First Films
First Films is a four-day digital film-making workshop. The course celebrates the movie-making genre by harnessing students’ creativity and giving them a new media platform to tell their stories.
Open to students aged 9–14 years, this course traditionally runs during the January school holidays in both Christchurch and Auckland. Each year the course focuses on a different film-making genre, such as stop-motion, documentary style, silent movies, etc.
Students are encouraged to work in small groups to produce a short film in time for their premier screening for family and friends at the end of the course. Past students have not only enjoyed the creative buzz of shaping their own films but also have learnt many new skills along the way including collaboration, problem-solving, time management and scalability.
Students are fully equipped with digital video cameras, tripods, microphones, and up-to-the minute computer editing software.
Course facilitators give participants a thorough introduction to the art of film-making, covering everything from brainstorming and story-boarding, to filming and finally post-production. Participants are encouraged wherever possible to take a DIY approach and produce their own sets, effects, and soundtracks.
The emphasis is on students using new media tools to empower their film-making experiences. Previous students were often new to the platforms and software used on the course but these ‘digital natives’ adapt very quickly to the new technology presented. In particular CORE welcomes those students who are perhaps not so technologically experienced, but have a burning desire to make their own masterpiece.