By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
BUDDING film makers from Doveton College have trod the red carpet and dominated an international film-making competition.
Four films from the Doveton College Live project were nominated in this year’s Child KidzFlicks awards.
Two of them, Dreams Come Alive (best script) and The Haunting Hour (best sound), won their categories.
As a treat, brothers Peter, 10, and Joel, 14, were flown up to Sydney by award organisers Bardic Studios to collect the trophies.
On the way to the ceremony, the boys stopped off for a personal tour of the UTS film-making studios with animator Deborah Cameron.
Gene Geoffrey, a film maker who heads the project, described the winning animated films as sophisticated in content and technique.
About five students aged between 10 and 15 were involved from concept to production, plotting scripts, moulding plasticine characters, writing music as well as filming the short works.
“I really love the way they connect with these stories. They have very clear visions of what their animation is,” Mr Geoffrey said.
“It’s very time consuming work. It takes months to make and they come back with new ideas each week – it shows how much they think on it.”
Dreams Come Alive features a motley crew of characters including a skeletal Big Foot and a potion-mixing scientist who were seeking friendships and eventually meet in a nirvana dreamworld.
Mr Geoffrey said the The Haunting Hour captured the creepy mood as one falls asleep at night.
“It’s quite unnerving what comes out of young people’s minds,” he said.
The works show the value in philanthropist Julius Colman’s investment in the college’s animated film and music program Doveton College Live.
It’s engaged the students, giving many from disadvantaged backgrounds a sense of achievement, Mr Geoffrey said.
The college boasts state-of-the-art equipment such as SLR cameras, dolly tracks, Mac lab with a suite of film-making software and a fitted-out sound recording studio.
There are even 3-D printers to create animated characters’ heads and dedicated teachers on hand to help make costumes in their own time.
Over the past two years, works from Doveton College have won best film at the Australian Teachers of Media awards.
“Not all of these students will become animators,” Mr Geoffrey said.
“That’s not the point.
“It’s about using teamwork and communication to create something.
“These are the skills you need in any walk of life.”
