CONEL Creative Media student wins IntoFilm’s Film of the Month award

A Creative Media – Level 1 student at CONEL has won IntoFilm’s Film of the Month competition.

Creative Media student Danylo Borodai won the March IntoFilm Film of the Month award for his animated film 150 Million Years. IntoFilm, the UK’s leading charity for film in education, runs a monthly competition to celebrate exceptional young filmmaking talent across the UK.

Danylo, who is currently studying for a Level 1 Diploma in Creative Media produced the competition-winning piece as part of his course.

When presented with the challenge of making an animation on a topic of his choice Danylo immediately chose to create a plasticine animation featuring his favourite prehistoric creatures, dinosaurs. He said: “I just understood that no other topic would give such space for my imagination as [a] plasticine animation about dinosaurs.”

When talking about the film, Danylo said: “I hardly thought about the plot, the story just appeared in my head, and I just had to figure out how to show it on the screen. In my film, I tried to show a beautiful and exciting prehistoric story, but at the same time make it realistic.” Danylo’s film showcased a range of dinosaurs that lived in North America about 150 million years ago.

Danylo was inspired by films and shows such as Jurassic Park, Walking with Dinosaurs, Planet Dinosaur (2011), Prehistoric Planet and his favourite YouTube animator, Dead Sound. His biggest challenge when completing the project was time. Danylo shot the film in just four days, which is an impressive feat as it was his first experience with stop-motion animation.

The IntoFilm judges were impressed by Danylo’s animation. Oli from The Film of the Month team said: “Myself and the other judges felt it showed huge artistic flare and incredible attention to detail through well-crafted animation and incredible sound design that transported us into the world of the dinosaurs!”

Danylo learnt a great deal from making 150 Million Years and hopes to create another plasticine animation for his end-of-year project. When talking about film-making he said: “My advice will be to do what you like the most. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try something new. But if you are doing animation for the first time do not immediately try to do something grand without having any experience in it. Start with something simple to discover all the nuances of this process and then when you create more complex projects it will not be a surprise for you.  The main thing is to believe in yourself, and you will succeed!”

Winning the competition is an enormous achievement for Danylo, who is a refugee from Ukraine, as his film was chosen over entries from across the country. His animation may also be entered into Into Film’s annual award.

If you’re interested in learning more about animation or any form of creative media, we offer a range of Digital Media and Creative Computing Courses for learners of all levels and backgrounds.

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