Gold Coast Students Get The Big Picture

Last year Chris Boyd read an article about bullying in a local high school and he knew he needed to do something about it. As a veteran film maker with the Glass Media Group he knew that his experience as a story teller was the key, except it wasn’t his story to tell – it belonged to the kids who had experienced bullying first hand.

It had to be authentic, not only the story itself, but the creation of the content. So Chris raised the idea with some local TAFE Queensland film students and they were keen to get involved. Then he approached the school where the bullying had taken place, Pimpama State Secondary College.

Chris was worried about how the college would react to his request, but they embraced the idea with many of the school’s students sharing their experiences of bullying. Those experiences informed the stories created by the TAFE students and the Stamp Out Bullying campaign was born.

While Glass Media oversaw what was created as executive producers by providing technical and directorial guidance, the students had total ownership of the campaign.

Three Tiers of Achievement

For Chris Boyd the campaign succeeded on three levels:

1. It identified the problem.
2. It gave the students responsibility for the campaign and in doing so provided them with legitimate production credits.
3. By engaging directly with the high school students originally affected by bullying it allowed them to address the problem within themselves.

The commercials have received continuous exposure since they first aired last November with television networks running them across the country, including during prime time on the 7 Network during the Commonwealth Games.

Student Development Integrated Program

Glass Media were also contracted to film a number of Festival 2018 events as part of the Commonwealth Games. Once again Glass Media elected to engage local students as part of their team.

Chris says the benefits were twofold. The sixteen students received hands on experience while being mentored by professionals and in doing so Chris was able to assess their potential.

“It’s great for me because I get the opportunity to test them and often times I find the people that end up working with me in an ongoing capacity are ex students who are now working professionally.

“Around four or five students who worked on the Stamp Out Bullying campaign last year went on to work for NEP during the Games. A lot of those students are still working with NEP now, while one of the other students went on to become a successful music video producer.”

The Stamp Out Bullying campaign will continue to grow with Bond University students joining their TAFE counterparts for the next series which is currently in production. Chris says the campaign has been an immensely satisfying project for both the students and the Glass Media team.

“It gave the students responsibility for something that’s so important. Watching them create it and then see it go on to be a success was pretty special. Usually when students create something it’s just for their own class, but to have done something at this level which is seen by a vast audience was really special for them and for us. In many cases it’s already provided them with a launch pad for their careers.”