Budding film makers get big break at church club

First published on: 3rd October 2019

A new film club for budding animators and film makers at St George's, Weald Sevenoaks is sparking the interest of young people at the church.

Vicar of St. George's and amateur film-maker, Rev Mandy Carr, said the idea came after a showing at the local primary school of a film the church community had made about Remembrance:

"I was struck by the interest that many of the students showed about the process of film making." says Mandy.

"St. George’s has a Sunday Club for younger children but there hasn’t been a youth group for a few years and so we decided to explore whether some of the young people might want to have a go at film making with us."

Mandy teamed up with some film-making colleagues to offer a taster session on stop-motion animation.

Seven pupils came and in three hours, chose a story title, created characters, chose props, wrote a script, devised the set design and filmed the action on tablets.

Mandy says the hard work was worth it:

"It was a lot to cover in three hours and it required team work and focus but it was worth it.  We invited the young people and their families to the Family Service the following Sunday where we had the premieres of their films on the big screen in church." 

The films have now also been entered into a monthly competition with Into Film - an organisation designed to help children improve literacy and gain skills, in watching and reviewing films, as well as creating their own.  

The church has now become one of the few venues allowed to run an Into Film club outside of a school setting, and all the children seemed to be delighted with the results and the helpful feedback from the judges at Into Film.

The group are not resting on their laurals, with work already underway on an exciting film project retelling the Nativity in a modern way.

"It is an extremely ambitious project" says Mandy, "but one that we hope the young people will really enjoy.  

"We will be sharing the journey and showing the film at our Christingle Service on Christmas Eve - and yes, St. George’s does have a red carpet!"

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