TEENAGERS are invited to make a video on smartphones and apps about what it’s like to live in Bradford today - taking a JB Priestley play as inspiration.
The opportunity comes in a competition organised by Bradford Producing Hub, a three-year project developing and supporting creativity and live performance in the city.
The competition, for young people aged 14 to 16 living or studying in the district, is facilitated by local author and actress Irene Lofthouse and creative educator Rachel Wood as part of the Hub’s research into arts in Bradford.
“We want to know what young people think of Bradford and what’s on offer to them,” said Irene.
“We want to know what they do to show their creativity and what kind of arts they’d like to have a chance to try. To help us find out, we’ve created the ‘60 seconds in the life of...’ competition taking inspiration from JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls.”
Added Rachel: “We know JB Priestley was a Bradford lad who created plays, novels, TV scripts and was a broadcaster on the BBC - but many students may not.
As the acclaimed National Theatre’s production of An Inspector Calls is coming to Bradford this month, we thought this would be a great time to showcase how creative our young people are.
Using the play, we want 14 to 16-year-olds to create an exciting 60-second film about what it’s like to live in Bradford today - they could win a chance for their film to be shown on the Big Screen in Bradford’s City Park.”
To enter, young people will need some knowledge of An Inspector Calls - either from school, having seen it, or having been in a production of it. If they’re not familiar with the play, say Irene and Rachel, they will need to “look it up to see what it makes them think of”.
The play is set in the home of the prosperous mill-owning Birling family, whose dinner party is interrupted by a visit from the mysterious Inspector Goole, investigating the death of a young woman. As he questions each member of the family, it becomes clear that they all had an involvement with the woman.
“The play is set in 1912, but we want young people to think about the characters of Eric and Sheila (the Birling son and daughter) and imagine they’re living in Bradford today,” said Irene. “What would their lives be like now? How would they be different? What would they want to say? These questions help to re-imagine the past in the present.
“We want students to take any creative approach they wish to produce a ‘60 seconds in the life of...’ film. They could use storyboards, photographs, graffiti, music, scripts, rap, dance. The most exciting part of this project will be the brilliant creative ideas students come up with - that’s what we’re interested in.”
Entries must be no more than 60 seconds long and submitted as a video. “That doesn’t mean it needs to be slickly edited or professionally made,” said Rachel. “Amazing things can be done with smartphones and free film editing apps. We want young people to surprise us! They can enter as an individual or in a group, but can only submit one entry.”
Entries for must be submitted by email no later than 5pm on Friday, January 17.
* For more details visit sixtysecondsinthelifeof@outlook.com
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