In May 2024, the Year 11 film cohort got together for the annual QACI Film Camp. Students spent 3 days surrounded by nature at Bornhoffen PCYC in Natural Bridge on the QLD/NSW border.
Throughout the camp students were immersed in collaborative filmmaking, learnt and improved their skills in filmmaking roles such as sound design and cinematography, and worked together to produce a short collaborative film as part of the film camp challenge. The camp was a great opportunity for students from both classes to connect with one another, share of ideas and engage creatively in filmmaking.
We arrived at camp with the mountains around us shrouded in mist. The rain was all too familiar for the first couple of days and restricted our opportunities to film outside. However, we persevered to produce our final films and on the last day the sun finally shone.
Day 1 of camp kicked off with a fun workshop on cinematography run by Mr Elliot where we experimented with phone gimbles to film a short experimental piece. The innovative techniques we learnt in this workshop were used by many groups in the making of their final film challenge films. Due to the rain, most of the first day was spent in the pre-production phase, planning and making creative decisions about our films.
Each night after dinner, we would gather our pillows and blankets to settle in and watch films chosen by the film teachers. On the first night we began with the Spanish horror, The Orphanage, a film that despite leaving students crying and on the edge of their seats was beautiful and spectacular. We followed it up watching Run Lola Run on its 25th anniversary, a German film packed with action and anticipation.
On the second day, students began production and spent time filming, creating sound and eventually beginning to edit. We participated in a sound design workshop run by Ms Collis where we learnt about how foley sound is created and used in films and were introduced to sound editing in Adobe Audition.
On the second evening, we watched the Chinese action-romance, The House of Flying Daggers and Korean thriller, The Host, furthering our immersion into films made from culturally diverse perspectives.
On the final day, we were rewarded by being able to watch everyone’s final films. It was entertaining to see the plotlines, creative decisions and innovative techniques that different groups had used.
QACI film camp 2024 was an engaging and useful experience that enhanced our filmmaking and collaborative skills and allowed us to further connect and bond as a cohort.
Article written by Stella McCathie, Year 11