Generating a buzz: The Bee Hive gets busy with film to promote the Women's Rugby World Cup
Northampton Film Festival is working with Northgate School and the Bee Hive on an online trailer to promote the Women’s Rugby World Cup coming to Northampton in 2025. Becky Carrier explains all about the project.
Northampton Film Festival is all about supporting and showcasing local talent, as well as bringing inspirational film work from outside Northamptonshire that captures our unique spirit.
We think Northamptonshire is a county of rebels, revolutionaries, misfits, mavericks, creatives and changemakers. So we try to encapsulate that spirit through film and help people tell creative and changemaker stories.
Digital Northants approached me about doing a stop motion animation project with students with special educational needs at Northgate School and potentially linking it to the Rugby World Cup. When I found out more about the project, it was all about digital skills and employability.
We've run this project like a real job with an interview, and we've put people into roles that suit them but which are also relevant to their interests, so they come out with more knowledge about the specific role they were interested in. They'll also gain the digital skills to be able to go out and do some of this work professionally in the future.
The plan is to premiere it at the Northampton Film Festival in March, which is very exciting. We'll be screening it at Cineworld Northampton along with other films made by young people.
I've worked with Northgate before doing something similar, and it was brilliant. They came with great ideas, and we know that if we pass on our knowledge, the students bring brilliant ideas and together, we'll make something that's better than if we just worked on our own.
In week one, we talked about the film industry, how the students could use the skills they have and other skills they might need to develop. But what we do is up to us as a filmmaking team. The first session was full on, but I loved it. I love working with people who have interesting ideas and people who want to learn. That's always great. We watched different types of films - stop motion animation, live action, drama pieces - all sorts of things. We've also watched some of the TikTok and YouTube videos that the young people have made before.
We discussed which of those made the best film and what idea would get the message across in the best way. Essentially, why we should all care about the Women's Rugby World Cup coming here? It was very much an ideas session, and week two this week will be about putting that into a script and a format.
We've got a cohort of just over 20. Between us, we make a whole team, with actors, musicians, scriptwriters, a director, camera operators, lighting operators. This week we'll be turning thematic ideas into something we could actually film. We're also bringing in film, lighting, camera and sound equipment so the young people can have a play with the kit and see what we can achieve together.
Our actors will be filmed as part of an audition, which has two benefits. It gives actors an opportunity to do something on camera and have it filmed so they can have a digital showreel as a result. It also gives the camera team some practice before we actually go and film the real thing.
We spent a lot of time on the original idea. At the heart of it all is how we tell a story through images and sound. We have to find that story. As part of that process, we've talked about pride in West Northants, what we think is unique about West Northants and where there might be crossover with some of the positive things about rugby.
We've filled their heads with lots of ideas. So we're really interested to see what they come up with this week. What is great about them is they're a very enthusiastic group. That's part of the creative process - you have to let it percolate a bit. Lots of them have connections with rugby, through working with the Saints with Beehive which is brilliant and lots have played it at school. There are others who have no real connection to rugby and they've shared their perspective of what might attract them to the sport.
I've been trying to replicate a professional environment because I have a real responsibility to deliver this film. Real responsibilities, real timescales. The students have got roles and we will bring in professionals to work with them. Showing what's it like when you're making a film in the real world is definitely important. That involves digital things, like learning new software if they want to write or if they want to storyboard. And they'll have got advice from local people who are already doing the things they want to do.
Hopefully, it will help them to find their passions and discover how to turn something they do for fun into something they could do for a living.
Want to know more?
The Northampton Film Festival takes place from 8th to 16th March.
You can watch the premiere of the Women's Rugby World Cup promo, along with other films made by young people, at Cineworld Northampton on Monday 11th March - check out the full schedule and get your tickets.
Read our story on employability in IT and Media for students at Northgate School and The Bee Hive.