High School Students Gain Experience on Local Short Film Set

This October, 12 high school students and recent graduate from Canadian International School of Hong Kong, King George V School, and St. Paul's Co-educational College were selected by our team to participate as crew members on a local short film production directed by Babel Film Workshop founder Jeremy Hung.

The students were part of the production’s High School Media Team, which brought them on set over 6 days to capture behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot. Students also helped out as Production Assistants on various tasks, including crafty (food and drink services). In several instances, they even appeared in front of the camera as background actors.

“[The experience] made me more excited to work on sets in the future, and gave me a better understanding of the industry,” said Tieran Holtet, a senior at Canadian International School. It also exposed him to the “range of jobs required to create a film.”

After signing up earlier in the school year, students prepared for the shoot with Jeremy and our High School Media Team Coordinator, Crystal Li. Students were further split into teams based on their interests in filmmaking, such as directing, writing, cinematography, art direction, and music composition.

To prepare for the shoot, students discussed the film’s screenplay with Crystal, and shared any questions or feedback they had with Jeremy. They also researched similar film productions’ making-of videos and marketing strategy to inform their work on the film.

The goal of this initiative is to bring prospective film school students onto professional film sets to gain real-world experience prior to attending university. This would give students a chance to identify the most important skills to develop when they arrive at film school.

Reflecting on her “informative and eye-opening experience,” Erin Law, a junior at King George V, said that the most important lesson she learned was to “always be ready and eager to help, and be quick on your feet.”

Now that production has wrapped, the next step for the students is to produce making-of videos with the footage they shot to coincide with the film’s release next year. As we continue our collaboration with these students, we look forward to creating similar learning opportunities on film sets for more students in the near future.