Giovanni Basiletti and Jerelyn Santos, last year’s Runway winners, together with Adnan Laoudy, Model Search Winner 2007, and Delina Marin and Kirsty Cornelio, who were chosen by CostaFilma, took part in the filming of a short commercial on teenagers and alcohol. The advert was filmed over two days and is now in the post production stages.
‘We were delighted with the response we had from the young models’, said Mark Montovio from Mount Productions. ‘Obviously they are very aware of what is going on out there and they were full of ideas and suggestions. It was important to us that the young people felt an important level of ownership of the content to ensure that it was relevant to the target group.’
CostaFilma, a company founded in 2006 by filmmaker Phil Smy and Peter McKay, a teacher for many years and now a leading financial advisor, is responsible for the filming and post production of the advert. ‘The company has two principle focuses - the first is distribution, the second production and production services,’ says Smy. You can’t beat watching movies for a living but of course it’s not all fun and games. Once movies are chosen the task of selling and promoting them takes over. We have produced numerous short films and commercial pieces since we started out in 2006 and we recently optioned a new screenplay to be made into a feature film and I have many ideas for an exciting action horror film that I would like to produce in Gibraltar.’ CostaFilma also runs FilmAmora, a DVD rental company and they produce the FilmAmora DVD Review show that can be seen on YouTube and soon on Sky and CanalDigital.
‘I’m excited about this project and enjoyed working with the kids very much’, added Phil. ‘I am confident they have contributed new ideas and realism to the piece. And I also think it is a great thing to expose them to how television commercials are made. It is a very odd process and also a great way to not only give a creative outlet to the kids, but also to do something positive for the community’.
Mount Productions held various meetings with the relevant professionals to determine what the advert would convey. ‘We had fruitful meetings with John Montegriffo, the Drug’s Coordinator, who guided us through the content of the advert,’ said Mark Montovio. ‘We were delighted to be able to bring in so many people on board to work so fruitfully with the young people and the workshop sessions enabled them to understand the issues presented. We are determined to promote healthy attitudes and age appropriate activities for teenagers and we are very grateful to all the professionals who are contributing towards making this project a reality and a very fruitful and empowering experience for the young people.’
Mount Productions is now accepting applications from young people aged 14 to 17 for Runway 2008 which will take place on Friday 18th April at the John Mackintosh Hall. Anyone interested should contact Mark on mount@gibraltar.gi or telephone 20040338.
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