TRURO, N.S.
Young film crews are getting ample opportunity to show their creative side, as cameras have rolled for the Hubtown Ad Challenge.
Filming started recently for the five finalists in the Challenge, sponsored by Truro Nissan.
Crews hit the streets to produce five commercials for five local businesses, with the help of industry film professionals.
Well known TV actor Jonathan Torrens met up with the finalists to offer assistance with directing and filming.
“I knew the commercials would be good,” said Torrens.
“But the level of prep and creative energy that each of the filmmakers has brought to their own commercial has far exceeded my expectations.”
Torrens came onboard after he was contacted about a possible film festival in Truro.
“Erik Muckle of Truro Nissan approached me about the idea of creating a film festival, because the film festival here got cancelled,” he said.
“I thought it was a great idea, but I thought short films would be better. You know, something around 60 seconds long that we could shoot in a weekend. Then we decided it should include students as the filmmakers.”
The contest opened Oct. 20 for idea submissions from students regarding one of the five companies involved; about 60 unique ideas were received.
A finalist was selected for each company and given the opportunity to proceed with recording their commercial idea.
“The great thing is, it’s hard to ask for things for free. But the businesses get a commercial out of this, and the kids get to see their vision come to life with industry professionals. Its a win-win,” said Torrens.
Now that filming is wrapped, the next step is editing, where finalists sit down with professionals to work toward the final version.
From there, the commercials will be shown during a live broadcast on Facebook, and viewers can vote to choose the winner.
There’s work to be done before that point, though.
“There is quite a bit of editing that needs to get done after this,” said Erik Muckle, general manager of Truro Nissan.
“At least a week or two of editing. I imagine, by the time we finish editing and work out the broadcast schedule, it will take us into the beginning of December.”
Muckle hopes the contest will inspire kids to turn their creativity into a career, while staying in the community. He would also like to see it held annually.
“The response to the contest has been great, and we got a lot of student interest, but also a lot of questions,” he said.
“Were hoping with the material now, we can make this more tangible for people next year.”
