Students on Pinewood Studios Course

The Film and Media Department are celebrating again as four students (Amelia, Jenny and Laura – all Year 12 Film Studies students, and Elliott who studied Film GCSE and is studying Media A-level in Year 13) have been accepted to a highly sought-after short course run by the British Film Institute.

The course – for 16-19 year olds, which runs every Saturday for the first six weeks of the year, is led by industry professionals and will result in the students collaborating to make their own short film.

Perhaps best of all, the course is hosted at the world-famous Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire (soon to be the biggest studio in the world), where filming takes place for the Bond and Mission:Impossible films, Star Wars and recent live action Disney films like Beauty and the Beast, as well as many other smaller productions.

Mr Roberts said “Over 200 students from across the South East applied and only 50 made it to the interview stage, yet St Bart’s has four through to the actual course. We’re so proud of all them and it’ll certainly be a big boost for their future careers in the industry to have this experience.”

Laura said, “In the first session of the BFI Academy, we had talks from some guest speakers, including the founder of resource productions who is a professional producer. This was a great opportunity to see different ways in which we can enter the industry and the different jobs available. We also had an exclusive tour of the studios, where we saw lots sound stages, including the Sean Connery stage, the underwater stage and the paddock tank. This academy is a once in a life time opportunity and I’m so grateful to be a part of this.”