House Heroes film

Clowns have stolen the magical tree of youth... Can the House Heroes save the day? Tiny Dancer and Brainstormer use their magic powers to restore peace and rescue the residents of Trevarna Nursing Home.

Sensory Trust has teamed up with The House youth project to make a film based in St Austell. The young people devised their own story, planned the filming and were in charge of camera, sound, editing ... in fact, every aspect of the filmmaking process. Thanks to Richard Liddicott of SoulDeep Media and Kate Heath of The House for mentoring the young people and giving them a guiding hand at key moments.

The young people are proud of the film. Many didn't think they had the required skills at the beginning of the project and their confidence has improved as a result of seeing the finished result and its reception from their peers, families and youth workers.

One young person commented: "I was really shy to start but once I had a go I really enjoyed it. I feel confident enough to act again now"

Another said: "It was a unique experience to have, really different from anything I have ever done before, loads of fun!"

The youth worker has commented how this process has cemented friendships and made really good memories for young people, many of whom are living in difficult circumstances. This might be one of their last projects working together at The House and "it has been invaluable in terms of leadership and teamwork".

In what way did the young people benefit from working with film professionals?

The young people spent time with Richard Liddicott, film maker, who mentored them in many aspects of making a film including shooting and editing. Some of the young people also benefited from sessions with Young People Cornwall employee Graham Watson who coached them on sound, and Paul Farmer, professional writer and scriptwriter, who led a workshop on writing a script. This gave them ideas about how to structure the script and get their idea into a format which would work for the film.

In particular, some of the young people were interested to see professionals working in the creative industries, for example seeing how Richard made a living as a practitioner and what his set up was, what equipment he had etc. This made them realise what was possible and opened up more options for their own considerations of the future.

Behind the scenes...

Young people plan, rehearse and make their film in the grounds of a local nursing home where they were inspired to make the film by spending time with older people living with dementia

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