BUFTA movie project

From Sunday 3rd to Friday 15th, a combined team of Year 11s and 9s put together an outstanding movie for the Bond University’s Film and Television Awards international competition. Participants Retaya, who also wrote the screenplay, and Ruby were tasked with directing, filming and editing, which took a lot of time to do, especially on top of school! Other members included Andre, who composed the soundtrack; Dean, who did lighting; and Karolina and Lula, who helped out on set. Our incredible actresses consisted of Jemma, Ruby, Kiera, Leah and Charity, who did a fantastic job on making the film come to life.

The film is about Bailey Carson who is struggling with immense grief after losing her sister. She tries to go about her day but her life has lost colour since her sister’s passing and somehow there is always something around her to remind her of her absence. Eventually, she decides that she can’t deal with this pain alone anymore, so she makes the brave decision to seek out help and joins a support group to gain the colour back into her life.

While the journey of creating this movie was amazing and unforgettable, like most film projects, it proved to be a stressful task for each member as it came with many challenges.

After getting a late start to the project, and having only 3 weeks before the deadline, Director Retaya unfortunately got sick, and Ruby had to step up as assistant director, something she “was not prepared for and consequently was very stressed”. Nevertheless, Retaya recovered and helped Ruby to edit the last part of the film, allowing it to be submitted to the competition.

The film also became very time consuming due to the short timeframe. The screenplay was written in one day with just two weeks for full production to take place. 

Another challenge they faced was learning how to work with music, seeing as the screenplay relied heavily on it. They attempted to record it live and ended up learning a lot in terms of the challenges that came with this, especially at school where it’s not always a silent environment! 

The team had learned a lot and had gained priceless skills as well as experience in fields like teamwork, flexibility and working under pressure, especially when there are multiple changes. However, their hard work seemed to pay off as they got the chance to compete in a film competition at an international level and get the chance to make their mark in the movie world.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this project! We’re so proud of your incredible efforts and the time you invested into this movie and we’re sure you’re going to get amazing results!

– By Ella

Please support the team’s hard work and efforts by watching the incredible film!

https://bond.edu.au/study/experience-bond-for-yourself/high-school-student-experiences/experience-a-study-area/bond – if you want a better insight on what this amazing competition is about.