'Oscar' glamour for Cavan Institute students
A team of students from Cavan Institute got a taste of the Oscars at the Digital Hub last week when their film reached All-Ireland finals at the Dare2bDrinkAware Awards Ceremony.
John Wrenne, Eamonn Cahill, Catriona Boylan and Grainne O"Reilly documented their ideas on the attitudes of young Irish people towards alcohol in a three-minute video, Last Night. It was nominated in the Public Vote Category, but lost to Drunkorexic V. Obesity, a film by Athlone IT student Michelle Lavelle Glynn.
The celebration of the talents of young digital filmmakers in Ireland was combined with the aim of increasing drink awareness among the youth, and the winning film On The Cutting Room Floor was produced by students from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT).
Last Night deals with health and emotional issues associated with drinking. 'Our film aimed to raise awareness about the consequences of over consumption of alcohol and judging by the reaction of our fellow students it certainly did that,' said Grainne O"Reilly from Bailieboro.
While disappointed, multimedia tutor Donna McCarron, acknowledged that it was an achievement for Cavan Institute to reach the final stage of the competition as there were more than 100 entries.
However the institute students didn"t walk away empty-handed. Their film will be screened at Movies @ Dundrum as part of the Cinemagic Film Festival in the coming weeks. In addition, all the films will air on Dublin TV station City Channel over the next month, while the winning film On The Cutting Room Floor will also be screened at the Oxegen music festival.
Eamonn Cahill from Maghera, Virginia believes the competition was a good opportunity for the group to explore the visual presentation of the consequences of drink-driving. 'As a team we were challenged to explore creatively the relationship between Irish culture and drinking through considering the values, attitudes and behaviours that young adults have in relation to alcohol,' he said.
The Cavan Institute students also have the opportunity to avail of master classes with industry professionals in film and video production. Eamonn has already signed up for the directing and scripting courses and the rest of group haven"t decided yet which courses to opt for.
But they have plenty of choice according to their tutor, as the range of courses includes Radio Presenting and Production with Ray D"Arcy; Acting with Patrick Bergin; Television Presenting with Aidan Power; Television and music production with Cavan native Ned O"Hanlon; Script writing with Ben Schiffer; Production Design and Art Direction with Jason Carlin; Acting with Ra chel Kavanagh; Directing for film with Graham Cantwell; Radio Production with Barbara Loftus and Directing with David Caffrey.
The students developed their initial ideas and drew on their knowledge of multimedia production techniques to produce the final video. 'Multimedia technology is a good way of making young people aware of the real consequences of underage drinking and the consumption of too much alcohol,' according to John Wrenne from Cavan town.
The students were full of praise for the support they received from their colleagues and the staff at Cavan Institute. Catriona Boylan from Ballyjamesduff said: 'We drew on the skills of drama and other students in the Institute in helping us make the video. That and the support of tutor Donna McCarron and the rest of the Multimedia department including Cara McDermott and Joe English, the head of the Computing School, really meant that we could produce a quality product.'
Now in its second year, Dare2bDrinkAware is a competition for third-level students, sponsored by drinkaware.ie and organised by the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA).
The competition was overseen by a prestigious judging panel that included TV and radio presenter John Kelly, representatives of the Irish Film and Television Academy, the Irish Film Institute, the Union of Students in Ireland, drinkaware.ie and The Digital Hub.
Director Lenny Abrahamson (Garage) was the special guest at the event in The Digital Hub. 'Competitions like Dare2bDrinkAware are integral to the future success of the Irish film industry,' he said. 'It"s tough starting out as a novice film-maker, so the experience and support gained through competitions such as this one are invaluable.
'I was really surprised, in a good way, by the quality of the winning film and the runners-up. It"s great to see emerging talent being rewarded in such a public way.'
Fionnuala Sheehan, chief executive of drinkaware.ie, said all the films that made the shortlist for the competition were high standard. 'All 10 films that made the shortlist really succeeded in meeting the brief for the competition, which is to creatively explore young people"s attitudes to drinking,' she said. 'The medium of film is a good way of engaging with third-level students as it is widely accepted among that age group. We were delighted with the response to Dare2bDrinkAware. The experience, contacts and knowledge gained by the students who take part in this competition is really invaluable as they embark on their future careers.'
• dare2bdrinkaware.com
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