On Saturday 21st November we held our first Young Shoots event for children in the village of Michaelchurch Escley. Michaelchurch Escley is a hamlet approximately 12 miles from Hereford lying in the foothills of the Black Mountains in the Golden Valley. The surounding area is a mix of farmland, woodland and small village communities.
The village hall in Michaelchurch Escley regularly holds film screenings for adults but on this particular Saturday 35 children and families took their seats, the blackout curtians were drawn and the screen descended from the ceiling for a screening ’Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit’. Children from the local youth club and primary school chose this film from a shortlist of three and even though many had seen it before, they were excited and eager to watch it on the big screen.
Once the screening had finished, some of the children stayed behind to have their lunch and take part in an animation workshop. 15 young people had booked a workshop place and many more were motivated by the film to stay on so that in the end over 20 young people aged around between 8 and 15 had a go at making their own claymations. The children worked in groups of four to make models and animate them using Mac laptops, XM2 cameras and I Can Animate software. You can watch some of the finished animations below.
Our first village event was a great success with many of the attendees asking when their would be further screenings for families and filmmaking taster sessions. Showing the film first motivated the audience so that those taking part in the workshop were brimming with ideas and enthusiasm!
We would like to thank Angela Bennett (Flicks in the Sticks) Gareth Jones (Michaelchurch Escley Youth Club), Debbie Barker (Michaelchurch Escley Primary School), Peter Lewis and Peter Selby (Michalechurch Escley Village Hall) and Lyn Cowles for all of their in organising this event.
