12th October 2011

BRIDPORT: Colfox students interview Olympic athlete

By Tom Glover

BUDDING filmmakers from The Sir John Colfox School began work on their entry for the Panasonic KWN Film Competition 2012 by interviewing Olympic athlete Christian Malcolm.

The internationally renowned competition has been entered by 679 schools this year, but the 10 year nine students from Colfox are one of just 13 UK teams in the contest.

The team travelled to Whitchurch in Hampshire for their first training session in which Ian Cameron, a BBC Editor and Journalist ran a workshop with four different schools from the southern area. They learnt journalistic skills such as interview techniques and creating meaningful narrative in the news items.

It wasn’t long before the group were putting their skills to use taking the opportunity to interview British Athlete Christian Malcolm during his recent visit to the school.

With the Colfox entry based around the concept of “The Olympics” the opportunity to interview the captain of the Great Britain Olympic squad was too good to miss.

Before his visit the team were given some quick training on using a boom microphone and sound mixing. The student crew then had to make sure they had the correct shot composure, framed the interviewee and even had to run a white balance to make sure the light was correct for the footage.

The school’s film will investigate the opportunities available for young athletes in West Dorset and facilities for training; in part following UK Schools Championship 100m competitor, Holly Butt.

Over the course of the next few months the crew will visit various locations and interview other Team GB athletes including current 400 metre Paralympic World Champion Paul Blake.

Lead teacher Gavin Bray said: “It’s a wonderful opportunity for younger students to get to grips with the media world and produce their own film based on a topic that matters to them. With a fantastic set up kit provided by Panasonic it really gives those interested in journalism and film making a great experience and an insight in to this world.

“I think most importantly it has opened the team up to how a film is made and all the areas that are actually involved in creating a good and viable entry to an international competition. It’s a new experience for most of them and one I hope will inspire a future generation of film makers and journalists.”

In May 2012 each UK team will attend a special awards ceremony in Derby and trophies will be awarded for categories such as best direction and best news team. The winner of the “British Grand Prix” will then go forward to represent the UK in the European finals in Germany and the World finals at the 2012 London Olympics. The award ceremonies for 2011 have just recently been held in Hollywood, Los Angeles and the six finalist were from New Zealand, America, Russia, Japan, Slovakia and Singapore.

PICTURE: OLYMPIC DREAMS - Students from the Sir John Colfox School interview British athlete Christian Malcolm

BRIDPORT: Colfox students interview Olympic athlete

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