Back in March this year, six of our Sixth Form Marketing Reps were challenged with making a three-minute film about the Sixth Form experience at NHEHS for our website, aimed at prospective pupils and their parents. The six were responsible for coming up with all the content and then filming themselves using professional equipment supervised by Young Film Academy experts. In addition, they also wanted to produce a behind-the-scenes film to document the production process.

Working alongside Dr Pearce, Ms Hasnip and Young Film Academy, students planned how to create an authentic picture of what it’s really like to be a Sixth Former at our school, on what makes NHEHS Sixth special, covering all bases from amazing teaching, the Sixth Form centre to Bushra’s curries!

Following brainstorming sessions, the team wrote and presented a 2-3 line pitch of their vision for the film, which formed the basis of the story outline, which was then developed into a script for filming.

By the start of the summer term, script writing and site logistics were in full swing for the film before the team held a casting to select participants, before the big day of filming.

So on 9th May there followed a full-on day of action and fun that started at 7am, starring Sixth Formers, staff,  senior school students and more. With two teams each with a director and cameraman and a very long shot list, the students covered lessons, sport, art, clubs, everyday life in the Sixth Form and much more. In addition, a separate Behind the Scenes crew captured the joy and laughter of the day.

Team member Flo said, “Creating the sixth-form film was such an incredible and enriching experience; from planning and writing a script to a filming day with high tech cameras and sounds recordists, it was amazing to see our vision to come life.”

Nyla said, “I was so tired it as it was an early start and a really long day just like it would on a real job. But coffee and pastries helped! I didn’t realise the camera kit would be so heavy! It is a real skill to get the right shots and we got better as the day went on.”

After weeks of editing over the summer and music selection, the main film and the accompanying behind-the-scenes film were finally finished in September, with the team delighted with the end results which they shared in assembly last week.

Take a look at both films here – we think they’re pretty awesome!