One Week Later

This film was created with young people from Ferndown Upper School. The school had suffered problems with rival gangs. This tension had expolded over a week when serious fighting had broken out and left the school in a state of shock. The school decided to deal with it's problems head on. This film was part of that process.

We wrote, crewed and cast the film with members of both the rival factions. There was a fair amount of tension and aggrivation but as a story they all cared about emerged people began to see that the only way forward was to work together.

This spirt reached a high point with the opening shot of the film. The teenagers wanted to do a continues tracking shot. I explained how hard this would be but they insisited. The shot demanded not just that we all work together but that everyone moved and thought as one. After 25 takes we got it.

When I returned to the school to make 'We're OK aren't we?' The young people talked about how the barriers broken on the shoot for 'One Week Later' have remained down. New friends were made and arguments ended.