Winning students from science film competition announced

Posted: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 under Media Releases

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.

Reel Science Winners

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

Other finalists