Year 11 students from South Sydney High School basked in the glory of their filmmaking success at the inaugural Reelise Film Festival awards, held earlier this year. The young filmmakers were awarded top honours in the People's Choice and Spirit of Reelise categories for their short film, Hold On, an examination of bullying and the technology that facilitates it.
Aine de Paor, drama teacher and gifted and talented education co-ordinator at South Sydney High School, says the theme of the competition was a powerful and positive one: using phones creatively to expose the damage of bullying, rather than as instruments of cruelty and victimisation.
Reelise is perfect for nurturing potential filmmakers, says de Paor. "Competitions such as Reelise offer professional mentoring to students, which can be particularly potent in the lives of high-aptitude students, potentially having life-long implications."
The opportunity to mentor students who were interested in entering the Reelise Film Festival came through de Paor's role as gifted and talented co-ordinator. "Enriching student learning beyond the classroom is a shared passion for staff members at our school," she says.
De Paor says the filmmaking requires students to work collaboratively and in a disciplined manner through a challenging artistic process. "They need to firstly develop a concept or vision capable of being realised as a powerful narrative on screen to engage audiences," she says.
"The initial storyboarding and pre-production planning require meticulous attention to detail and highly developed organisational skill to ensure all of the practicalities of the project are considered with the same passion as the artistic vision.
"Making a short film is a self-directed learning project requiring higher order thinking skills.
"It requires students throughout the process to constantly analyse and evaluate possible choices in order to synthesise all of the elements at their disposal, such as actors, sound, lighting, script and locations."
Students and their creative work should never be viewed as any less worthwhile than the film and theatre-making of professionals, says de Paor.
"Find opportunities to allow your students to share their work; for example, at our school, lunch-time theatre attracts very enthusiastic audiences and elicits a high standard of creativity by theatre-makers striving to impress," she says. "Excellence in a challenging and exciting field such as filmmaking is not about equipment or facilities; it depends on passion and creativity so don't be afraid to embark on a filmmaking adventure with your students. It can lead to exciting places."
De Paor says drama is one of her greatest passions, followed closely by education. "Just as education can be a transformative force in people's lives, so too theatre and film empower and enrich young people who experience these powerful art forms," she says.
'"By becoming a drama teacher I knew I would have the rewarding and exciting opportunity to share my skill, love and passion with the next generation of audiences and creative artists."
