Are you a postgraduate researcher? Want to meet new people, get creative and be in with the chance of winning £100? The GradFlicks Challenge 2018 is coming on campus this August! In teams, race against the clock to produce a short film to be screened at a movie ‘premiere’ and awards ceremony at the Gilmorehill Halls Cinema.

The brief for the film is a closely guarded secret and will only be revealed on Wednesday afternoon; all we can say at the moment is that it will involve turning some aspect of the things you do as researchers into an engaging piece of film!

Participants must be available for a briefing session on the afternoon of 29 August and filmmaking all day on 30 August. Simple filmmaking equipment will be provided and teams assigned at random.

The winning team will be selected at the premiere event on the evening of 30 August. Each member of the winning team will receive a £100 voucher.

The judging criteria are based on how compelling your film is as a piece of communication, not the subjects you study, so feel free to give your creativity free rein.

After the competition, teams will have the opportunity to upload their videos to YouTube.

This challenge is recommended for anyone who has some knowledge or experience of public engagement or of video creation / editing (using mobile 'phones to film your cat counts!). An introduction to making videos will be provided at the briefing session.

For PGRs in MVLS and CoSE, this course is the equivalent of 1 skills training credit.

To book your place, please ensure you are free on the afternoon of Wednesday 29 August (2 – 4 PM, though an extra hour is also available to use for planning) and all day Thursday 30 August (9 AM – 4 PM for filming, re-convening at 6 – 8:15 PM for the evening screening). Coffee and snacks will be provided throughout both days, but participants are kindly asked to arrange their own meals.

Send an email to Richard.marshall@glasgow.ac.uk, including in your email a couple of lines about any previous experience you have and why you’d like to join the competition. 

Please encourage your friends to sign up, but don’t worry about finding a team – participants will be given their groups at the Wednesday briefing.

The deadline for booking a place is midnight, Monday 6th August. We know this may be inconvenient because of fieldwork or other commitments, but we expect to fill the event very quickly, so please do not be disappointed if you miss out – it will be held again next year!

Images sourced via Unsplash and Pixabay.