In period Five last Friday, there was an unusually interesting event at BISB, the Boscars. The BISB version of the Oscars, a bit smaller scale, but equally intriguing. There were three categories for the films to be judged on: Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Editing. These films were short, five to maximum 10 minutes, and were made by Year 9, impressively without any help. It took place in the drama room, towards the end of the day. It was attended by Years 8 and 9, was judged by teachers from our school and there was also a guest star judge Otto Banovits, a former student at BISB, from where he went on to study at the University of the Arts in London. This was the first year of the Boscars, which was taking place to show Year Nine’s well appreciated efforts which went into creating these movies. First, we were all seated into the decorated drama room (it even had a red carpet), then our teacher, Mr. Bird gave a short introduction speech. We watched the films and our guest star talked about the importance of films in our diverse culture. He mentioned every part in his detailed explanation about this topic. What I personally found the most interesting about him is how much he values the editors’ efforts in the making of a film. I’m quoting him when I say ‘A good editor can replace a bad cameraman’.
Now to talk a bit more about the films. There were three nominees for each category, nine films in total. After their titles were displayed on the screen, the winners for each category were announced from a letter, and their posters (also made by the students) were shown to the audience. Then we watched the films. It was an exciting and unique experience to show how our fellow peers managed to overcome to the many difficulties of filmmaking. Two of the most memorable films were Dred, one of the most horrifying films that I have ever watched. It was about a possessed teenager at a party where a group of friends play with a Ouija board and then a mysterious thing causes their death. The death scenes very professionally cut and looked extremely real.
Another film was Dora, a film like Dora the Explorer, whose plot is still not clear. It was about what goes through someone’s head and the film won Best Editing. It was funny, but much more importantly it had something which other films didn’t have. It wasn’t straightforward at all and had many different meanings.
The third film was called ‘You’re Next’ and it was a typical but good strong movie about a demonic figure terrorising their victims.
As a conclusion, I must recommend Dora to everyone thanks to its makers who were brave to stick with their idea and to create their film.
Daniel Lebor, Year 8 student