We all read books because we all are aware of the benefits of reading. But when books start reading each other to sift fact from fiction or reality from mythology or science from religion? Well it can turn into an intriguing and intellectual exploration!
Two High School boys of Mahatma School Baba Building, Madurai, immersed themselves into the world of books to understand how human evolution happened and created a short animation film demonstrating the possible theories using two books -- one as the protagonist and the other as the villain.
The opportunity to get selected by their teachers to tell their own stories and build their creativity was big enough for R. Ram Pravin and S. Mothi. But when their three-minute video 'Fact vs Faith' beat 390 teams from all over India to bag the third prize in creative animation as part of the 'Advance to Australia India Schools Video Competition-2015', it came as a surprise to all.
This was the first time the school participated in the competition that aims at giving students from IGCSE, IB, CBSE, ICSE and State Board schools across India to use their English and video making skills and win a trip to Australia to explore opportunities for higher studies Down Under.
Of the 14 entries sent from the Mahatma group of four schools, two bagged the honours. The other team from Mahatma CBSE consisting of Siddeshwar Navaneetaran and C.S.K.Bala Sekhar made it to the top seven finalists under the category Robotics beating hundreds of entries. Their story revolved around a male robot who wants to destroy the humans and traps a female robot with human emotions and instincts in the game of love. 'The Rise of Everyday Robot' goes on to establish the power, strength and superiority of man even after making mistakes. The teams had to produce three-minute video clips depicting original stories under the four themes -- creative animation, robotics, marine sciences and social entrepreneurship. The students were trained in the creative process of filmmaking from conceptualization to final product through workshops and road shows conducted by the Cambridge English Language Assessment (a department of the University of Cambridge) and the Australian Trade Commission in India. "We were taught how to shoot from different angles and light conditions, how to create a story, write a script and present it," says Bala Sekhar. “We filmed for four-to six hours and then editing and compressing it to a three-minute film was tough," says Mothi.
The toughest part was creating movement for our animated characters and synchronising it with the narration, adds Pravin. When the boys made the film last year and uploaded it on YouTube this January for the competition, they were all in eleventh grade. “The pressure of class XII boards was mounting and we knew the competition was enormous both in terms of quantity and quality," says Siddeshwar. We had two months at our disposal and many times things went weird, says Pravin, adding, either we did not agree with each other's story ideas or disliked the scripts we wrote or even how each of us visualised it differently. The boys learnt on February 29 that their films beat multiple entries. "We are still trying to wrap our heads around it," say Siddeshwar and Mothi, both of whom love to write. “The results were posted on the website followed by an official letter. There was an explosion of happiness,” smiles Pravin. Though only the first prize winners won a trip to Australia and the Mahatma boys also missed the prize distribution function owing to their exams, the young winners are happy about their achievement. The entire experience was very inspirational, they say. "It boosted our self-confidence, chiselled our English speaking skills, triggered imagination and gave us the freedom to let us be just us." When they began, the students had nothing to show. And now they brought small town Madurai in the reckoning list of student filmmakers. For them to participate was enough and now the win obviously is simply great!
