The first video course at Bodens came right back somewhere around 1987. I wasn't working on it (I'm not that old yet) I must have been a twelve year old participant. I remember, for me, it not doing exactly what it said on the tin. It was a nice idea, but perhaps slightly ahead of its time (this is the day when you had the VCR over your shoulder and the VHS tape in the camera), and I remember having one line and being in the finished film for about four and a half seconds.
"I believe there’s a hero in all of us" - Aunt May
Adam Boden • 16 April 2023
Making A Movie on a Bodens Summer Film Course
Every summer a group of young people aged 11-17 years get together for a week at Bodens Performing Arts school and make a film. Then they come together in October at The Phoenix Cinema in Finchley, and watch it. But it's not any film It's a film, film. A proper film, film. A full-length movie with storyline, proper acting, a great script. character development and incredible locations. So how do we do in just one week. The answer is, we don't really know. When everyone works relentlessly towards the same goal... it just sort of happens.
I think that might be why, from memory, that was the last film courses, all the way until 1993. The first few courses were a small group of about twelve older students. We messed around, improvised, made it up as went along and filmed in the locations that we passed along the way. They were amusing, to us anyway, and the quality was pretty poor. But... considering it was 1993, and we worked with a budget of nothing whatsoever, a couple of handy cams and a very slow APPLE MAC (The old bubble ones) we pulled off a fifty minute film. And that... was impressive. The title 'Kowalski and Duggan, Lethal Fiction with a Vengeance' probably wasn't. But the fact that Kowalski brings his five-year-old to ballet on a Saturday morning and my Arsenal Season Ticket is sat next to Duggan, says something about the experience we had as a group together and how those weeks shaped our experiences and friendships.
We produced a slightly better film every year for the next four years, including our first horror 'The Sea Scout Project' and, among others, our first superhero flick 'Super John and his Sidekick Peter', the martial arts epic 'The legend of the Seven Golden Warriors' and an adventure film 'Crusaders of Time' filmed on the set of Holby City. But people were growing up. They had degrees to get and drama schools to go to. And the original group of students flew the nest. And while we produced some excellent theatre with those that remained, and the younger students that joined us - film courses ended up taking a back seat. All the way until 2009.
Off the back of the London Premiers of High School Musical 1 & 2, we had a vibrant group of 12-17 years olds. They were just like the original group of students: creative, hard-working & committed (only this group was twice the size (and possibly twice the talent). It felt like the right time to begin summer film courses. But this was a different time - with less excuses. Technology was better, we had more connections, costume storage and the Barnet studios. So, if we were going to do it, we were going to do it properly. Two of our original students came back to help shoot and edit and we changed the lyrics to songs from the High School Musical films, got a musical director, a church, school coach, basketball court, some restaurants, make-up artists, and HIGH SCHOOL FUNERAL was made. This was a full hour and ten minutes film with songs, dancing, and special effects. We we're back. The film was. an enormous success and was one of the best things we had ever created. The problem was, the experience of the students was amazing, but for the team, the whole process had overtaken our lives for three months. We didn't get paid for more than a week of it (at the most), and the budget was blown about four times over. So, it was the last one for a while... again. Bodens summer film course was amazing... but impossible to achieve every year. And it always would be... The truth was, we could never deliver a film in a week properly without it being an enormous amount of stress and hard work. It would always be hugely challenging and very difficult to balance the books. But after a few years away from them, we realised that the benefit to students taking part was so great, we should start doing them again anyway.
On our returning 2016 film course, we had plan. Keep it simple. Students would arrive on day one, and we would start to create a film from scratch. The next two days we would write the film, and the last few days, film it. We would aim for a reduced running time film, with simple locations nearby, and keep dialogue to a minimal. We ended up with a fifty-minute movie 'The Family' which was nicely shot, a little slow paced, but with some good performances and an unfolding film. I did realise in those opening days, that whatever source material you put in front of young people, they tend to come up with cult or apocalypse. Like, every time. So, we worked hard with our creative play and improvisation to find some other angles. In 2017 we produced REPLAY, a stranger things role-playing adventure, 2018 was RUN around an athletics is event, in 2019 a Time Travel film, Tweakers, and 2020 was a comic book detective film, Agnes Shields : Case Cracker. But every year - without fail - students had pushed for a zombie film. So in 2021, we gave in.
