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The second "Youth Inno-Action Keep Rolling! HKBU Academy of Film Seeds Project" (the project), jointly organised by the Government Youth Portal (Youth.gov.hk) and the Academy of Film, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), was officially launched today (December 5), followed by a seminar on the topic "Grab it! Hold it!"
Officiating at the ceremony were the Managing Director of Youth.gov.hk and the Deputy Head of the Efficiency Unit, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Mrs Patricia Lau; the Director of the Academy of Film, School of Communication, HKBU, Professor Cheuk Pak-tong; and students representing winning teams of the previous year's Seeds Project's Digital Short Video Competition 2012 from SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School and Yuen Long Merchants Association Secondary School.
Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Cheuk said that the project, jointly organised by the Government and the Academy of Film for the first time last year, has gained support and participation from over 100 secondary schools. A number of seminars, workshops and digital video competitions have been successfully organised under the project and were well received by teachers and students of secondary schools. He said that this year's project would be taken forward in three stages, namely two workshops at elementary level and advanced level respectively, and a digital video competition. These activities all aim to enable secondary school students interested in film-making or digital photographic production to learn about the industry at an early stage, and to understand and acquire the related skills step by step.
Professor Cheuk said he hoped that with the launching of the new round of activities, the project would take further forward the mission of the Academy of Film by nurturing more professionals for the film, television and digital video production industry in the Greater China region.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Mrs Lau said that the Youth Portal joined with HKBU for the frst time last year to organise a project targeting secondary students to nurture video-making professionals for Hong Kong. She said she was full of doubts at first and wondered whether the students could achieve the objectives. She was surprised by the work of the students later on as she received 56 entries for the video competition which were of good quality and different genres ranging from drama to documentaries. Mrs Lau said she was grateful to the Academy of Film, HKBU, for providing professional workshops and seminars to some 1,400 students participating in the project who had benefited in areas such as developing creative ideas and the use of cameras and lighting. She said she hoped that more students would participate in this year's project to make good use of their creativity and the skills attained to produce videos and images to impress more people.
Following the ceremony, four veteran practitioners from the creative industries discussed idea generation with students at the project's first seminar. Speakers at the seminar included the Artistic Director of Chung Ying Theatre Company, Mr Ko Tin-lung, and film directors, Mr Kenneth Bi, Mr Sunny Luk and Mr Leung Lok-man.
The project aims to enhance the artistic knowledge and aesthetic appreciation of secondary school students and to nurture their professional and creative skills in digital video production and exchange activities covering the five key professions, namely directing, cinematography and lighting, sound design, post-production and idea generation in script writing. The project was launched in 2011 and has been sponsored by Create Hong Kong since then. This year's project will last for seven months and include a series of creative seminars, interactive workshops, a digital video competition, exchange sessions, and new programmes for participants to experience tertiary education and field activities. For details of the project, please visit youth.gov.hk/innoaction.
Ends/Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:40
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