Students undertake 48 hour film making challenge

In early May, 23 students from across the University came together to participate in a Film Practical Skills Workshop in which they were challenged to script, shoot and edit a short film in 48 hours.

The project was instigated through the Change Agents scheme and was born from a student need for more practical film making experience. The experience was completely free to all participants thanks to the generous support of the University’s Annual Fund.

Students were taught and coached how to use filming equipment and film software by experienced graduate teaching assistants in order to produce a short film that centred on an object from the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum’s film history collection. It brought undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of different disciplines together to collaborate, share expertise and network.

The team hired an array of high quality cinematic equipment and the Thornlea editing suites in order to produce three short films. The project was set up in collaboration with Exeter Phoenix, The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, the Film Studies Student Staff Liaison Committee and the Programme Director for Film Studies, Dr Joe Kember.

The project won Best Change Agents Project at the Humanities SSLC Awards 2014 and was shortlisted for Student-led Project of the Year at the recent Students’ Guild Awards.

Verity Richards, Graduate Project Officer (Student Engagement), comments, “We are incredibly pleased with the success of the project and look forward to redeveloping it to run next academic year. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm that the participants brought to the table, showing a real willingness to learn and gain skills as well as a genuine shared passion for film making”.

The short films are now available to watch on YouTube.

Date: 17 June 2014