We knew A ZOMBIE FILM, as it ended up being called, could not be decided on the first day of the week. It needed planning. So, in 2021 we came up with a very rough story line of a group of friends wanting to make a zombie film, a zombie apocalypse kicking off, and them deciding to keep going with the film because real zombies will make it even better. This gave us the weeks before to book make-up artist, a stage combat and fight sequence coordinator, get cars, hockey pitches, schools, and weapons. We still approached the first few days of the course devising and writing, but the pre-planning meant the course ran smoother and had a much more rounded story line and overall character development. Almost thirty years on, we had finally discovered a brand-new winning formula - know roughly what you are doing before you start.
Moving to 2022, and already regretting choosing DISASTER as the theme, we included the idea of a DEVISING DAY a week before the course. This gave us time to work together on ideas, then a week to get costumes, props, and locations before beginning the actual week of the course. It worked well in a way, but the outrageous ideas on the devising day left us needing Downing Street, MI5 headquarters, a science lab, a nuclear bunker, aliens and earthquakes, and of course, a meteor. But six days was better than no days, so we started our search. And we got them all, including a giant underground government bunker. No... actually. Achieving what we have achieved with the last two films, has left is with our biggest problem of all. How do we do as well as last year? Although we have some new students joining us each year, many of our students come back for more, filled with expectation.
"With great power comes great responsibility" - Marvel (Well, Shakespeare actually.)
So we arrive at 2023, and summer is around the corner. This year we have chosen the theme of SUPERHEROES. We will have our devising day once again, on Sunday 2nd July, before embarking on our seven-day adventure, Saturday 22nd to Friday 28th July 2023. Following the success of pre planning with Zombie Film, we have a general story in the pipeline, to give us the head start we will need if Superheroes has a chance to become one of our all-time greats.
So.... Following a terrible accident, our superhero hangs up their cape, vowing never to use their powers ever again. But when the world find itself in trouble, and there is no one to turn to, a small group of friends must step up - and might just need to become Superheroes themselves. Or something like. We'll see... But whatever we do, we'll make sure it's a brilliant experience that the students will always remember and be proud of.
"I'm the best there is at what I do." – Wolverine.
The early stages of our new immersive, interactive, promenade performance of Minotaur, based on Plutarch's Theseus.
In a class of students of mixed age and ability, how does a teacher ensure children and young people are individually challenged? What does it take to ensure every student progresses at their own pace and achieves their potential? Knowledge, experience and support.
While performing arts is a very effective way to boost a child’s confidence, family and friends can do plenty of things to help.
Shouldn't we stop answering this question and waste any more time giving weight to the possibility that drama is anything but important.
Director Adam Boden talks about why Bodens Performing Arts is providing their young participants with immersive theatrical experiences; students gain in confidence and ability, and through the provision of manageable risk, are helped in their transition to adulthood.
A little bit about our approach to productions at Bodens performing arts.
I would have given my right hand for this kind of opportunity when I was sixteen years old. Instead of the Arts Depot stage and a microphone to sing out the soaring rock score of Spring Awakening, I spent most of my summer in the local park with a 40p can of Scandia Green and Bryan Adams on loop in the background. Bryan Adams. (Sigh). Following three incredible years at Bodens College of Performing Arts, we had already expanded what was on offer by introducing a brand new gap year course for 18-19 year old students with a year to spare before their next Drama School auditions, so what else could we offer? We wanted to share our brilliant teaching team and fantastic studios with those young people not studying performing arts full time that still share the same passion and enthusiasm as our full-time students; so we planned an amazing three week summer course, worked out the nitty gritty, got the funding in place, and now now ready to offer our New Fully Funded Summer Course. From Tuesday 1st - Saturday 19th August, we will be offering a three week long Performing Arts Course for young people aged 16-18 years. Depending on age and experience, students will undertake a Level 2 or Level 3 Certificate in Performing Arts. This fully funded course will enable the participants to perform in both a full length play and a complete musical. This will be a very rewarding experience and does require commitment, energy and passion from any young people wanting to take part. It is an intensive training opportunity, studying all aspects of Musical Theatre throughout each day. We will produce the full musical Spring Awakening, analysing text and lyrics, exploring movement and gesture through the discovery of subtext. Students also produce a contemporary imagining of the play Woyzeck, where together we will explore text, character and relationships through workshops, concentrating on a contemporary play. An intense opportunity to unlock, rehearse and develop these productions ready for performance to an audience. These are two incredibly demanding pieces of theatre, chosen to ensure we have the material that allows us to work at an advanced standard. Two very strong, character driven productions to challenge our young company to produce incredible performances in just three weeks. This is an opportunity for the complete drama school experience without the cost. And as it's packed in to just three weeks, it still leaves you over half your summer to hang about in the park. With the course currently just over half full, we are auditioning over the coming month on a Sunday afternoon to fill the remaining places with capable, talented and passionate young people, to help us produce some incredible theatre this August. So if that sounds like you, or someone you know, then get in touch at info@performingartscollege.co.uk or on 020 8447 0909. Remember, it's fully funded and students taking part receive an accredited qualification in Creative and Performing Arts. You can view a brochure here https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/3e9c4e73/files/uploaded/BODENS%20COLLEGE%20SUMMER%20COURSE%20201...
