Fatal car accident inspires student film
Robbie Taylor’s death friends stunned.
The 17-year-old died after the vehicle he was a passenger in crashed on Auckland’s Ian McKinnon Drive, in Eden Terrace, in January.
The grief that followed Robbie’s death is the subject of a short film made by his classmates from St Peter’s College.
The documentary, entitled Robbie, follows James Sutherland-Cameron, Oliver van Lent and Ned Drumm as they come to terms with their best friend’s death.
It uses footage from their time with Robbie mixed with interviews of the trio who explain how they got used to the idea their friend wouldn’t be coming back to class.
‘‘None of us had really experienced losing someone close before,’’ Ned says.
‘‘We all went from talking with him one day and then losing him the next.’’
The accident occurred a week before the year 13 students were to start their final year of school.
‘‘In the mornings Robbie was the first person to usually arrive so that was hard,’’ Oliver says.
‘‘I felt for a while like he was coming back, like he had been overseas.’’
The documentary was created as part of a school assignment and also includes interviews with the school’s deputy principal and guidance counsellor.
James, an aspiring filmmaker, says they’d originally planned to left his create a events.
‘‘But we didn’t want to make it sad even though it is,’’ James says.
‘‘We didn’t want to highlight what it was like in the first two weeks but how you go on after.’’
The film was well received by