Our project took place over 7 weekly sessions during March and April 2022 at Westbridge Academy / Raedwald Trust. Our Film Project was planned to work across three sites of the Raedwald Trust with 14 Year 9 and Year 11 students. This was the first time in many years we had received grant funding to pursue a project like this. Our aim was to provide an opportunity for our students to learn film and editing skills they could continue with beyond school. We hired Jim Horsley from Slide Productions to work with us. We discussed the project with a few local artist/ film makers before choosing Jim Horsfield/ Slide Productions. Jim is a self-trained film/ videographer who has done a lot of community funded projects as well as working on large scale video projection projects and festivals using his own film compilations. His portfolio was impressive as well as his history and the stories he could tell our students about getting into the business. The project was delivered by Jim Horsfield, Cindy Bathgate, Mike Challis and Lucy Cocking.
Three members of staff worked alongside Jim Horsfield with 14 students taking part to make their own short films or to work as a group making a film. Students from 3 Raedwald Trust sites were given a taster session with Jim to see if they wanted to take part. Students were encouraged to plan their films carefully to work to the brief ‘Tell your Stories’.
Students discussed the stories the wanted to tell and planned their ideas with Jim. He facilitated the outome by teaching the fundamentals of short film production from inception to the editing stage. The activity was initiated by staff but once they got started, students worked in groups or independently to produce short films based on their own interests.
