A very enjoyable day again today. This time, as Master of Ceremonies at The Cambridge Young People’s Film Festival at The Cambridge Corn Exchange

Posh frocks and DJs were the order of the evening.

The categories were really motivating and related to the new literacy frameworks across all Key Stages. You can view all of the superb films HERE

I had the opportunity to interview Will Poulter on stage during the event. Will is one of the stars of Son of Rambow.

I have the pleasure of working with some remarkable young folk around the country and, indeed, the world. However, I haven’t met many lads as enchantingly “there” as Will. He was almost exhausting to keep up with when it came to signing autographs and relating to our audience. Well done Will budd, for answering questions in our on-stage witter, in a way that really captured the imagination of all of the crowd,of 1000 +, there tonight.

Son of Rambow has one of the cleverest strap lines:

“Make believe. Not war.”

It is about a pair of lads who set about making their own film.

Set in “a long, hot summer in the early ’80s”, the film is a coming-of-age comedy.

It tells the story of two schoolboys who are inspired by the film Rambo: First Blood to make their own action adventure film, which they hope will win them a young film-maker competition.

Neglected youngster Lee Carter (Will Poulter) — the worst-behaved boy in school — has access to the home video equipment used by his bullying elder brother’s video pirating enterprise.

Will (Bill Milner) couldn’t be more different; quiet and shy he comes from a family that belongs to the strict Plymouth Brethren religious sect. Will is forbidden to watch films or television and is made to leave his classroom when the teacher puts on a documentary film. In the corridor he meets Lee, thrown out of another class for bad behaviour.

At first, Lee sees Will as an easily manipulated lackey but after Will sees a pirated copy of First Blood and throws himself into the film making experience, the two realize how much they each need a best friend.

Their movie takes on a chaotic life of its own, as they fight to keep control of it, and also to keep it secret from Will’s family.

Ultimately it changes the lives of both boys, and their relationships with their friends and families. (Wikipedia)

There is a good interview with Will at the Popcorn site. A trailer can be seen HERE

A few of the films entered into the Cambridge film festival were stop motion animations. The super AnimateClay site is full of examples.

Try visiting a few of these great film related site: FilmEducation, Pixar, Film Street, arkive and my friend Oscar Stringer’s Animation For Education

Oscar is the best guy to get in if schools want to develop their film making skills. Try his new website HERE

Photostory is, of course, a simple and “cool” way of creating movies from still images. Try creating a film of the school trip, mixing sounds, text and photos effectively. And it’s FREE.

Computer Clubs For Girls (Primary and Secondary) has free resources and fun modules encouraging film making. Registration is free. You also receive a wealth of free software and “cool” (again, these are the words of the children who use these things!) rucksacks!

And the winners are… Thank you to Gareth, Mazzie, Jo and Sally, of the Cambridge Education ICT Service, and their colleagues for an event to rival the Oscars!

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