WESTON College Higher Education media students premiered their films at the Watershed cinema in Bristol last week (Thursday June 9th).

The aspiring filmmakers from the College’s Film and Media Arts Production foundation degree, which is run in partnership with Bath Spa University, presented 14 short films to an audience of more than 100 people at the venue on Bristol’s Harbourside. 

The eclectic mix of traditional, experimental, corporate and documentary flicks included ‘Ghosts’, a collaborative effort by all of the second year students, and ‘That’s Life’, which was shot by the first year students on their residential trip to Granada, Spain.

Samuel Wiggins, who directed ‘Ghosts’, said: “Working on a professional set of such a big size and scale was new to us all, but it was such a rewarding and enjoyable experience. We’re all really pleased with the film.”

The event was also organised and promoted by the multi-talented students.

Emily Eades, who led the organising committee, said: “Everyone came together really well to work on staging the showcase.

“The response was better than we could ever have hoped for, and we’re grateful to everyone who came along to share our memorable evening with us.”

As well as counting as coursework towards their degrees, the students will be submitting the shorts to competitions and festivals and also using them to support their applications to join professional shoots in the coming months.

Jimmy Hay, the coordinator of the FdA Film and Media Arts Production course at Weston College’s Loxton Campus, said: “As lecturers, we were incredibly proud to see the films being played on the big screen at a cinema as prestigious as the Watershed.

“We have a really strong group of students and the quality of the films they’ve made this year is a testament to the amount of work and dedication they’ve put into developing their craft and how effectively they’ve worked together as a team.”

The programme also included ‘The Fatal Deal’ by Miguel Fonseca and Jessie Clayton; ‘Choco Factory’ by Tanicka Fenty; ‘The Ring’ by Miguel Fonseca; ‘The Truth Is In The Groove’ by Becki Couch; ‘Jooxter’ by Seb Harris and Poppy Mobsby; ‘Under The Bridge’ by Emily Eades; ‘8 Mil Memories’ by John Peeke; ‘Play Dead For Me’ by Alex Shepherd; ‘Moth’ by Harley Sanderson; ‘The Different Sides of Helsinki?’ by Lizzy Holbrook; ‘Below The Neck’ by Samuel Wiggins; and ‘INTIMAE’ by Seb Harris and Poppy Mobsby.

You can view the showcase trailer by visiting: https://vimeo.com/169445451

As Weston College’s popular Creative Art’s Summer Show opens to the public today (Wednesday 15th June), students have revealed their inspiration behind this year’s theme.

Laura Martins (19) and Lauren Poole (20), who are both studying Graphic Design Foundation Degrees in partnership with Bath Spa University at Weston College’s Loxton Campus, were tasked with creating the show’s branding and its overall theme.

Their concept ‘Infinity’ was chosen as it depicted the many different possibilities that students studying creative arts courses could pursue in the future.

Lauren said: “This is a showcase of hundreds of students’ work, each one with their own journey behind and ahead of them, with an infinite number of possibilities.

“We decided to create a brand around the idea that the artists on show here are infinitely expanding and growing as artists, exploring an infinite number of possibilities and artistic routes.

“Despite the huge scope of the event, we decided to keep the brand itself simple and approachable as it has to relate to everyone who sees it.”

The Weston College Summer Show allows the College’s Creative Arts students the opportunity to display their work to the public and forms a part of their assessment.

The show sees the campus, in Loxton Road, transformed into an art gallery with students on courses such art, graphic design and film exhibiting their work inside the building, while students studying music perform outside the venue.

The show is free to enter and open to the public until Thursday 23rd June between 10am - 4pm, and on Saturday 18th June from 10am - 2pm.

A group of Weston College students has spent two weeks volunteering to help renovate the 100-year-old Theatre in the Hut in Milton.

The students, who are all on the autism spectrum, completed the community project as part of a course called ‘Aspirations’, which is taught at the College’s pioneering residential training facility, Weston Bay.

The students planned the project themselves, and chose to help renovate the former World War One army hut as they felt it would benefit the community while also challenging them with a wide variety of jobs to complete.

The project enabled them to learn new skills such as painting, gardening and carpentry.

Adam, 21, said: “Every year people studying Aspirations work as a team to help out local community by refurbishing places that need attention.

“This year we repaired damaged wood on the hut, before sanding it down and giving it three coats of blue paint.

“We worked on the garden by weeding, planting and clearing up the rubbish.”

Weston College carpentry students constructed two wooden picnic benches that were donated to the project.

Heidi Martini, Residential Specialist Support Instructor at Weston College, said: “The students worked really hard to plan, fundraise, and undertake all the hard work ensure this community project a success.

“They demonstrated a wide range of skills including employability, teamwork, leadership, problem solving and reliability.

“We are incredible proud of their achievements individually and as a team.”

The renovations were unveiled at an opening ceremony attended by the students, college staff, members of the Wayfarers Drama Group and the Mayor and Mayoress of Weston-super-Mare.

Aspirations is a programme of study specifically developed for learners on the autism spectrum who are aged between 16-24 years, and is delivered at the Weston Bay residential training facility.

Many of the students on the course already have academic or vocational qualifications, but have found accessing employment, higher education or independent living very difficult. Aspirations gives them the opportunity to develop their skills and progress into independent living, university and employment.

You can find out more about how Weston College supports independent living by visiting www.weston.ac.uk/independent-living