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Yr 7 Bethlehem College student, Kalista Ellis, is a talented young woman with a real flair for communication and creativity. While studying communication with BC teacher, Jamin Lietze, last year, Kalista responded to an opportunity to enter the New Zealand Panasonic Kid Witness News competition.
Kalista, and the other entrants, had to create and develop an idea for a short-film documentary - choosing either 'communication' or 'environment' as the theme. Inspired in part by the life of Helen Keller, Kalista created a storyboard focused on the idea of communication, featuring a young woman who becomes both blind and deaf. Her story-board was of such a high standard that it was selected as one of the top 5 storyboards around New Zealand, which won Bethlehem College a $10,000 prize package of the technology needed to bring her story to life.
Click on the image below to watch Kalista's clip, entitled 'Stephanie', on YouTube.
Kalista kindly answered some questions for us about her project.
What did you originally create the clip for?
My class and I were studying the topic of communication as part of Creation Studies program. Mr Lietze asked if anyone wanted to extend their understanding of communication by entering the KWN Competition for Primary and Secondary students, and I was very interested.
How did you come up with idea for the clip?
Just thought of the story and thought how hard it would be to learn to communicate again once you lose two of your senses.
Which part of the process did you enjoy the most?
The most enjoyable part was the shooting and trying to decide what each scene would be and where it needed to be shoot and what extras had to also be in the scene. The editing was fun as well, trying to decide what pieces had to be cut and keep, it was harder than you think.
How did it feel to be selected as KWN finialist?
I felt amazed and very excited to be selected.
Would you like to keep developing in this area?
Yes I would like to develop my ideas further and I am very interested in entering the competition again, now that I know how it all works and what fun you can have.
