Animal magic for screenwriter's visit

Jan 23 2009 by Liz Hands, The Journal

BRIGHT-EYED youngsters saw behind the scenes of their favourite animated films when a leading British screenwriter popped in to their school yesterday.

Mark Burton was the guest of more than 20 seven and eight-year-old children who are the FILMCLUB members at Blyth’s South Beach First School.

To make him feel welcome they dressed up as Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, Gloria the hippopotamus and other characters from the hit film Madagascar which he co-wrote.

As well as the ins and outs of zoo life in New York, at sea, and on a tropical island, the kids also wanted to know about Wallace and Gromit from the co-writer of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

He was happy to oblige, telling them about the slowing-down of film work on the modelling clay characters in Wallace and Gromit and how sometimes you might just spot a fingerprint.

South Beach First School in Blyth is one of the first in the country to join FILMCLUB, a new government-funded after school initiative offering thousands of children free access to 60,000 films via an interactive website.

Celebrity supporters include Emma Thompson, Ewan Mcgregor, Sir Alan Parker and Lord Puttnam.

Mr Burton, 48, from Reading, said: ‘’It seems like a really lively and happy school and they have a new building they are moving in to.

‘’The children seem really bright and breezy and I’ve enjoyed my visit.’’

Reviews of Madagascar were read out to him by pupils Paige Wilkinson, Anna Bower and Andrew Chapman.

Paige said: ‘’I would recommend this film to all people who like animals.”

It was the second school he has visited and the first in the North East as part of the FILMCLUB initiative.

FILMCLUB members post their own film reviews, enter competitions and find out more about the industry through interviews and live webchats with film practitioners on the FILMCLUB website.

The scheme offers young people and their teachers the chance to explore new worlds together.

Staff from South Beach have taken part in specially-designed induction sessions and receive technical, promotional and editorial advice on how to select the best films and transform the classroom into a cinema.

FILMCLUB is funded in England by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the UK Film Council.

South Beach First School is one of the first in the country to join it and over the next three years FILMCLUB will be made available to hundreds more schools.