A Day of Filmmaking Fun for New Prefects

Published by Churcher's College on Monday 24th of April 2023

The newly elected Prefect Body started the Summer term by putting their filmmaking skills to the test in April with the One Day Film School.

In the morning, they learned the essentials of film creation, including film history, fight choreography, camera angels and screenwriting.

By the afternoon, students took the 10 Shot Challenge: creating a short film (two minutes maximum) based on a classic narrative (e.g. ’Someone is kidnapped, an attempted rescue’) for premiering at the end of the day. Pupils self-allocated a role within their film crew (writer, director, producer, screenwriter, actors).

Most video advertisements take several months to make, so the challenge of making a successful short film in just ninety minutes can be daunting. However, the groups gelled exceptionally well, showing great leadership and teamwork to all meet the deadline. Their final task was to introduce their film, just like at the Cannes Film Festival, and give it a poster tagline (e.g. ‘In space no-one can hear you scream’). Then it was time for the VIP judges (Mr Baker, Mrs Clark and Young Film Academy representatives) to take their seats and decide which would win the ultimate prize: the Best Picture Oscar…

The standard was very high, so it was a tough decision... the Best Picture Oscar was awarded to ‘Dangerous Love’.

It told an engaging, entertaining story which was technically superb: the judges were particularly impressed by the excellent performances and high standard of camerawork, editing and sound design. Congratulations to the winning team - hope to see you at the (real) Oscars one day!