Performing & Production Arts Students Star in Fundraising Film

Published • News
Six St. Francis Xavier Performing & Production Arts students were selected to take part in a new fundraising advert for employability and life skills charity Working Options in Education. The film “We Did Everything” was created and produced by award winning creative comms agency Media Zoo, with the filming taking place in December and the film being released last week.

Joshua, Amisha, Alexander, Natalia, Lovejoy and Alpha had to submit audition clips before attending a zoom call with the directors. “I received a casting call from my teacher Ms Dewey, it was looking for actors to play a specific role in a short film. At first I was reluctant as to whether I wanted to join the project, because it was not something I had done before, but the next day I decided to overcome my fear and take the opportunity while I could, so I sent a self-tape to the casting director.” explained Alpha. Natalia also submitted an audition tape; “We were given a paragraph from the script to learn for the audition. Soon after, those who got a call back were given a time slot for a zoom call so the directors could get to know us better.”.

The students relished having the opportunity to work with a professional film crew on location, “When I arrived on film day, I got a chance to introduce myself to all the crew members on set and got a better understand of their roles while filming”, said Alpha. During Natalia’s shoot, she discovered the difference between acting on stage and in film: “We moved around the set location to film in different sceneries and from different angles. There were clips filmed of me walking, running, looking up at the sky, talking to the camera and loads more. I definitely enjoyed the whole experience. It was all so eye-opening and allowed me to see what it really feels like to be in a short movie. I learnt that it really isn’t as easy as it seems to talk in front of a camera - it requires confidence and determination - taking part helped me improve both of those!”

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As a college we are very fortunate to have worked with Working Options many times in the past, with Working Options providing our students with employability workshops, facilitating guest speakers, offering scholarship opportunities and much more. Their new “Change the story” campaign is in response to the crises young people are facing in education, employment and acquiring the skills they need to build a better future, and as such Working Options have launched their ambitious new Career Pathways Programme.

The students that took part in the film are very pleased with the outcome; Alpha thinks “the visuals look amazing”, and Natalia said “I think the advert turned out really well. We all got our time to shine and it really got the true message across to the people watching it.”.