Features
Student film scoops Rotherham Oscar
An animated film produced by a group of Rotherham students to highlight the dangers of playing with fire has scooped an Oscar award.
Flame Fable, created by year seven pupils at Aston Comprehensive School , bagged the ‘Roscar’ in the Key Stage 3 Stop Motion Animation category at a special red carpet award ceremony at Magna Science and Adventure Centre.
The two-minute film was created following the development of a unique pilot partnership between the school and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service to educate school children about the consequences of arson.
It is based around a group of children who deliberately start a fire in the park. Firefighters are called out to the blaze at the same time as a young girl becomes trapped in a more serious fire.
Designed and filmed over six months, the students created the animation with the support of the school’s IT specialist status and after-school web club.
Pupils also worked with the Fire Service’s Arson Intervention Team to film live footage at Aston Park Fire Station.
The third annual 'Roscars' - Rotherham’s equivalent of the Oscars - attracted more than 250 fact and fictional film entries from schools across the area and allows pupils to showcase their work in front of an audience of more than 400 people.
Bob Taylor, watch manager, Arson Intervention Team, said: The animated film project was a huge success and the Roscar was great reward for all the hard work and creative input from the children.
The project was far more valuable than any poster, leaflet or presentation and it was hugely rewarding for both the Arson Intervention Team and the students to see an idea come to fruition.
We gave the students total ownership of the project and put the issue in their hands. This really made them think about what the key messages are and how to successfully integrate them into the film. The pilot was such a success that we are now planning to extend it to all schools across South Yorkshire.
Simon Ward, ICT teacher at Aston Comprehensive, said: Our students had already produced a range of animations after school, but all of them with very little meaning. The Arson Intervention Team’s project gave them the opportunity to not only develop their creative skills, but provided a focus and the chance to produce work for a good cause.
The success of the project is down to the dedication of the students and the support of the Fire Service. Everybody at Aston is very proud of the work done by the students, and we are thrilled with their success at the Roscars.
Issued on behalf of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service by HR Media Ltd
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