story by: JAMES BOLTON

Stop motion animation proved to be the key to success for this year’s winners in ​the Rotary Young Filmmaker competition.

Seren Davies and Lewis Laurie scooped the top prizes in the Junior and ​Intermediate categories, with their short films fitting the competition’s theme of ​‘Rebuilding’.

Rebuilding lives and rebuilding communities are aims and threads which run ​through all elements of Rotary’s service activities.

Creativity is at the heart of the Rotary Young Filmmaker competition, with each ​participant given the scope to interpret the broad theme in a way that is ​meaningful to them.

Intermediate winner, Lewis’ short film, titled ‘Rainforest’ tells a powerful story ​about the impact of deforestation on wildlife, created entirely from stop motion ​sequences using Lego.

Stop motion animation, a technique which involves manipulating items in ​between large numbers of photographs, which are then pieced together as ​frames to give the illusion of movement.

The technique dates back as far as the 1800s, and has been used in all sorts of ​productions, from the Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars, to the Wallace and ​Gromit series.

The film also shares shocking statistics about the rate of destruction rainforests ​are currently experiencing but offers a hopeful message of how a single seed can ​spark growth.

The judge for this year’s competition was Ric Swift, Managing Director and Senior ​Instructor at the Wildlife Film School, which has been giving students exposure to ​real life wildlife filming in the Scottish Highlands for over 15 years. Ric has also ​worked as a freelance cameraman for major UK and European broadcasters.

He complimented Lewis on his imaginative concept for the film, great use of ​multiple characters as well as clear and precise camerawork.

Junior category winner Seren Davies also had the idea of using stop motion ​animation for her short film.

For Seren’s submission, it was horrible weather outside that inspired her to get ​to work inside, during a wet and windy half term.

“The river in Towcester burst its banks next to our house.” Seren explains. “We ​went for a walk and were talking about the river, I said ‘imagine if it washed away ​the bridge, what would we do?’”

“My Mum said, ‘it would be rebuilt’. This is where my inspiration came from.”

“The bridge is washed away and rebuilt by friends. It shows that friendship is also ​a bridge which can be rebuilt too.”

Judge Ric was a huge fan of Seren’s use of sound, with clear and emotive ​dialogue and a great choice of music.

Junior CATEGORY: – UP TO 10-YEARS-OLD

1st place – Seren Frost Davies, Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School, sponsored ​by Towcester Rotary, Northamptonshire

Intermediate CATEGORY: 11 – 13-years-old

1st place – Lewis Laurie, sponsored by Auchterarder & District Rotary, Scotland

2nd place – Toby Graham, Duchess High School, sponsored by Rotary in North ​East England (District 1030)