Student blog: ‘Swarm of Shorts’
You may have caught Swarm of Shorts, the short film program on Channel 31 that has been airing over the past few weeks. It screens short films that have come out of the Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media course, talks to the filmmakers involved, explores why and how they got involved in film making and much more. As producers, directors, hosts and editors, we created Swarm of Shorts from the ground up, after being presented with an opportunity by our former lecturer, Boris Trbic.
Swarm of Shorts was an exciting and challenging project for both of us. While Bethany had worked on channel 31 projects before, neither of us had written, produced, directed or hosted a show up until this point. We had help from Swinburne in getting in contact with previous graduates of the film course and getting their short films onto the screen.
Bethany’s love for film making began at a young age after receiving a video camera for her eighth birthday from her grandfather. Over the years she has been involved in many different short film productions and volunteered on a live music program on Channel 31. Bethany’s passion lays in post-production, especially editing. She received the Best Editor award last year for her role on the short film Graveyard Shift which also went on to be screened at the Adelaide International Film Festival.
James has been involved in all aspects of short film production, even since primary school. Over the past few years he’s picked up several awards in local film festivals for his excellence in writing and editing. Last year James’ script Gavin won the best script award at Parallel Projections, The Advanced Diploma of Screen 2010’s Graduate Screening. Over the past two years James has been the director of two short films, writer of five and editor of six.
We met in the Advanced Diploma course in 2009 where we collaborated on numerous projects throughout our studies, and are now undergoing our third year of the Bachelor of Film and Television. This year, James wrote the script for the graduate piece Smothered, a tale of a man fighting between his Russian mother and English girlfriend as they battle for control of his already abysmal life. He has also been a crew member on dozens of different second and third year productions and also has a few of his own projects in the works.
This year Bethany is editing two graduate pieces, Smothered and Brothers on a Motel Bed. Earlier this year she also created a music video called Seek out the River for the up and coming Brunswick band Anna Smyrk and the Appetites, which screened earlier this month at the Northcote Social Club to a massive crowd. Bethany also keeps herself busy with freelance editing work and is keen to work on more of her own projects in the future.
We are currently working on a music video and a few promotional videos and have many more projects to collaborate on in the near future, including some more projects for television.
If you’d like to get in contact with us, email sidekickfilms@gmail.com
By James Birrell and Bethany Young
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