Pupils hold their own ‘Oscars’ event

By LOUISE THOMASON

Pupils at Aith Junior High School held a film screening and awards ceremony on Friday to celebrate the efforts of S2, who have spent the last seven weeks making short films which they made during their English and Music classes.

The idea came from English teacher Charlene Storey, who said: “Part of English is teaching drama, and I wanted to make the experience as exciting as possible for the pupils. I thought if they wrote and filmed [their work] they would also get an idea about what goes into filmmaking.”

The year are in the same class groups for English and Music, so teachers Ms Storey and Pamela Main decided to incorporate the project into both classes.

Every aspect of the project was done by the pupils, from writing the stories and scripts to choosing the locations and props, acting and editing. They also composed, played and recorded the music.

The six films – New Boy, Betrayal, Abused Emotion, SDS (Save Darren’s Soul), Everyone is Anyone and Somebody’s There – all concentrated on some aspect of bullying, from the effects it has on the victim to ways of getting help.

Ms Storey said: “The theme of bullying is something that I teach in all year groups and I think is especially relevant to teenagers. I wanted to hear their own perceptions on bullying rather than me telling them about it.”

After the screening, a range of Oscars-inspired awards were presented, among them Best Sound Mixing and Editing, Best Supporting Cast, Best Soundtrack and Best Over All Picture, as well as Best Actor and Actress.

The award for Best Moral Message was voted for by the audience of S1 pupils and teachers. This was won by Everyone is Anyone.

The award for Best Overall Picture went to Somebody’s There by Holly McLean, Aylesha Meads, Danny Leask, Michael Nicolson and Rachel Sansom, who agreed the whole process had been “really fun”.

Danny said: “It was much harder than we thought it would be as you have to set everything up, and you don’t always get it on the first take.”

The group said they would definitely like to be involved in film making again.

Ms Storey said of the pupils’ work: “I was extremely impressed; I thought all the films came together brilliantly.

“I was impressed by the quality of their storyboards and of the finished films and the messages they were trying to put across were clear. It was also great seeing them so excited to be receiving awards for their work and being proud of what they’d done.”