Home
Zoom Fest: Lights, Camera, Collaboration!
As if Zoom Fest didn’t have enough twists already.
The annual film festival gives students across BC just 48 hours to make and submit a short film that will be judged against the work of their peers. On top of that, they are given a prop and a theme that they have to incorporate into the piece, which are announced at the beginning of the 48-hour span, making it trickier to plan ahead.
Shawnigan students from the Film and Television 11 and 12 classes had another hurdle they had to tackle. Film teacher Mr. Aren Goodman mandated that they needed to include original music created by students from Mr. Vince Hale’s Composition and Production class – and no other music was allowed.
“The goal with the arts department is to increase collaboration both within the department and outside,” Mr. Goodman explained. “And this checks those boxes; it’s inquiry based, experiential, core competency reflective – all those things.”
Last Friday afternoon, the Film and Television students received their instructions, and they were off and running. Between the two Film and Television classes, there were four teams, each creating one film to submit. They recruited a few students from outside the classes to serve as actors and additional crew.
“Zoom Fest is my favourite part of the year,” Mr. Goodman said. “It always brings out the best in the students.”
The theme that needed to be incorporated, as determined by the Zoom Fest organizers, was “legacy,” and the prop, a “cone,” which could be defined in whatever way the students wanted. Two groups opted for an ice cream cone, one picked a pinecone (or possibly a fir cone), and one picked a traffic cone.
The groups worked in the Library from 5 p.m. until duty staff kicked them out at 9:45 p.m., then headed back to their Houses to rest until resuming their efforts on Saturday morning.
“They were all in really high spirits,” Mr. Goodman said. “It was great to see the teamwork and to watch the whiteboards as the ideas came in. They all had their dedicated roles, and they knocked it out of the park. The mutual respect was great to see.
The groups shot scenes all day on Saturday, and some stayed up all night to edit, but everyone got their films in on time. Since Saturday was Founder’s Day, alumni stopped in to watch the action, including Carl Bradley, a member of the Class of ’78, member of the Board of Governors, and founder, president and director of the Bradley Family Foundation and C.A.S.E. (Communications, Arts, Sciences and Entrepreneurship), which is a major supporter of many programs at Shawnigan, including film.
The films will be submitted to Zoom Fest – which is hosted by Mulgrave School in West Vancouver – for adjudication, and the participants will gather for the awards ceremony on December 5. After that, they will be able to tweak their work for submission to other festivals.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 12 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
