Powerful video by Lumen Christi students selected in national competition

In their first attempt at making a short film, four Lumen Christi College students have made it through to the finals of a nationwide competition.

It’s an impressive achievement against many more experienced entrants, but their drama teacher, Emma Hibbert, says it’s no fluke.

 “Usually in drama we do more theatre-based projects, like musicals, realistic acting and that sort of thing,” Ms Hibbert said.

“But the girls are really talented performers so it’s no surprise to me that they’ve picked up this film and suddenly been made finalists without any sort of experience or training in film. I can see them excelling in any number of art forms.”

Tackling violence against women

The competition, Video for Change, was open to students from across Australia in the Junior (years 7-9) and Senior (years 10-12) sections. And once the foursome of Ambrosia Kleber, Julia Cullenward, Annalise Piotrowski and Phillipa Keogh heard about it, they immediately agreed on topic they felt passionately about.

“Everyone submits one minute videos on a range of issues… things like equality, homelessness… someone did one on dementia… just a range of different issues they’re passionate about,” Ambrosia said.”

 “As soon as we heard about the competition we wanted to do something original and look at it from a different angle,” Julia added.

“We were all extremely passionate about the issue of women’s safety, because we’ve all faced the stuff that is brought up in this video, so once we picked that we just brainstormed and it just flowed.“

Team effort

`Flowed’ is an apt description of the process that followed. The video progressed from concept to reality in a matter of weeks.

“The girls began at the start of term three,” Ms Hibbert said.

“It was a very quick turn-around time. They had the brain-storming, story, filming and editing within about a four week period, and they filmed it all basically over one weekend.”

“The great thing about these girls is once they came up with the idea, they just ran with it, and before I knew it they had the whole thing filmed. It’s obviously a subject that they feel really passionate about, as they should.”

Rather than select a separate writer, director and editor, team adopted a very egalitarian structure with everyone doing a bit of everything… including writing, acting, filming and editing.

And despite their lack of previous experience, their efforts have already been rewarded.

From literally hundreds of entries nationwide, their entry, titled “Enough is Enough,” has made it through to the finals of the senior section.

From here, the video will be judged on October 28. Next, the team have been invited to a gala event in Sydney on November 22 at which all of the finalists’ entries will be shown and the People’s Choice video will be announced. The winner will be announced on “The Project” on Channel 10.

Just the beginning

While they appreciate the recognition, they are most pleased about the extra exposure the gala day and extra coverage will give their video and their cause.

“I think we just really wanted to be able to use this platform as a way to share our thoughts on this issue and we thought it was a really important one,” Julia said.

“So the fact that it got to the top 10 … it will now reach a wider audience which is really good.”

The team wish to continue on the path of activism and advocacy and also wish to continue working in film and video. And while this project is their own work, they are quick to thank the support of their school.

“As soon as they heard about it, the school put it on Facebook and all of the teachers did all they could to spread the word,” Ambrosia said.

“And Miss Hibbert, especially,” Julia added.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do the video without her, she helped us so much. The digital media and equipment… we were able to use microphones and school equipment to make our video better quality.”

Anyone interested in voting in this competition can use this link.