A Solihull student has won first place at this year’s Expresso 90 Film Festival with his brilliant Sci-fi mini-drama ‘Pixel’.
Solihull College & University Centre Creative Film Production student, Callum O’Connor, garnered acclaim from the panel of judges for his 90-second story which explored how readily we share information on the internet. The festival, now in its second year, is a film event for Birmingham that calls upon young film-makers to create compelling and engaging super short films.
Pixel was filmed over a few nights with just a single DSLR, two lights and one location. The short contained impressive special effects work which Callum completed using Adobe After Effects.
Callum admits, ‘I’ve always wanted to get into cinematography as a career so this win is amazing. It was a challenge to act, shoot and edit the film by myself but it has made me see how filmmaking is a truly collaborative industry to work in.’
‘Taking part in the Expresso 90 Festival has been a blast,’ Callum adds. ‘All of the submissions deserve praise for their creative efforts. Having some submissions from my own classmates, it’s wonderful to see their progression over time, from the early stages of pre-production, to seeing the final product at the Mockingbird Cinema’.
Director Gary-Anthony Rogers, Actor and Filmmaker Phillip Ray Tommy, owner of The Mockingbird Cinema James Brown, Actress and Writer Sharni Rose Tapako-Brown and Director and Writer Jez Alsop made up the panel of industry judges this year. They offered an informative Q&A with the audience as part of the event.
Degree course coordinator, Dan Finnemore commented; “The quantity and quality of submissions for Expresso 90 2019 has been amazing. We had a vast array of incredible work including shorts from filmmakers from all around the globe including Iran and Germany’.
Commenting on his course, Callum added; ‘The Creative Film Production degree involves a perfect blend of both practical filmmaking, and theory based discussions. Every student enrolled in the course is given the chance to make some great content, and I’m incredibly happy to be a part of it all’.
Pixel will run at The Mockingbird before features for the duration of May.
