Into Film Clubs
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We are delighted to announce that our latest Film of the Month winner is The Legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod made by young people aged 5-10 years from Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan in rural North Wales. Our Special Mention this month goes to Georgia, aged 19, from Birmingham.
The Legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod (which you can watch above) is a colourful, enjoyable retelling of a Welsh legend and is a fantastic example of how filmmaking can be a fun and engaging way to bolster curriculum learning with young people in the classroom. We caught up with the young people involved to find out more about their experience making the film.
How does it feel to win Film of the Month?
It feels amazing to win Film of The Month as we are a small school, so we're all very proud and excited.
What inspired your group to make this film?
We were working on a theme called 'Byd Y Stori' ('The Story World') where we chose the fable Cantre'r Gwaelod (The Lowland Hundred) as our animated film.
What were the challenges in making this film? How did you overcome them?
We have practised our animation skills before, but the main challenges this time was creating the movable character and the green screen.
How did you go about creating this film?
Firstly, we decided on different scenes and they were shared between the 8 of us. Then all pairs decided on characters and props for that scene and went about to create them using watercolours and glue.
The pairs then proceeded to use the main story to create the scenes. Filming and working together throughout.
What did you enjoy most about making the film?
We enjoyed creating the scenes and editing the main film. Also, a highlight was watching the two actors drowning in the sea using the green screen.
What advice would you give to other young filmmakers or educators who want to make a film with their class?
Definitely, go over outlines using permanent markers and use PVA glue to make them shiny!
What message would you like audiences to take from watching this film?
Welsh culture and heritage is important and we should all know the old traditional fables and stories.
What are you working on next?
This term we have scripted and created a real-life film of another traditional local fable Telynor y Gors (Swamp Harp) which we truly enjoyed creating!
Special Mention - Bridging Generations
Each month, we select another film that we feel deserves to be celebrated alongside the winner. This month, we are delighted to give our Special Mention to Bridging Generations, directed by Georgia from Birmingham.
"Bridging Generations is a celebration of childhood in all its elements, whilst digging deeper into how our childhood effects who we become later in life. Funny, relatable and moving, the documentary appeals to all generations and highlights the most important factors in influencing the type of childhood we have. Bridging Generations aims to connect generations through their similarities within childhood, an experience which everybody experiences as a human being.
The inspiration for this documentary came from myself as the filmmaker observing a contrast of opinions within my own family, from members of the older generations and their strong opinions that technology "ruined" the younger generations childhood, this sparked a drive to understand whether this was really the case. By talking to members of my family, I worked by myself over two months, to explore this phenomenon, whilst giving the audience space to interpret it in their own personal way."
