Alyn and Christine Luker are the new Heads at Sparks Film School Cardiff West. Together, they bring lots of knowledge of filmmaking, the film industry and the joy that making films can bring to young people starting out on their journey.
We sat down with them to find out all about their passion for filmmaking and their plans for Sparks Film School in Cardiff.
Alyn and Christine, can you tell us about your experience of the film industry?
Together, we have over a decade of experience in professional filmmaking.
Alyn: I got my first taste of filmmaking when Stephen Poliakoff’s Friends and Crocodiles filmed near my home town and were looking for extras. I managed to get a part, and even a line! I uttered “Alright, Treacle” and my love for filmmaking was born.
Four years later, we met at film school here in Wales and after graduating we both took a couple of years to get our foot in the door.
Christine: I started out on the BBC’s Merlin with the accounts team. Not many people realise that accounting and finance is a – hugely significant – part of filmmaking. The accounts team are part of the engine behind production, who make sure all cast and crew are paid and financial budgets are stuck to (in the most part!).
Alyn: I started in documentaries working in Development, Production and doing in-house post-production for history series for BBC, S4C,, as well as assisting on some NatGeo programmes.
Like a lot of people do, I broke into drama production firstly as a Runner, and then going down the Assistant Director route I ended up working on many period dramas; Poldark, The White Princess, The Spanish Princess; Becoming Elizabeth. I have to say, the best bits of working on period dramas is the chance to work with the experienced horse teams and the stunt teams! It’s always exciting, and it’s fun directing the background artists in big set pieces.
The last few years I’ve been 1st AD-ing where I’ve ventured into comedy’s – The Tuckers for BBC and Brassic for Sky being some recent projects, along with Casualty.
Alyn with a group of students at Sparks Film School Cardiff West
What made you want to be involved in Sparks Film School? What was the moment in which you had this idea?
We see the imagination in our own children and this opportunity gave us a way to show children how to showcase this and find a way of expressing their own creativity.
We wanted to try and find a creative outlet to turn our minds too, where we could still be creative and really try and inspire others.
We also realised that Wales didn’t really have anything like this in the area. Wales and Cardiff is bustling with so much great creative content, not just in film and TV, but arts and music too. There are so many productions and industry studios in the area that it made great sense to bring filmmaking to children to Wales.
Why do you believe it’s important for young people to learn how to make films?
I struggled getting my foot in the door, even with a Film degree, so we thought it would be great to give children the opportunity to not only see it as a potential career path, but give them a chance to get making something now and to have fun doing it.
Media Literacy will be SO important in the coming century. Understanding themes, nuance and how visual media is made, especially in a world of AI and deep-fakes will become imperative.
Children have such a great imagination, and we now see them starting to use phone cameras to make content. With how we work at Sparks Film School, it shows children the process of how to turn those ideas into film and doing this the same way that the real film industry makes them. It shows structure and rather than just going away and shooting they learn about other aspects such as the roles within a film crew, the importance of using a clapperboard for when it comes to editing, dressing a set, to name a few.
How has it been leading Sparks in Cardiff so far? What have been the highlights/ fun stories?
It’s honestly been magical. Hearing all the kids during the summer camp running around, playing zombies. I just love it when the children start shouting: “Quiet on set we’re going for a take”, “Action!”
My highlight (Christine) has to be the rushes screenings. Seeing all our first students gleaming with happiness at the sight of their work. It really was wonderful.
Mine was teaching the kids forced perspective and the green screen lessons (Alyn).
We had such an amazing time making our short films over the summer. We ended up having a lot of murders (!) and kids running from zombies. We couldn’t have wished for a better start to our new venture in Wales.
What are your dreams for Sparks Film School Cardiff West?
We would love to keep building on what we have been doing so far and reaching as many children as we can to inspire and have lots of fun creating film.
We’re also looking to build out our links with the wider industry in South Wales as we know we have such a great film and tv industry here. We would love to bring in some guest speakers and also look to get our films out into the festival circuit.
Sparks Film School Cardiff West is currently recruiting students to its new term time classes, where young filmmakers age 7+ can learn a range of practical filmmaking skills and work on their own filmmaking projects.
Find out more about their upcoming classes and register for a free trial class here >>
