Stas Turko, a director and teacher at Minsk’s film studio-school, joined actress Olesya Gribok in teaching two eighth grade classes how to shoot a film, using a mobile telephone rather than a traditional camera.
Participants of Smartfilm Festival
In our modern times, teenagers can hardly imagine their life without a handset and often spend their school break time surfing, rather than chatting. This issue became the focus of the children’s film, with the main character accidentally breaking his mobile phone, which obliges him to discover the surrounding world anew.
The improvised set was arranged in a serious manner, with a script. Pupils split into two teams, simultaneously shooting each scene from a different angle (guided by professionals), ready for editing.
It seems unlikely that youngsters will put aside their gadgets but they can be taught to use them wisely. With this in mind, the organisers of the recent workshop are convinced that children will reform their use of smartphones. The gymnasium’s Director, Yekaterina Petrusha, not only supported the idea but took part. She tells us, “We need only look at the children’s interested faces to understand that this idea has been a true event for them, giving them the chance to look at their attitude to modern technologies objectively. I believe it’s a wonderful example of how we should teach pupils ‘as equals’.”
By Olga Pimenova
