three days, the students were challenged with planning, shooting, editing and producing a 5-minute film in a given genre. They were allowed to use the entire campus, and were simply told to have fun and work together. The festival took place over a Friday, Monday, and Tuesday, culminating in a grand premiere on Wednesday morning before the annual Long Ball Tournament.

A staple of the Film Festival is bringing different ideas, personalities and leadership styles together, with the unique experience of working in diverse groups, collaborating with peers they might not typically interact with. To begin the festival, the students attended various film-making seminars covering topics from editing, costume design, storytelling, acting, and creating special effects (fake blood!). The students were tasked with becoming 'experts' in their seminar focus, to then bring back those skills to their teams.

Each group was given specific elements that were required for all films. This year, their prop was a plastic coat hanger, a line of dialogue, "I don't think anyone else knows about this place", and a character, Dr. Jamie Vale. The teams had to create not only the 5-minute film, but also a 30-second trailer and an movie poster to be used as 'advertising'. With that they were away - full creative control handed over to ninety thirteen to fourteen year-old boys; a daunting idea for the teachers involved.

On Monday, the students trekked up to Ross Creek to use the pathways, vegetation and beautiful nature as a backdrop for their films. Setting and location were used effectively by some groups, became a challenge for others, and even adopted as a character by some. A very lucky resource to have so close. Tuesday was 'editing' day. A challenging task for anyone, and the students soon realised how much time, effort and energy goes into that area of film-making. The boys were up for the challenge, though, and got all of their films finished and submitted, which is impressive.

There were some excellent Westerns, thrilling mysteries, crime solvers, evil scientists and many an attack at the hands of a coat-hanger wielding assailant. Some truly awesome stories and great attempts at acting. A number of prizes were given out at the premiere, including Best use of Music, Best Understadning of Genre, Most Effective/Impactful Editing and more. But the students were focussed on the two major prizes: Best Overall Production and Best Actor.

The standout production that earned the prestigious Grand Prize for Best Overall Production was a film called "Menace" created by Jack Rongen, Oscar De Pelsemaeker, Archie McDonald, Ruan Hamman, Adam Dockerty, and Simba Tang. This saw a young man being bullied begin to take matters into his own hands and become 'The Menace'. With excellent special effects and a strong and easy-to-follow narrative, it was a great effort! They also won Best Advertising Poster with their original image and use of genre tropes.

The Best Actor award was given to Toby Ellis, who owned the screen despite only featuring in his film for under a minute. With Point of View close-ups and over the shoulder shots, his portrayal of 'The Sheriff' in the film "The Chase" was extremely awesome!

Laughs, energy, creativity and teamwork are what we strive for, and the Film Festival captured all of those. Another great finish to an impressive year for our soon-to-be Year 10's. Well done all groups, and enjoy your break!

NOTE: The attached images are not ALL of the posters, but the ones submitted to Mr. Schumacher so he has a digital copy.