Film premiere for J2 Shakespeare stars

J2 pupils have celebrated months of hard work and theatre-club fun at their very own film premiere as they watched their space-age version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar come to life on the big screen.

The Shakespeare Schools International Film Festival is organised by Coram Shakespeare School Foundation and gives children aged 8-18 an opportunity to explore Shakespeare in an exciting, digital way, as well as have their work seen across the world. 

Led by Mrs Parker, the keen members of J2 Theatre Club began work on their production in September: “We chose to adapt Julius Caesar as the children responded so brilliantly to the plot and key characters when we started looking at Shakespeare’s plays. 

“We started by getting to know the story, the characters and the language before deciding on how, when and where we would set our adaptation of the play.

“Our idea to set our version of Julius Caesar in space, 2000 years from now, was inspired by a desire to use technology such as the greenscreen. It also meant we could have a lot of fun with ideas like using a cartoon filter to give it a comic book feel.”

Producing a play on film is a very different process to acting on stage and Mrs Parker was impressed with how the pupils have embraced new skills and techniques to bring their vision to life, as well as mastering the complexities of Shakespeare’s language.

She said: “Children filmed scenes in different locations around school, and voiceovers were used to enhance the film.

“Photography, sound effects and music have been a huge part of the experience and we have even included film-making into our Tuesday afternoon activity sessions, which has been really popular.”

Before the premiere, the children were excited to see the final version of their film before it was released to the general public on the festival’s website. 

Mrs Parker again: “I know that the children will be very pleased with what they see on screen and they can be very proud of what they have achieved.

“They have been fantastic throughout the whole process, working with determination, commitment and a sense of fun from the outset. 

“They have grown in confidence, developed team working skills and, above all, showed great enthusiasm throughout the whole process, which has made working on the project with them an absolute pleasure.”

J2’s Julius Caesar is now live on the Festival website alongside plays submitted by schools around the world – The King’s School Chester – Junior School – Shakespeare Schools Film Festival.

Click on the image below for a gallery of images from the film: