Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 42

NEWS
SCOTCH
VCE MEDIA
FILMMAKERS
CONTINUE TO
INSPIRE
HENRY JOHNSTON WITH MR JAMIE KANE
– AND HENRY’S AWARDS
42
Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020
A film by Class of 2019 student Henry
Johnston made the cut in this year’s
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
Authority (VCAA) ‘Top Screen 2020’
exhibition. Part of the VCAA’s VCE Season
of Excellence, Top Screen profiles the best
screen-based works created by Unit 3/4
VCE Media students from around Victoria.
Henry’s documentary film, Sallie Jones:
An Australian Farmer, is the 15th film by a
Scotch VCE Media student to be included in
Top Screen in the 15 years that Unit 3/4 VCE
Media has been offered at Scotch.
His documentary also won the best film
award at the MyState Film Festival, and the
best director, best documentary, and Dean’s
Choice award at the Bond University Film
and Television Awards. Another film, by
Henry’s 2019 classmate, Charlie Veitch, was
also a finalist in the MyState Film Festival,
as well as being selected to be a part of the
‘Lift Off’ Global Film Festival. Charlie’s short
horror comedy, Deadline, joined Henry’s
documentary in the short-listing
of Top Screen films.
Screening the Top Screen works allows
students, their families, schools and the
general community to celebrate the talents
and achievements of young filmmakers.
The exhibition’s selection panel
commended Henry’s documentary for its
sophisticated examination of rural mental
health and farming operations run by
women, as well as its flowing camera-work
and well-paced editing.
Scotch students undertaking VCE Media
this year visited the exhibition at the Capitol
Theatre, and were inspired by the screening
of a dozen short films and animations,
including Sallie Jones: An Australian Farmer.
Seeing a documentary by a fellow Scotch
filmmaker certainly challenged and motivated
the students to produce work that might be
worthy of screening at Top Screen in 2021.
Henry Johnston’s film Sallie Jones:
An Australian Farmer can be viewed
here: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=dIDqzHJPuHY
Charlie Veitch’s film Deadline,
can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=VxLTbMwGwT4
JAMIE KANE – SENIOR SUBJECT
TEACHER, MEDIA