Winning students Johahn Moore, second left, and Mark Connolly, second right, with their film equipment. With them are, from left, Martin Wright, of Liverpool Vision; Bob Ross, of Merepark; and John Turner, of Ballymore _320
A FILM shot in just a week last night picked up a £5,000 prize in a contest aimed at capturing the spirit of Liverpool.
Ironically, the winning film made by two students from Liverpool Community College, was titled The Spirit of Liverpool.
Mark Connolly, 20, and 17-year-old Johahn Moore spent a week patrolling the city and asking people for their views on Liverpool.
All were positive, many suggesting that the spirit of Liverpool lay in its people Asked to define Liverpool in a single word, one lad declared: “Scouse – we’re different from everyone else!”
The film, lasting just ten minutes, was shot in a number of ways, with Moore at times using his mobile phone for some of the stills. A handycam and digital camera were also utilised.
He said they had ended up with ten hours of film and they had to spend much of their time editing it all down to the time required, no more than ten minutes.
The pair – still with a year of study to complete at college – hope to set up their own film production company.
The contest Liverpool on Film was run by developers Merepark and Ballymore, the companies jointly creating a £160m Central Village behind Liverpool’s Central Station.
Merepark director Richard Peel, one of the judges for the contest, said they wanted to do something creative to reflect the creative aspect of the area they were developing.
“What we wanted were films which reflected the spirit of Liverpool, not some smooth, public relations job.”
Second prize of £2,000 went to Paul Woods for a film, Hillywood, celebrating the work at the Hillywood Community Centre in Huyton.
Third prize of £1,000 went to Tom Brunsden’s documentary on Liverpool milkman Tommy Callagher, famed for his charity work and his gold milk float.
Other films included Jaynie Miller’s documentary on a charity boxing match organised among builders involved in The Big Dig, a comic view of Crosby’s iron men statues on Crosby beach from Eddie Singleton and Liverpool on Film by Glenn Maguire, Andy Cooper and Neil Parsons, a very short piece of animation and video footage offering a quick overview of the city. All the films had a rough honesty about them, many with wobbly cameras, distorted sound, abrupt edits and some particularly odd lighting.
But they captured the feel of a city in transition, warts and all.
The two big winners of the night, Mark Connolly and Johahn Moore, also won a visit to New York’s Greenwich Village, compared by some to Liverpool’s new Central Village where major work will start later this year.
