A Grade 7 school trip turned into a winning video for a group of Beairsto students.
The students, now in Grade 8 at W.L. Seaton Secondary School, attended the Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS) on Galiano Island to learn all aspects of short film making.
Their five-minute film, Garçon Papillon, which has an environmental message, won the Production Française category at the 17th annual Eyelens Film, Video and Animation Festival in Victoria April 21.
Students George Harron, Rita Williams, Cassia Powell and Keiran Grant worked with Sam Eddy as the film’s actor.
“It was really fun. We learned all the technology and wrote the actors’ script and story lines. We decided to make our film about the environment because we were there in a great natural setting,” said Powell.
“It was really fun to go through all the props and costumes they had there for us to use. We made our hero have big sunglasses and wings and a doll for a sidekick. In the end, I was even in the film as the bad guy who gets pushed into the water.”
The students worked with professional filmmakers and put in some long days and late nights to get everything finished.
“It was all very professional. We learned how to use all the equipment and do all the parts and the different professions that there are in filmmaking. At the end, we all saw each other’s films,” said Harron.
While the students are not sure if they will be considering careers in filmmaking, they would like to go to GIFTS again because what they learned helped them in making personal videos.
Other local filmmakers nominated for the festival were: Emma Jane Cohen for Groovy Juvie; Erik Nielsen for Fatal Fauna; Chloe Mongerson for Fatal Fauna; Ian Dorval, Meighan Kerr, Tamara Nicol and Ethan Swift for Les Pirates de Galiano; Harriet Gardner, Sam Eddy, Kiah Lee and Jenna Smith for Le Marriage qui Attend; Aidan Olliphant, Dominic Lenton, Jorell Kalinski and Troy Atkinson for Timmy et le Montagne de RAWR; and Michael Bruton, Owen Yawney, Avery Triggs and Craig Lawrence for On Ne Sais Pas Mais Les Ninjas Ils Savent.
