1995 School Magazine

- hHft- affi

6frls' Gremmar Srbool @risbttne 1995

Rosemary Henzell, Rebecca Nissen and Lisa Clarke won Queensland's division in a National Script \Triting Competition, entered in December 1994 after their Year Ten Media Unit on children's television. The girls' prize money of $1000 was well- spent on a professional production of their script, "Hanging On", inspired by the International Year of the Family. The film was screened on SBS in March as part of the lirst National Festival of Television for Australian Children. A1l students involved whether as cast or crew of this film learned much about television production and were most appreciative of the generous suppofi and invaluable assistance of \filtshire Pro- ductions. Year Twelve students, as part of their Media Studies course, are required to devise a television documentary, many students in 1995 focusing on the theme of the l20th Birthday of the school. To lacilitate the Year Twelve students' interests and insights in real-world documentary film-making, Year Twelve students attended a seminar conducted by David Parmiter, formerly Senior Education Proclucer with the ABC, who now has a production consultancy specialising in the making of documentaries and television programs. He is also a University lecturer and has formulated courses for the Australian Film and Television School. The Year Twelve students benefited from the wide-ranging theoretical and practical expertise of David Parmiter, whose seminar proved invaluable as an aid in the devising of their own documentaries. A FIRE-TALENTED TONGUE wen Harwood is universally regarded as one of Austral- ia's greatest poets. She attended the school from 7934 unril 1937 as a day gid, Gwen Forster, and our contribution to the Beginnings celebratory production in August represented as much a tribute to Hal.wood's genius, as it did to her association with the school. The performance consisted of a dramatised collage of excerpts from the poems that focus primarily on, or are linked specifically to, the school. These includedPrizegiaing, awitty representation of a school speech day, with the winner of the Music Prize echoing Gwen Hatwood's own mllltifaceted talents and satirical tendencies. Another segment was based onseasons, a tribute to Mary Alexis Macmillan, who during her long association with the school inspired generations of students, including Gwen Harwood, with her fine intellect and keen interest in literature. Gwen Harwood maintained a lifelong friendship with her Art teacher, the painter Vera Cottew, whose artistic talent profoundly influenced Harwood's own poetic techniques. The Senior students' dramatised rendition of excerpts selected from the poems dedicated to Vera Cottew appropriately and evoca- tively illustrated the way that poetry can suggest the shifting interpiay of past and present, refracted through the shafts of memory.

In July al1 Year Eleven students attended the QTC produc- tion of The Caaalcaders, the 1.995 Play in Production and the core Unit in the Semester Two Drama Program. The play proved popular with staff and students alike, and enabled the students to study production and playscript in a performance context. The director and actors worked with the students after the performance, and their comments and insights added a further dimension to the students' key understandings of the play.

Paul Sherman (.'Macbetb) and Allana Noyes tlady Macbetb) Pboto: Enzo Da[lostino

The Year Twelve students attended a performance of Remeruber the Porter in the Gehrmann Theatre in July, as an extension of their study of the Shakespearean tragedy, Macbetb. The powerful performances of Paul Sherman, as Macbeth, and A1lana Noyes, as Lady Macbeth, aided the Seniors' appreciation and understanding of the characterisation and thematic issues explored in the play. The interactive session that followed the performance was equally fruitful, with students making the most of the opportunity to pose questions to the actors, and to refine their interpretations of the play. MEDIA ACTIWTIES l\ fiedia Studles constitute a very important aspect of the lVle.rgtirh Program at BGGS, as an ability to engage in critical deconstruction of the mass media, including newspa- pers and magazines, radio, and television, is considered vital to students who other.wise may function, to ttreir detriment, as passive consumers in their futr-rre lives. Year Eleven student, Fiona Cameron, successfully com- bined her writing talents and the skills she acquired in writing film reviews as part of her Media Studies in Senior English, and applied these to a "real-life" situation, being recently selected as a finalist in the Young Film Critic Awards. Her very professional and polished review of First Knigbt was recently published lnTbe Courier Mai4 who are jointly co-sponsoring the Awards with Birch, Carroll and Coyle. A Year Nine Student, Jessica Ballantyne, was similarly successful in the Competition, with her review of Pocabontas also being published in Tbe Courier MaiL

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