7 September 2023
The countdown to the annual Clifton Film Festival, open to all high school students in South Africa, is on. It features narrative and documentary categories, and the deadline for submissions is 11 October.
Established one year after the founding of the Clifton Film Academy in 2010, the festival presents an opportunity for entrants to explore their creativity and, for the boys of Clifton, it’s a chance to put into practice the lessons they have learned at the Academy.
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The ages of the entrants are not a consideration. Rather, entrants are judged in the categories they have entered. On the line are The Ogres, Clifton’s version of the Oscars. They’re a fun and green take on the famous Academy Awards, which recognise artistic and technical achievements.
Equipment, opportunities and education
While the Clifton Film Festival is open to all high school students throughout South Africa, the majority of the entries come from Clifton itself; most schools do not offer the equipment, opportunities, and education in the audio/visual sphere that the school does.
Over the course of the years, some outstanding short films have been produced, Donovan Fletcher, who heads up the Clifton Film Academy, said. However, this year, he believes Clifton has its most talented group of film makers yet. And, for the first time, they’ll also be showing off their skills in Paul Roos Gymnasium’s (PRG) Filmit Festival.
The PRG competition, open to high school students throughout southern Africa, caters to an even wider audience than the Clifton Film Festival. Its categories include, among others, short films, documentaries, music videos, animations, and advertisements.
Submitting a film/video does not mean that it is automatically accepted. The entries are evaluated and only the top submissions from each school go on through to the competition. Three entries from Clifton have cracked the nod, putting the school second only to the four of Paarl Boys’ High, which has the advantage of being local, in relation to Paul Roos, and home to close to 1 000 boys.
In the advertisement category, Clifton is one of just two Filmit finalists, while “Alone” is one of only three finalists in the documentary category. “A Scoop with Death” has been accepted as a finalist in the Short Films category, which has the largest number of accepted projects, with 12.
Script writing
Feedback from one of the Filmit evaluators, Elle Oosthuizen, from IdeaCandy, revealed the value of the knowledge shared by film academies, like Clifton’s, and her words about writing scripts, no doubt, pleased Donovan Fletcher, who runs the Clifton Film Academy.
She wrote: “The problematic areas of the pitches I’ve read was that the stories are too big and unrealistic to fit into a short film duration or budget. Some of these back stories (the story set-up or the world the story takes place in) are so big that it will take the film maker 20 to 30 minutes to establish the world of the story, before they get to the actual short film story. Other pitches just didn’t have any story at all and only visual elements.”
Fletcher told Pinnacle Schools: “I have always been interested in teaching the guys how to tell stories. Short films, whether a documentary or a fictional short story, are my passion, as an English teacher.”
Grow with us (above) was a Clifton Film Academy project.
The man behind the Film Academy
It was Fletcher who drove the founding of the Clifton Film Academy when he joined the school from DHS. He had helped the Horseflies with their audio/visual set-up, assisted and advised by a friend who owned a production company. Then, upon his arrival at Clifton, he pitched the idea of a Film Academy at the school, and it was given the green light.
Film studies have long been one of Fletcher’s interests. Over time, he has accumulated the practical skills to offer a 12- to 13-week course that teaches the basics about how to use cameras, lighting and sound, and, of course, script writing.
Editing, too, is a crucial part of the process. It’s the final touches that put the shine on a project. For that, Clifton uses Apple computers and Final Cut editing software. The equipment is top notch, the opportunities are first rate.
In fact, a look at the plentiful equipment in the well-stocked Film Academy is quite eye-opening. The school has not been shy about investing in the venture to ensure that boys are presented with the chance to fully explore the various aspects of film making.
Mutually beneficial
Clifton’s IT Department co-exists in a mutually beneficial manner with the Film Academy. It offers virtual reality (VR) learning, streaming technology, a green screen for video productions, and professional grade equipment for vlogging and podcasts.
Clifton enhances the teaching experience with VR | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
The boys of the Film Academy also contribute to the school by recording events, like concerts, Speech Day, the Clifton College Induction, music competitions, sports events, and even school promo videos.
Given the busy schedule of the students, many are unable to commit to the Film Academy. “For many guys that is just not feasible, especially if they are sportsman,” Fletcher said.
In order to accommodate those who are able to be a part of the Film Academy, he also ends up presenting the same training up to three or four times a week. It’s a serious time-consuming commitment.
Music at Clifton hits all the right notes | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
With the Suncoast Casino used to film the core scenes, the Clifton Film Academy made a music video (above) for Iain EWOK Robinson’s musical collaboration, which featured a six-piece hip-hop jazz fusion outfit, including two musos from Paris.
Keeping the Clifton community together
During the Covid-19 lockdown, though, when many extracurricular activities were curtailed, the Film Academy played an important role in keeping the Clifton community together. It hosted a horror movie competition, a theme chosen by the boys which, given the circumstances, was rather appropriate. Entries had to be from only 30 seconds to a minute in duration, so the productions had to be sharp from the first second to the last.
“Guys were at home. We had more films entered then than at any other time. They were desperate to do things and to be connected and in contact with the school somehow,” Fletcher said.
Boys participate in the Film Academy for a variety of reasons, he explained: “They might enjoy filming. Some guys want to make their own films. We have a few guys who are very, very creative. For at least half of the guys, it’s more about learning a new skill, learning about filming and recording things.”
The value of experience
Fletcher is self-taught, having learned on the job, while also gathering knowledge from others, which means when he shares lessons with the boys of Clifton, he doesn’t know only the theory, he knows how to implement it. That’s a valuable asset.
In this day and age, it’s strange to think that not many schools offer education in the audio/visual realm. That is, after all, how we consume information nowadays, whether it be factual, educational or entertainment.
Clifton, though, is ahead of the game. It has recognised the ever-increasing role that technology is playing in everyday life, and it is helping to equip its students with the means to put it to good use.
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