The Year 10 students, who were selected as a reward for their hard work in GCSE Art classes, made their own animations at the ‘Animate It’ exhibition at @Bristol, before attending a lecture at Bristol Old Vic where staff from Aardman animations and the University of the West of England helped them add sound to their films.
The experience was made possible by youth development agency Sharp Shotz, who partnered up with @Bristol and the Encounters Young Persons Film Festival to give young people from organisations across the city, including Fairbridge West, Bristol Gateway, Fairfield High School, St Katherines School, John Cabot Academy, and the City Academy, the opportunity to make their own stop-frame animations.
The project was part of the Fresh Flix Film Festival, a two-day event run in conjunction with Encounters Short Film Festival and set up by a group of 13-19 year olds to provide a platform for other youngsters to showcase their talents.
The films were screened on Saturday 21st November at the main festival awards ceremony at the Watershed, when the student’s efforts were celebrated alongside international film-making professionals.
Art Teacher Rhian Iredale said: “It was brilliant for our students to be involved in a project like this, which gave them hands-on animation experience and the chance to work alongside some of the industry’s most respected professionals.
“The workshops were designed to introduce them to the process of film-making, such as ideas generation and character development and each group produced story-boards around issues that they felt were important such as youth culture or drugs.
“The experience really opened their eyes to the kind of career paths that the study of Art and Design can lead to and they will get to include their animations in their GCSE coursework.”
-ENDS-
Students who took part included: Molly Nelson-Case, Luke Stephens, Elliot White, Charley Turner and Shaun Harper.
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