Young filmmakers from Sparks Film School in Highgate have won the prestigious Film of the Month Into Film Award! Congratulations to all the filmmakers involved in making How Do You Feel? which picked up the Into Film award earlier this month.
How Do You Feel? is a short film production made by Studio 5 crews taking part in filmmaking classes at Sparks Film School in Highgate. Studio 5 welcomes filmmakers aged 14-18 to develop their creative and technical filmmaking skills, as well as offering them the creative space and opportunities to produce their own film productions.
The film was recently chosen as the winner for the Into Film award, selected as their Film of the Month by Into Film judges.
How Do You Feel?
The Highgate crews made How Do You Feel? earlier this year as part of the summer term of filmmaking classes. The film is based on their own original idea, in response to the theme of The Camera Games, which was a challenge to all Sparks Film School filmmakers designed to produce work that really showcased their skills and abilities.
The film explores the theme of youth mental health and uses the camera to convey a confusion of emotions on the screen. It’s an innovative and expressive production that take the viewer on a complex, emotional journey.
Feedback from the judges at Into Film praised the film’s direction and cinematography, as well as the attention to detail throughout the film. One of the judges for the Into Film award shared with us, “I’ve watched the film a few times today and I really love the attention to detail they’ve gone into – the piece of paper coming off the wall as the camera tilts upside down, the lamps turning on and off, etc. I’s all so ‘blink and you miss it’ but when you think about it, none of that stuff is simple to do. All requires a lot of planning and timing.”
The judges shared detailed feedback for the filmmakers, including lots of praise, as well as some advice for the filmmakers to help develop their potential.
About the Into Film Award
The Into Film award for Film of the Month is a national competition for young filmmakers to submit to on a monthly basis. The Film of the Month competition celebrates exceptional young filmmaking talent from across the UK. There are no restrictions on genre or theme, the judges assess entries on the idea, sound, story and look, as well as the technical ability on display.
Accepting their award, the crew members involved in the production shared videos to express their thanks and to share their insights on the process involved.
“Thank you Into Film for this great opportunity. We’re incredibly grateful for, first of all, making a film that we’re all really proud of and also we made something that a lot of us can learn from, especially from the feedback of everyone who watched it and enjoyed it. We’re really grateful that we can apply all of this to film that we’ll be making in the future.”
“Hi Into Film, I just want to say thank you on behalf of the whole Sparks team – and me – for giving us this award. To answer one of the questions that was asked, which was, “what’s your advice in terms of production for young filmmakers elsewhere?”, I would say that the use of light and colour is vital to display a message clearly when you have such limited resources. Thank you.”
It’s needless to say, but we’re all very proud of the young crews, especially for how they have taken an urgent and important subject matter and found such a creative and mature way to explore it on screen as a piece of art. We love to see film being used in this way, the film is highly impactful as well as highly skilful. We’re thrilled that this is being acknowledged elsewhere and very proud to see them win the competitive Into Film award!
What Next?
Since making How Do You Feel? the young filmmakers in Studio 5 have progressed onto their latest productions, which will be available to share very soon.
In the Autumn Term, the young crews at Sparks Film School were exploring the theme Screen Legends, where they’ve looked at the work of several legendary filmmakers to inspire some work of their own. They will also be back from January, where they are set to look at some new inspirations and challenges as part of The Camera Never Lies, which explores different storytelling formats, from factual, to narrative fiction and the spaces in between. We’re excited to see what the young filmmakers in Highgate come up with! We’re sure we’ll see more award wins from this highly talented crew along the way too!
If you’d like to find out more about Studio 5, filmmaking classes in Highgate or other opportunities for young filmmakers, then please get in touch. If you’d like to become a student, you can find details of all our filmmaking classes in Highgate, as well as across the UK, on our Class Finder here.
