If you’re aged 12 to 25 years old and live somewhere between Forster and Woolgoolga (and anywhere in between), you might have already caught on to the short filmmaking craze happening throughout the Mid North Coast.
If you know someone with a YouTube channel, have heard words like “Machinima”, or know someone that’s recently made a short film there’s a likely reason why.
The REC Ya Shorts Youth Film Festival, founded in Coffs Harbour four years ago and now teaching young people filmmaking all across northern NSW, is taking youth filmmaking to new heights – and the Mid North Coast has been the first region of NSW to fully adopt the annual program with all councils supporting it.
“Not only does it give young people in regional NSW the opportunity to work with an arts medium (film) that they are very comfortable with today but to highlight the many other creative opportunities connected to the industry from makeup and costuming to production and music,” Arts Mid North Coast’s executive director Kevin Williams said.
Take one look at your Facebook news feed and you’ll see why.
Compared to even just a few years ago the amount of video content available is extraordinary. With many people silently watching their Facebook and Instagram feeds, video has crept to the top as the medium of choice.
But how do you make a video that grabs people’s attention? It turns out there’s a little more than pointing your iPhone at something and hitting record.
REC Ya Shorts Youth Film Festival teaches young people how to structure their short films, how to shape their stories, how to use camera angles effectively, and – how to get on screens around Australia.
The festival’s 2018 short film competition is now open for entries, with September 24 as the deadline for submissions.
Selected young directors will have their films chosen to be screened at venues around regional Australia for National Youth Week 2019 and will also premiere at the Nextwave Youth Film Awards, a brand-new event that takes place in the official program for the 2019 Screenwave International Film Festival next January in Coffs Harbour.
The expansion of the festival to new regions has been facilitated by a successful grant from Regional Arts NSW and supported by Create NSW, Arts Mid North Coast and Arts North West.
For competition entry guidelines and program information visit www.recyashorts.com.au.
Janene Carey
Janene Carey is the senior journalist for the Bellingen Shire Courier-Sun
Janene Carey is the senior journalist for the Bellingen Shire Courier-Sun
