Student film in line for national award

Talented students Matt Weston and Mike Chinn have been shortlisted for the First Light Awards 2011 for their short film, Birmingham Will MOB you.

The 60-second film focuses on volunteers from arts centre The Drum in Birmingham, who take part in flash mobbing, which is spontaneous dancing in public places such as shopping centres and supermarkets.

The award ceremony, hosted by Radio One DJ Nick Grimshaw, will be held in Leicester Square in London on Tuesday, 15 March 2011. The short film will be competing against other entries from Manchester, Exeter and London.

Film-makers were asked to produce a short film to showcase the positive attributes of volunteering and the project is geared towards the 2012 Olympic values of community.

Mike, 25, from Wolverhampton, said: “We are flattered to be nominated and are very excited. Now we are working hard to get people to vote for us by pushing it on Facebook and Twitter. We did the film off our own backs, and this is how far we have come so we want other students to know what you can do if you put your mind to something.”

Matt, 22, from Newton Abbot in Devon, added: “It is an honour to have been nominated for an award and we feel ecstatic. We only started out last year by filming a broadcast journalism video for a University assignment and we've come such a long way. We've been involved with many video projects at the Uni since and this is further proof that volunteering is a good thing.

“The MOB project is brilliant and we chose to film it because it reflects strong Olympic Values like friendship (unity), inspiration (passion), excellence (standing out) in the run up the 2012 Olympics. We want Birmingham and the West Midlands to be recognised as we have a massive part to play in 2012.”

Both students are in their final year of a joint honours degree in the School of Law, Social Sciences and Communications. Mike is studying BA (Hons) Media and Communications Studies with Creative and Professional Writing, while Matt is doing a BA (Hons) Media and Communications Studies with Sociology.

In order to win Mike and Matt need people to vote for them. Supporters can click on the link below to vote for their film: http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/fl-awards/the-first-light-awards-2011/mygames-powered-by-v-digital-documenters-award/

The film is available on youtube.com.

The students have collaborated on film projects before, including a special film focused on the University of Wolverhampton Ambika Paul Student Union Centre which was used for the official opening of the new centre in November 2010. They are also part of the Birmingham Digital Documenters, a voluntary group which has covered three Olympic related projects in the Midlands area, including Birmingham will MOB you.

The pair have already started work on their next project, The Triple Tower Challenge, a documentary featuring a cyclist who is biking from the Tower of Pisa in Italy to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and finishing at Blackpool Tower being filmed between April 11-26. Visit http://tripletowerchallenge.wordpress.com/ for more information.

For more information about Birmingham Digital Documenters, visit http://digitaldocumentersbirmingham.wordpress.com/

ENDS

Picture: (L-R): Matt Weston and Mike Chinn.

For more information please contact Vickie Warren in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736