Young directors call 'action'

Philip Wiley, 15, works on his i-stop motion movie at the Summer School held at St Cuthbert's College. Picture / Richard Robinson

The next generation of film-makers has called "action" at a digital animation workshop held in Auckland.

Twenty-three students aged between 12 and 16 took part in the four-day workshop last week run by educational research and development organisation Core Education.

The workshop aimed to showcase young people's digital creativity and was itself filmed to show teachers how technology can be incorporated into the classroom.

The students' work, a series of eight animated films, can be viewed online and will be sent to Britain for an international screening this year.

Core Education marketing co-ordinator Cate Broughton said using cameras and computer animation technology was a "pushover" for the students.

"When you give kids the tools, the equipment, the facilitation and the time, they can do absolutely anything."

Working in groups, students built models and sets from materials including paper, plasticine and Lego, then made two-minute, stop-motion animated films.

The theme of "What if" inspired movies on the survival of dinosaurs, gravity being reversed and political comment about a world without war.

Each second of film required 25 individual shots, between which small adjustments to models created the appearance of motion.

Students drew storyboards, shot, edited, added music, effects and titles to their movies.

Broughton said the workshop was a showcase for digital technology in education and would be used as a case study at teacher conferences.

Primary schoolteacher Claire Cheeseman helped students with the basics of film-making.

She said she was "blown away" by what the students had achieved in just four days.

"I would hope that a lot of these kids will go back to their schools and say, 'This stuff was great. Look what we've done ... Can we show you'."

Cheeseman said not all schools would be able to run such lessons.

"In New Zealand, from what I've seen, primary schools are much better at ICT [information and communication technology] than secondary and intermediate schools, who seem to be quite far behind in the importance of using computers in everyday life."

But she said the affordability of basic film-making software could turn home computers into mini-studios.

As for the workshop students, "it's up to them where they take it. I know these guys are going to be working on other stuff at home, which is fabulous."

Emma Wooster, development executive at production company Greenstone Pictures, spoke to the budding directors about developing their ideas.

"You've got to test your ideas to destruction, because at that point you haven't committed much money and time to it."

Wooster wanted to give the students an insight into the industry.

"When I was growing up I always wanted to work in television and I had absolutely no idea how to access that," she said. "No one ever turned up at our school and said, 'This is how you do it'. It always felt like an industry veiled in mystery."

She said it was in the industry's interest to make contact with and encourage the next generation of film-makers.

"I feel passionate about meeting young people and, if they have the talent and the drive, making it easier for them to take those steps and make the media world more accessible.

"We've got everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose."

The event, called Summer School, was also held in Britain and Singapore.

Movies from all three countries will be sent to Britain for a special screening this year.

Last year's event was hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, with some films shown by the BBC.

Core Education holds several events nationally, including the KidsCongress, to be held at the Christchurch International Antarctic Centre this month.

About 300 South Island children aged between 9 and 12 are expected to attend the conference, which focuses on digital technology.

Lights, camera, animate!

* A four-day workshop introduced secondary school students to digital animation.
* The aim was to take the "mystery" out of film-making.
* The students' animated films will take part in an international competition this year in Britain.