Press release from IPAF
Hundreds of students from Gold Coast Secondary Schools converged at Warner Roadshow Studios today to take part in the “Nothing Beats the Real Thing!” Civics & Citizenship Youth Challenge, putting film and TV content in the spotlight.
Students engaged with the concept of how copyright, creativity and citizenship shapes our society. In the constantly evolving digital arena, the course poses questions concerning the value of screen content, how films and television shows are distributed, and how an individual’s choices have consequences that impact the community.
In the afternoon, students team up with students from other schools to create a self-devised advertisement aimed to convince others to respect original films and television shows. Students write the ad, rehearse it, and present the role-play to their peers, who judge a winner at the end of the afternoon.
Special guests from two Australian productions currently shooting at the Warner Roadshow Studios visited the students in the adjoining Studio: Andrew Wight, the co-Writer and Producer of James Cameron’s 3D cave-diving thriller “Sanctum”, and actors Emily Robins and Miles Szanto from “The Elephant Princess”.
Shooting since November last year, “Sanctum” creator Andrew Wight said that the he was heartened by the positive response from students: “Everyone loves the movies, but few know the extent of the creativity and hard work that goes into producing the final exciting product. However, I’m pleasantly surprised by how much the students want to talk about valuing film content and how today’s experience might be the catalyst for some brilliant new filmmaker to come up with a new idea for a film and kick start new careers in our industry.”
Taking a short break from filming one of the last scenes of Season 2 of “The Elephant Princess”, actor Emily Robins said: “It was great to meet the students and share the filmmaking experience with them. They were really interested in how we put the show together, and said they’ll watch it in a whole new way when the next season comes out.”
The Youth Challenge on the Gold Coast was created by educational program creators Ryebuck Media and the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM), on behalf of the Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation (IPAF), an organization formed by the Australian film and television industry.
Commenting as the event got underway, IPAF Chair Maureen Barron said that young people have a remarkable ability to make reasonable choices and determine the type of society they want to live in: “Research has revealed that 73% of 13-17 year olds would be less likely to access illegal content once they understand the creativity and hard work involved in the production and distribution of films and television shows*. We find that extremely heartening, and it gives us faith that future generations, who are our creators of tomorrow, will share a healthy respect for screen content.”
* Nielsen NRG Research May 2009