Signals got some great news in March - our application for a First Light Movies Studio Award was successful and this means we can begin working on three exciting film projects with children and young people across Essex. The projects have just started and we hope this year will see us making our best films yet!
We'll be working with Colchester African Caribbean Community Youth Group on an experimental dance film called 'Routine' that will use a range of movements and dance styles to make the everyday things in life become extraordinary. Young people from this group will be working with professional filmmakers Tunji Akinsehinwa and Oliver Noel and dance tutor Sherelle Murrill to write, choreograph, shoot and edit the film.
Young people from the Heybridge Pupil Referral Unit, CSS Heybridge, will be working with two animators, Emma Curtis and Anastacia Tohill as well as upcoming film director Rik Burnell to create a short stop motion film called 'Next Door' which is set in a tower block and gives us glimpses into the inhabitants' lives.
We'll also be working in partnership with Essex County Council Social Services and Colchester and Ipswich Museums to create a mixed media animation called 'Penpal' with children across Essex in foster care. The idea for this film is to use animation to describe the imagination of a lonely child who finds comfort in exchanging small gifts and letters with a Chinese pen friend. This project will be overseen by our experienced tutor, Jane Gull who will be coordinating animators Emma Curtis and Thomas Hicks and sound tutor Gary Leach to work with the group of children and young people to produce this exciting film.
We're really looking forward to working with such talented people and these really interesting groups. Watch this space for more information and photos as the projects get underway!
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