Putaruru filmmakers impress with video
A fight to eradicate bullying has landed Putaruru College students, Luke Maddren and John Motion third place in the AntiBullying TV Commercial Competition.
The year 13 students were ‘‘stoked’’ with their placing out of 54 other schools and the $500 prize, which goes to their school.
Their entry was altered for a Mental Health video competition and also won second place there.
The duo found out about their win when it was mentioned on the current affairs programme Seven Sharp.
‘‘I was surprised it was on television,’’ Maddren said.
‘‘We got all these texts saying we had won.’’
The two friends have experienced bullying, but they say, through research, they have found it it is much worse for others.
‘‘[The subject] kind of links to your life – everyone has bullies.’’
Their 40 second video for Blue Light tells the story of a girl who is cyber bullied and eventually kills herself.
At the end it is all a dream from the bully’s perspective.
Maddren said their film focused on words like ‘‘mental’’ and ‘‘nutjob’’, the main point being to highlight the effect of name calling.
‘‘It’ll help them [the audience] by showing the perspective of the bully and the victim.’’
This win is one of many, including the Fair Go ad award in 2012, since they started in year 9.
They were among the first group to start the successful Putaruru College film class.
While this is their last year at the college, the pair both move on to South Seas Film and TV School next year.
Maddren will study film and television, while Motion will take on a course in Animation.