by Sophie Shave
With the fourth Bournemouth Writing Festival approaching, the team working on the festival and BCP Council provide opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds in the local area to get involved in writing creatively. On Friday 10th April, a filmmaking workshop was held in association with the amazing local charity MYTime Young Carers, for young carers from ages five and upwards to plan, write, direct and star in their own short film, under the guidance of The Bournemouth Journal’s own Brad Gyori and Amy Scott-Ringrow. They brought this project to reality together with several volunteers from MYTime, the Bournemouth Writing Festival and Bournemouth University (myself included).
Young carers from MYTime and BCP Council brainstorming ideas for the film.
Known as the “Straight Eight Challenge”, these young carers’ mission was to create a short film in only eight consecutive shots – with just two hours to complete it! With no time to waste, the children brainstormed a wacky, wonderful array of characters and story ideas, ranging from talking sea creatures to cats with magical powers. Each of these were gathered together in a hat draw (in an octopus hat spectacularly modelled by yours truly!) Soon, we had our film: the story of No-Face, a shapeshifting alien in the form of an innocent human girl who wished to transform Earth into his sinister home planet! As the children quickly started figuring out what the eight shots making up the film could be, further ideas were flying around left and right. Camera angles, props, settings, extra characters, the story’s ending – they thought of it all! Once it had been decided who would play which part, it was almost time to start the shoot…
Filming one of the eight shots that made up the “Straight Eight Challenge”.
But there was one question left: where to film each scene? Our venue for the workshop was Bournemouth’s lovely Urban Garden, so a brief adventure was in order to scout out shooting locations. Yet again, the children soon found the perfect setting for every scene, including a narrow walkway where No-Face (wearing the octopus hat, to show her alien form) would claim her first victim; a playground full of children; and a heroic scientist’s lab for a final showdown. Whilst filming, the children swapped between acting in the film and helping Brad, Amy and myself behind the scenes with the camera and microphones, meaning everybody could take part however they wanted to. As luck would have it, we finished filming with just enough time to edit the film together so the children could watch their masterpiece before heading home – and they loved every second of it!
Volunteers and young carers, hard at work bringing the story to life!
This workshop went brilliantly from start to finish, and it was fantastic to see how much the children enjoyed taking one idea and turning it into a complete production that everyone could be proud of their contributions to. The complete saga of No-Face the alien will be screened at the Bournemouth Writing Festival showcase on Saturday 25th April at 19:30, to celebrate not only these incredible young carers, but the many other opportunities Anna Martin and her team at MYTime put together for young carers around the BCP area. We hope to see you there!