Early Childhood Film Premiere

Southbank Kensington has had its very own film premiere, with the help of Academy Award-nominated Mexican film director, screenwriter and film producer, Alfonso Cuaron.

As a part of a Creativity unit, the Early Childhood class teacher approached Alfonso to see if he could come to school to talk about how he makes films. He kindly agreed and offered much more than that - to have filming sessions with the children and work with us with his creative team over a period of four weeks.

In Week 1, Alfonso talked to the children about how he uses his imagination to interpret stories into visual images, and how he develops a film from a storyboard to the final product. He emphasised that the most important factor for the film is the story; and showed scenes, original storyboards and costumes from his previous work including Little Princess and Harry Potter 3.

In Weeks 2 and 3, the Early Childhood classes developed their own stories: "The Princess, The Mermaid and The Humpback Whale" and "Mr Gumpy and the Island Picnic", making props, scenery and costumes for all the characters. The performances were then filmed by Alfonso and his crew - a lengthy and professional process, with filming repeated from multiple angles.

In Week 4, after hours of editing, the final product appeared, and parents were invited to an exclusive premiere (complete with popcorn!).

Through this amazing film-making experience, we hope that our children have made a connection as to how to use their imagination in their creative work and that they understand that this process is happening, everywhere, every day, whether it's professional filmmaking or picture book-making in the classroom. And next time they go to see a film they will sympathise with the actors about how long they had to wait for their turn to act in that film!

Copies of the film have been produced on DVD for parents to purchase, with proceeds going to charity.