FEATURE: CULTURAL EDUCATION Imagining a world without COVID-19


process, what they should look out for on set and how to ease nerves before filming commenced. On set, the safety of the students, teachers and


crew was of the upmost importance and the team worked with a COVID-19 advisor who ensured masks were worn, took temperature checks and provided advice on the impact of COVID-19 safety restrictions on the production. Barnaby Sandow, Head of School, ACS


I


n our second look at cultural education this month, we hear from ACS International


School Cobham, whose High School students have created an uplifting prom-themed film as an innovative way to continue, and evolve, the school’s performing arts programme despite COVID-19 restrictions. Created to a professional standard with help from industry experts, the film is due to be screened at the Everyman Theatre in Esher, Surrey in January 2021.


Recognising the importance of the performing arts, and as a way to ensure this year’s students were able to showcase and develop their drama skills, the film was created as an alternative to the school’s annual musical production which was not able to take place due to COVID-19. The film was created by twenty five High School students, aged 14-18, taking Drama at ACS Cobham and was managed by Georgia Sidell, High School Drama Teacher. To support students in the creation of the film, ACS's drama department brought in industry


professionals Bethan Leyshon from BBC Wales as a scriptwriter and award-winning production company, Slick Showreels, whose crew included a full team of cameramen to capture the film, a sound team and director of photography. Over the course of six weeks, starting in


September this year, students chose the uplifting theme of prom and worked together to create a script, choreograph dances, rehearse and act and film the production. Bethan Leyshon, who spent three weeks getting to know students, worked with them to develop a script that embedded their own experiences and anecdotes. Maxwell, an ACS student who worked on the


project, said: “Working with Bethan was really cool because she has so much experience with what she was doing that it was fun to make and really came out well. It was great to have a designated writer because she was able to pull our ideas together into something coherent.” Purposely set in a world without COVID-19,


camera techniques were used to create a pre- COVID authenticity throughout the film. The crew shot the majority of the film outdoors, utilising the open and varied spaces of ACS Cobham’s 128-acre campus. Louis Russell, director of the Slick Showreels team, held a Q&A session with students to answer questions on filmmaking, providing students with insider knowledge on the


Cobham, commented: “The arts are invaluable; both as a profession and a pastime to enjoy and participate in. It’s incredibly important to keep the performance alive in schools (no matter the current circumstances) as these subjects not only allow students to express themselves creatively but they also teach valuable skills such as confidence and teamwork. Without a production crew, writers or actors for example, live concerts, theatre performances, films, and TV shows wouldn’t exist. A team with different skills and passions is needed for these art forms to occur, and everyone has a part to play; it is the embodiment of collaboration. “Our annual production is something the


whole school looks forward to, it brings us all together whether that be managing, performing or watching. It’s something that we can all get involved with and cancelling our musical this year was a difficult decision for us to make. Searching for an alternative way to allow our students to be creative, we looked to film. “Experiencing the art form of film can be of


great value to students’ development. As well as learning new technical skills, the discipline of filmmaking requires them to use their soft skills to communicate effectively and efficiently with each other and work as a team to make important decisions. Throughout the process they had to analyse what messages they wanted to convey and how they could use film to set-up a scene to frame a message from the perspective of a character. This experience has been beneficial to their leadership skills with certain students fulfilling roles that required them to take the lead to keep things moving on the production." Students will be able to watch their film when


screened in the Everyman Cinema in Esher in late January, which will be followed by a Q&A session with the industry professionals.


28 www.education-today.co.uk


December 2020


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