Five commercials created by Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) students collected prizes at this year’s Kodak/NAHEMI Student Commercial Awards.
Two of the 30-second adverts created by third-years on the BA (Hons) Film Production course – Tea Rebellion and Death’s Open Mic – shared the third place spot overall, in a competition spanning 64 entries from 17 film schools across the UK and Ireland.
In addition, The Real Deal, written and directed by Ollie Dudley for the McVitie’s brief, picked up the Craft Award for Best Editing. The advert has a comedic premise, in which an up-and-coming gangster tries to sell fake biscuits while hiding the real ones.
The film was edited by BA (Hons) Film Production students Omid Zarei Gerashi and Ben Yeadon, who describes winning Best Editing as “very fulfilling”.
“The most memorable part of editing this film was when the music track we ended up using was placed on the timeline,” says Ben. “Even with the edit we had at the time, it seamlessly fed into the atmosphere and pacing of the advert brilliantly, giving a very satisfying feeling going forward."
“One of the key units to boost employability and provide industry exposure on the BA (Hons) Film Production course at the AUB is the Level 6 Short Production Project unit,” explains Senior Lecturer Mark Sheldon.
“This is linked to the NAHEMI/Kodak Awards competition […] All film schools in the country are invited to join, meaning competition is fierce and entries flood in for each brief.”
The competition saw students devising and making 30-second commercials, using one 10-minute roll of 16mm film, to fulfil a live brief, provided by advertising agencies McCann, Libertine and TBWA; for McVitie’s, Just Eat, and the charities Ovarian Cancer Action and Action on Salt.
“To replicate the industry practice, AUB students worked to a tight turnaround of just 10 weeks,” Mark explains. “During this time, they answered the brief by coming up with ideas, finding locations and actors, preparing, shooting, and editing their films.”
In addition to coming joint-third overall, Tea Rebellion achieved Best in Brief for McVitie’s, while Death’s Open Mic came second for the Action on Salt brief.
Fellow AUB entries Baz and Biscuit and Breaking Point came joint-Second in Brief for McVitie’s.
These latest successes at the Kodak/NAHEMI Awards follow those of last year’s BA (Hons) Film Production cohort, who took home six awards, including Overall Winner for Bag of Bags.
The Kodak/NAHEMI Student Commercial Awards were held at the historic Regent Street Cinema, London, on Friday 31 May.
