Partnership exploitation film gets royal approval

An exploitation film we commissioned from the Media Learning Company at City College has won a Royal Television Society (RTS) Award at the RTS East Student Awards on Friday 8th March. The awards recognise talent across the next generation of filmmakers and provide a platform for showcasing their work to industry professionals.

 

The Maze was nominated in four categories: Drama; Camerawork; Editing and Sound with the students taking home the award for sound. The Media Learning Company were the only further education college among the nominees of otherwise entirely universities and the winners will be put forward for the national awards later in the year.

 

The film forms part of our upcoming partnership exploitation campaign, Know The Signs (knowthesigns.info), with a focus on the younger demographic of the overall campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the signs of exploitation. The students produced four films in total to illustrate the push and pull factors of exploitation, particularly around drugs and gangs. The students carried out extensive research including with partnership agencies such as police, focus groups with secondary school aged young people and parents of children involved in gangs and serious violence.

 

Mark Stokes, Chair of the Norfolk Community Safety Partnership said: "We are so immensely proud of the students – to be nominated for these awards is a wonderful achievement in itself. The film demonstrates the subtle and often lengthy process of an exploitative relationship and how difficult it can be to recognise when you or others are being exploited. The students understood and conveyed that the exploiters are always the ones at fault and it is never the fault of the person being exploited; a key message for young people seeking advice or support to understand.

 

The passion, dedication, professionalism and skillset that the students demonstrated impressed the partnership board from the beginning. It was clear that the students felt that they were part of making a difference to young people in our county and that these products will be used to keep them safe from harm. The films they created for us will have a lasting legacy for young people in Norfolk."

 

Lorraine Sutherland, Media Learning Company Leader said: “The opportunity to work with the Norfolk Community Safety Partnership on this multi-stakeholder project has been extraordinary from start to finish. The Media Learning Company students researched, pitched, budgeted, planned, scripted, shot and edited four films about the impacts of exploitation on young people as well as producing posters and graphic assets.

 

This is not an easy subject matter, but with the support of the Partnership they were able to understand the nuance and complexity involved. They were entrusted to create content that would directly impact their peers and local community, which remains a source of great pride to us all. It is not often young people are given this level of responsibility and allowed to bring their thoughts and opinions to bear on subject matters, such as this.

 

This collaboration has been utterly invaluable to the students in giving them production experience which is second to none, but also to work with multiple stakeholders and understand their role in the community in which we live. This successful project shows just how beneficial these types of collaboration can be and how the final results can be all the richer because of those multiple perspectives. It is incredible what young people are capable of, when given the chance, and I am deeply grateful to Norfolk Community Safety Partnership for giving us that opportunity.”