A Unique Production Using Litter, ATOM Awards

Secondary school student and budding Australian film maker creates a unique production using litter that's far
from a load of rubbish!

Year 9 student Sarah Lang has so impressed ATOM Award judges with her production, 'One Doll's Trash, Another Doll's Treasure' that she's now in the running for her second ATOM Award in the 2007 EnhanceTV ATOM Awards, the 25th anniversary of the program.

Sarah won a 2006 ATOM Award for best K-8 multimedia production for her animation 'Eggman' which tells the story of a superhero who saves chickens by fighting the good fight against the evil character 'Battman', who makes chickens work in battery farms.

The production which stands as a finalist this year in the (category), 'One Doll's Trash, Another Doll's Treasure' uses complex stop-motion techniques to piece 15,000 individual photographs to tell a story in which each character finds useful and of great worth an item that was thrown away as 'rubbish' by another character. The underlying theme of the production is that what is not appealing or of use to one person (trash) can in fact be extremely valuable to another (treasure).

Of her production, Sarah said, "Unlike 'Eggman' which used animation, the stop motion technique I used in this piece made it really painstaking to create. Even now I look back at it and see some areas that are still a bit jumpy and I cringe. It was a lot harder to make this piece."

'One Doll's Trash, Another Doll's Treasure' was created as part of a theme that was given to all students in Sarah's year which had to be themed around litter and required Sarah to use 'found objects' to create the finished product.

"One of the backgrounds for a scene was made out of leaves and I tried to use as many found objects as possible in my piece. I essentially themed my production on litter," commented Sarah.

Sarah has just completed another production as part of her media studies which was created as part of a class project to create a DVD which explored the world of Generation Y. Sarah's production combines vox pop interviews and online footage from YouTube and other sites to explore the world of reality TV.

Sarah's current media teacher, Melinda Roberts noted, "The only reason we didn't also submit Sarah's new piece for an EnhanceTV ATOM Award this year was that it uses footage from online media, so the copyright issue stopped us."

She added, "The production is of outstanding quality. Sarah has an incredible capacity for media. Her production was very well put together and beautifully edited. She has a very bright future."

Of winning her first ATOM in 2006, Sarah says "It was great. It's pretty cool to be able to say that you have won an award that's for filmmaking across Australia and New Zealand, not just a school award."

"To win an award this year would be that much more special as it would be my second win and it's also the 25th anniversary of the program so it's a significant year."

"It was particularly cool last to see other industry professionals at the awards' night last year, to see their work and to watch productions which involved actresses and actors that I knew. I kept thinking, I know her, I know him."

Amber Nelson, Event Manager, 2007EnhanceTV ATOM Awards said of the awards program, "The EnhanceTV ATOM Awards recognise that there are thousands of talented individuals and production companies in Australia and New Zealand. We aim to challenge, reward and promote their creativity."

"Sarah seems to be very set on pursuing a career in the media and if her past ATOM win, finalist standing this year and her teacher's praise are anything to go by, she is well on her way and that's no rubbish!" she added.

The 2007 EnhanceTV ATOM Awards will be presented at a gala presentation event, held in the Plaza Ballroom, Regent Theatre, Melbourne on Friday 19 October, 2007.

The program is open to the education and industry sectors, students, production companies, independent filmmakers, educational bodies and educational producers in both countries.

The 2007EnhanceTV ATOM Awards program is sponsored by EnhanceTV, Adobe Asia Pacific, Victorian Government - Department for Victorian Communities, Avid Australia, Monash University, Deakin University, Encore Magazine, Metro Magazine, Screen Education Magazine, Metroscreen, Crumpler, Qpix, Madman Entertainment and Open Channel.

The 2007EnhanceTV ATOM Awards are funded by the Australian Film Commission, South Australian Film Corporation and the New South Wales Film and Television Office.

For more information about the 2007 EnhanceTV ATOM Awards please visit www.atomawards.org

ENDS