Student Dylan Alexander is having a great year. Recently, his PowerPoint presentation incorporating his own photos of local scenery was accepted in application to attend the Gulf Island Film and Television School (GIFTS) on Galiano Island.
Eleven students from secondary schools across B.C. were chosen to go to the workshop for a week in April to learn film making for Reel Vue, a youth-oriented film project and festival. At age 15, Dylan was one of the younger teens selected. During his week at film making school, the Sechelt student, who works through his own program of studies at the Coast's Phoenix Program (part of the S.C. Alternative School), teamed up with two other kids to make a documentary based loosely on the theme of B.C.'s heritage and culture. The trio made a film about Jane Rule, the celebrated author who lived on Galiano and died in November 2007.
After only a few days of instruction and with the help of industry professionals, including a special effects guru and an artistic director, they accomplished the whole film in one day.
"We wrote out a script, did the interviewing and were up until 5 a.m. finishing it," Dylan recalled. Editing was a challenge, especially when faced with a deadline.
"You get it done," he said.
GIFTS technical director Nick Middleton warned that the students were tasked with a challenging project. "In only four days and with little or no previous film experience, they will produce five original short films that embrace the theme of B.C. history," Middleton said.
The films will be available for viewing in Vancouver this June at a Reel Vue Film Festival and will likely be entered in other festivals, an exciting prospect. But the real goal for the Ministry of Education sponsored project was to help the students build skills toward creating art and to encourage them in their careers.
This kind of independent project is right up the Phoenix Program's alley. Teacher Nick Smith calls the Sechelt school of 20 students, aged 12 to 18, "a project based, real life, open school." The kids don't necessarily sit at a desk and read books very well, but they are bright and are getting more experiential learning as well as their standard academic requirements. The program integrates science, botany and geography in their outdoor trips; Dylan discovered his interest in photography while out on these field trips with the other students. He photographed many winter scenes at Dakota Ridge, added some landscape and forest scenery, digitally manipulated them for a class project and compiled them into the presentation that later became his film school submission. The images fit this year's theme for the GIFTS school - the selection committee was looking for recognition of the province's 150th anniversary. Dylan showed how the province's people have shaped the landscape and how, in turn, the landscape has affected the people.
In early May, after he returned home, Dylan learned he had been chosen for a $300 scholarship to take another course at GIFTS during one of its week long programs. He's happy about that, but right now there are other thoughts on his mind: the longboarding competition taking place in Pender Harbour this weekend. Film making will have to wait a while because this year, for the first time, he's been sponsored to race - definitely, a great year.
