Berwick Lodge Primary School is bursting with new and innovative ideas.
From the sensory garden to its weekly radio show on 97.7FM Casey Radio, the school has much to give and share with the community.
One such event is the school’s annual Film Festival.
The Berwick Lodge Primary School Film Festival was an idea proposed by principal Henry Grossek as far back as 2001.
It took several years for digital technology resources and tools to reach a stage that was affordable for schools to purchase.
However, the school worked hard to resource the multimedia area with iPads and cameras and in 2010 the school celebrated its inaugural Film Festival at the Drum Theatre in Dandenong.
The Film Festival sees the senior school students, Grade Five and Six, create storylines, record and produce content and act in a class film.
With lots of support and help from their teachers, the films are produced using iMovie and are then shown on the big screen at a red carpet event at the Drum Theatre in September every year.
“Using multimedia as a teaching and learning tool is incredibly powerful,” digital technologies teacher Rob Kelly said.
“There aren’t many subject areas that allow for such diversity in terms of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning.
“For children to create films to convey a message to an audience takes a lot of time and energy, but the results are incredible. From scripting writing and storyboarding to prop building and acting, there’s a lot going on in a multimedia lesson at Berwick Lodge Primary School.”
Preparation for 2019’s Film Festival, which will be the school’s 10th festival, is well-underway.
The students will be leaving behind iMovie as the software used to create the films for an Adobe alternative instead.
This means that the films will be bigger and better than ever before, but it will require students to learn new skills and develop an appreciation for ‘real’ filmmaking.
The students have talents in many different subject areas at school and that’s the great thing about filmmaking – those talents can be highlighted and everyone can find something important to do.
“All those names we see scrolling past us on the credits at the end of a movie are equally as important as those who act and star in a film,” Mr Kelly said.
“Without them, there would be no film. That’s what I like to teach students.
“Everyone is important and everyone has a talent that should be celebrated.”