I remember when we took on High School Musical all those years ago. The only reason we did it then, is because we did it first. Producing the London Premier of the Smash Hit Disney Musical while it still held pride of place on the whole world's sky box office planner, was it's redeeming feature. We were all in it together before everybody else got their heads in the game. Thousands of production followed nationwide, and the start of something new definitely wasn't. But we got in first. Matilda was a different story. We couldn't get in first because you weren't allowed to produce the show, and by the time an abridged thirty minute version of the show became available for schools to perform, it was too late. Matilda was naughty in almost every school hall and community theatre across England; As far as we were concerned as an innovative and forward thinking organisation, an abridged version of Matilda was as attractive a prospect as High School Musical 3. Forward three years later, and we are in a very different place. While Matilda still maintains a rightful place on the West End Stage, schools have ironically returned to High School Musical, allowing us, to sneak along the hallway and mix up our own production of Matilda. We are blessed as a school with incredible talent across our groups, but it is in particular abundance with our 8-12 year old students. Matilda is perfect for them. An opportunity to be stretched with challenging choreography, demanding lyrics and musicality. We have studied the story, themes and characters and unlocked our performance through creative play: we use the image theatre of Augusto Boal, the naturalistic acting of Stanislavski, using our bodies as the set in a Grotowskian Poor Theatre style, exploring movement techniques of Laban, Jacques Lecoq's levels of tension and bringing it altogether through hardwork, passion and commitment; i'm talking about the students.
With an uncurbed amount of pop-up performing arts schools emerging across the local boroughs, it becomes increasingly difficult for the proven and established schools to get their message across to those parents and young people searching for excellent performing arts training. With easy access to drama clubs after school, and franchises within a half a mile radius of one another, there is a lot of information to sift through when searching for a drama school to entrust with your most precious possession, and the development of their talent, confidence and most importantly, their ability to perform as themselves. So how do you make the right decisions. It's hard to say. At Bodens we have our purpose built performing arts studios and regularly assessed outstanding teachers. We have missions, values and aims in place, and at the heart of our school and college is a desire to transform the lives of young people through inspirational teaching, providing exceptional training in performing arts. But just because another school might be newly established, with classes held in a small village hall, run by a relatively inexperienced teacher, doesn't mean that you haven't stumbled across the beginnings of a brilliant new school, and the perfect pathway for the development of your child or young person; a three-year-old rolling around St. Cuthbert's Hall still has an opportunity to roly poly all the way to RADA. So how do you choose? We know that word of mouth is one of the most important factors in gaining new students, and of course search engines and social media play an ever-expanding part. I set myself a target this term, to work on search engine optimisation and improve our website to increase traffic to blah blah blah... but within two weeks I fell out with both google and bing, and my brains helpless merger of SEO, SMO, CTR, and CPC left me frustrated. TOO MUCH NOISE. How can we be heard? I can preach about qualifications and visions until Fagan's boys come home, but it doesn't mean anyone is listening. And is it really worth paying £2.78 a click so someone can visit my website that says it does what everyone else’s website says they do! So, we turned to our new magazine; and instead of filling it with information about us, it's all about them - our students - the children and young people who heard all about us, despite the pandemonium of performing arts promise, and joined our happy little family. We've also got them to write it. So, it's by them, all about them, which is all about us. Seemed to make sense that if we wanted someone to shout out above the noise, it might as well be them. After all, they have a lot of brilliant things to say. They're actually as passionate as I am... and that's saying something. So the magazine is online at www.bodens.co.uk and you can pick up a hard copy, for free, at any of our performing arts classes. It’s all about the shows, the classes and the students. If you're feeling really lazy, exhausted after all your studious studio searching, then just e-mail MAGAZINE to info@bodens.co.uk and we'll send you the link.