Junior high students go head-to-head in film and game design jams

Sisler High School hosted nearly 100 middle school students from around the city, with its CREATE post-high school or Grade 12 students mentoring them through the process of developing a short film or basic video game.

Budding filmmakers and video game designers took over Sisler High School Thursday for a marathon of mentorship and creation.

The high school hosted nearly 100 middle school students from around the city, with its CREATE post-high school or Grade 12 students mentoring them through the process of developing a short film or basic video game.

“The reaction from the students has been fantastic. They're so excited. They've all come with great stories, and they're having a wonderful time,” CREATE teacher Jon Dyck-Lyons told CTV News Winnipeg.

The CREATE program teaches both high school and post-high school students the ins and outs of film, game design, animation, 3D, VFX and other digital media.

The program also partners with studios around the world, like Nickelodeon and REEL FX Animation, to prepare students for the workforce or further post-secondary opportunities in the sector.

On Thursday, CREATE students got to put their skills to the test and pass on some of their wisdom to the next generation. Middle schoolers were divided into teams of three, learning the basics of the art form as they created their film or video game project.

The event will end with a showcase, where teams and their mentors show off their finished projects.

Lee Chiu is currently taking the CREATE post-high school program. He mentored a team of middle school kids on a minute-long short film.

“It’s a really nice opportunity for them,” Chiu said. “They're guiding it, they're creating, they're storyboarding it, they're figuring out what the story is, and we're helping them with all the technical aspects, basically.”

Dyck-Lyons said the jam is an opportunity for middle school students to get their feet wet with film and video game design, to see if it’s something they might want to study down the road.

Last year, 19 CREATE students received full-ride scholarships to the Vancouver Film School.

Dyck-Lyons said between film production, new animation studios, and virtual reality production, the industry is booming in Manitoba and needs a pipeline of fresh talent to fuel it.

“The opportunities are endless, and the skills that they learn here today are going to apply directly to real world,” he said.

“They have to do problem solving, they have to collaborate, they have to learn how to work in a team and get stuff made, and those are all lifelong skills that are going to benefit them, no matter which direction they go.”