Winning students from science film competition announced

Two students from Pakuranga College have won a science film competition with a five minute film they produced for the competition run by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Christian Jones and Allen Feng were among 16 students who were finalists in the inaugural Freemasons Reel Science Film Festival competition.

All the students have just returned from a week in Dunedin where they made a short science film alongside mentors from the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago.

During the week the students participated in workshops that helped them develop their skills in camera techniques and using editing software. They wrote all the material for their films, carried out the filming and then worked on the huge job of editing the film and adding sound and music. They had 36 hours to make their films.

The films were judged by a panel of people involved in the film making industry. They commented that the films were a really high standard, especially as the students were very new to film making.

The judges said they liked ’Immunity’ because they felt the story was complete and had a bit of a twist at the end. The winners each won a Mac Book Pro Laptop and Editing Software worth $6,000.

Dr Di McCarthy, chief executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand, was impressed by the high standard of the films and the enthusiasm shown by the finalists.

“We think it is interesting that the films the students decided to make often covered topics like epidemics and genetic engineering. They also touched on ethical issues.”

The finalists’ films can be viewed on You Tube.

Winning film
By Christian Jones and Allen Feng from Pakuranga College, Auckland, Film Title: Immunity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H0bqOf53NU

Other finalists
George Xian, Philip Allan & Jim Huang from Burnside School, Christchurch, Film title: Bloodline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0WyjCfGt3M

Wilson Cain, Orion Holder-Monk and Jordan Keen from Wellington High School. Film Title: 7478
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FQIF3_OZIs

Richard Martin, Henry Bennett and Julin Le-Ngoc from Papanui High School, Christchurch. Film Title: The Health Inspector
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bgctuuzl_M

Kyle Webster, Juni Lee and Aaron Jelley from Nayland College, Nelson. Film Title: Goodbye Blue Sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMIj1VZT9eM

Alice and Rachel Yuretich from Kaitaia College, Northland. Film Title: The Virus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSQQ9GmaMK0

ENDS