Mark Steadman

Organizer

Mark Steadman Lone Buffalo Language Center Laos Our Lone Buffalo students have a special reason to participate in Cinemasports events – it was CS founder Jin Joo who first introduced them to a camera! Jin and Helen (Kids to Kids UK) traveled to Phonsavan, Laos in 2012 and helped the students to make their first movie – The Xieng Khouang Experience. This began a culture of film making at our English Development Centre. In 2016 Cinemasports International coordinator Hui-Ching and the Korean animator Shon Kim also travelled to Laos and worked with students on their first animation – The Danger of Bombs.

Since 2012, thanks to Cinemasports, our students have been making films and passing their skills onto younger students through their workshops. Cinemasports gives young film makers the opportunity to practice all the skills they have learned – against the clock! It's a great way to bring new dynamics into film making like time management and emphasise the skills of planning and quick thinking. The 3-minute maximum length is also a great way to get students making shorter films, and focus on the importance of editing.

There is always a buzz of excitement around our centre on the morning of an event as students wait patiently for the

ingredients to be revealed and then the teams get to work on brainstorming, scriptwriting and storyboarding. By the end of the day there is a real feeling of achievement as they watch the final edit being uploaded to the Cinemasports website.

The events themselves are also a great way to bring the world of youth filmmakers together. To know that a short film made in a remote part of Laos is being shown on a big screen in Taiwan and other young people are enjoying, laughing and discussing our movies is very special.

We are all grateful to Cinemasports for opening our eyes to the opportunities that film making gives us not just to entertain but also to pass on important social messages through short movies. I hope one day some of our young film makers will get the chance to travel to Cinemasports event to watch a Lone Buffalo movie being shown on the big screen.

我們Lone Buffalo學生有很特殊的理由要參加國際拍 片運動 Cinemasports活動，因為創辦人Jin Joo是第 一位將電影介紹給我們的人， Jin和Helen Ward曾經 2012造訪寮國豐沙灣，帶領學生製作了他們的第一 部影片－“川壙的經歷”，這開始這個英語教育機構 的影片創作文化，在2016年拍片運動的協辦人曾惠 青和韓國動畫家 Shon Kim也到我們機構，與學生製 作他們的第一部動畫－“危險的炸彈“。 自從 2012年起，感謝拍片運動的我們的學生持續有 在創作影片，並且將經驗傳給更年輕的學生，給他們 一個很好的練習機會，且要分秒必爭！是個很好的動 力讓團隊學習控制時間，和強調規劃技巧與快速思維 的反應能力。最長三分鐘的影片也是個好的方式，讓 學生可以製作專注在故事重點的短片。 每次拍片日的早晨學生們都滿懷期待地聚集在我們中 心，等待著三元素的公佈，然後跟團隊成員腦力激 盪、寫劇本和製作腳本，然後在當天結束時，心裡充 滿成就感上傳影片到拍片運動網站 。 這個活動是很好的方式讓世界各地的年輕電影創作 者有機會聚在一起，並看到在寮國一個偏遠地區所製 作的短片在台灣的大螢幕播映，然後其他年輕人也可 以享受、歡笑和討論我們的影片實在非常難得。 我們都非常感謝拍片運動給我們打開眼界的機會去認 識到，電影給我們的不是只有娛樂而已，同時透過短 片也傳達了重要的社會訊息。我希望將來有一天我們 的年輕電影作者有機會能出席播映會，在大螢幕上看 到我們的電影。

--Mark Steadman