MediaMag Production Competition Shortlist 2025 – Resolution

When we launched the competition in February, we offered you a few prompts about the sorts of ways you might interpret our ‘Resolution’ theme. Although it wasn’t a pre-requisite for entering the competition, we were delighted to see how often it cropped up, and the many different ways in which the theme filtered through into your work – for example relationship issues which were (or weren’t) resolved, the healing of broken friendships, family breakdowns, narrative twists leading to closures or new resolutions, coming to terms with difficulties such as loss, bereavement or childhood memories. 

This year we’ll be presenting five awards, covering four very clear categories.

Animation

This is an increasingly popular form, perhaps reflecting new developments in accessible software, opportunities to study iconic examples and of course your own technical expertise. These are far from exclusively technical exercises, although we know that many students have spent up to 100 hours (!) constructing them.  Our five  selected animations reflect entirely different techniques and stories; from super-professional Lego studio computer-generated sequences to resourceful  stop motion animation to hand-drawn narratives and audio-visual montages.  Each one has something significant to say, in a visual language perfectly suited to its message.

Music videos

Again this year, we were well-served with music videos, (Olivia Rodrigo seems to be a particularly strong influence for a second year running). We’re always delighted to see them; the music video form provides both a structured framework and a variety of styles and genres which you have exploited to demonstrate your creativity in some stunning performances and production design. The form has allowed you to tell powerful and reflective music-led stories with personal and emotional resonance about identity, social issues, and our 2025 ‘Resolution’ theme. Several entries featured original songs, raps and dance performances, further opportunities to flex your creative muscles.

Short films /openings

Nearly half of your entries were in the form of well-crafted short films, covering a diverse range of forms and genres, from seriously creepy horror and sci-fi narratives, fantasy and game-playing to family psychodramas. We felt a real sense of innovation and experimentation – perhaps the impact of the Film Studies focus on short film – with surrealism, French new wave and film noir featuring strongly.  This was perhaps our hardest task; each and every short film or opening was personal and unique. So this year we’re awarding two prizes within this category, and a shortlist which reflects just some of the varied and imaginative responses to the task.

Creativity

Our final category is the Barney Oram Creativity Award, given annually in memory of Barney, a much-loved, inspirational Media Studies teacher and writer. Of course, the term ‘creativity’ is notoriously hard to define, and is intensely subjective; in this group we have selected videos we consider to be particularly imaginative, original or technically innovative, from across all categories and genres. We think it includes a wonderful range of styles and visual approaches – and we hope that you will agree.

Two awards in this category!

• My Incredible Life – Ben Collier, Hautlieu School
• The Cleaner – Harrison Tindall, Chalfonts Community College
• 119  – James Robinson, Long Road Sixth Form College
• Every Single Hue – Millie Ford, Thomas Tallis School
• Dungeons & Daddy Issues – Logan Bye, Long Road Sixth Form College
• The Interview – Max Bell and Ben Hernandez, Varndean College
• Television Man – Lucy Bryant, Long Road Sixth Form College
• Murmur – Oscar Walker,Orleans Park School
• Freedom of the Sea – Rosie Merat-Brandwood, Varndean College
• Wayward Son – Samuel Traviss, Sandringham School

• Good 4 U – Annalaura Di Lione, Burntwood School
• Used To Love Her – Bruno Souber, Saffron Walden County High School
• Doors // 100 Grandkids – Danny Rowntree, Queen Mary's College
• Hollywood Smile – Joely Kay, Hurtwood House
• Take Your Time – Joshua Nunn, Berkhamsted
• Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl – Melody Chak, Kelletts British International School

• Hand in hand – Erin Li, Bishop Luffa School               
• Mr X is not a Man Noah Berridge, Boomsatsuma College
• Poppies – Ben Moulding, The Derby High School
• Paperweight – Katie Bennett , One Sixth Form College
• You may begin – Nathan Lau, The Piggott C of E School

• Lament – Ava Oliver, Bradfield College
• I Am What I Am – Keeley Parkin, Tupton Hall School
• Until Dawn – Lou Hayes, Birchwood High School
• Echoes of Youth – Scarlet Clifford, Bourne Grammar School
• Dreams in Doses – Sebastian Ortiz, Alexandra Park School

Every year we are forced to make painful compromises about editing down the list of videos we’ve really loved in order to create a 2-hour showreel which both fully represents the brilliant range of entries but will also work for our audience in BFI Southbank. This inevitably means losing some excellent and inspiring work which we would have loved to include –often for technical reasons such as poor sound or lighting quality, glitches or editing problems, sometimes because they are overlong, too similar, or occasionally triggering.

In 2025, as always, we’ve had multiple excellent entries from some schools with large cohorts of students – that means you, Hurtwood House, Long Road, and Bradfield College; we always love to see your work! This year we have seen many outstanding pieces of work which have failed to make the cut by a whisker, but are worthy of special commendation; here are some of them, with congratulations and respect for their makers.

Music videos:

• Oliver Read, Berkhamsted School, I’m Losing It: Dark and powerful narrative exploiting great locations and production design
• Alfie Spring, St Bede’s 6^th Form Centre, Kiss with a Fist: Angry politically-charged, dystopian use of lyrics and locations to expose the dangers of nationalism
• Ella Dopson, The King John School, Body Dysmorphia: A poignant and gentle montage of the experience and impact of eating disorders
• Naomi-Lee Freedman, Hurtwood House, Oops!: High energy, dramatic production design and great performances
• Eliza Grace Westcott, Saffron Walden High School, Teenage Dream: Terrific narrative use of childhood footage, dramatic locations and excellent production design, edited with passionate fury
• Caitlin Stewart, Torquay Girls Grammar School, Meant to Be: concise, simple and clever use of 8-bit technology
• Teagen Bannerman-Williams, Nichola Park, Bertie Williams, Brockenhurst College, Somebody that I used to Know: unusual narrative of the pressures and pain of male relationships, brilliantly edited and conceived
• Olivia Dean, Thomas Tallis School, Every Breathe You Take: we always enjoy animals in your entries and this was a particularly charming music video from the point of view of a very loyal dog-friend.

Short film:

• Enoch Chan, Goodbye Brother: Poignant, dark and disturbing split personality psychodrama
• Laurence Whitelegg, Barton Peverell, Patch-Up: Terrific performance and well-framed and lit noir conventions
• Naomi Lim, Hurtwood House, Spraypaint and kisses: 16mm satirical indie mini-drama, concise, well-edited and shamelessly un-woke
• Gia Cameron, Bradfield College, Till AI do us Part: Brave exploration of limits and dangers of technology addiction
• Freddie Say, Bradfield College, The Shadow: Well-framed shadows and effectively-edited soundtrack dramatise the psychological impact of guilt
• Harry Ovington, Empty Hands: a surreal comedic pastiche of the conventions of the Western shootout
• Martha Adams, Wellington School, Compulsion: Terrific use of voice-over to represent the intrusive thoughts and anxieties inside the head of a young woman with OCD
• Jude Holland, Saffron Walden High School, Accuracy and Meaning: A non-linear, surreal film ‘Intended for people who like the peculiar and the French’ framed by the bizarre family of a school girl writing a French essay.
• Dylan Beard, Finham Park School, Pugnator Romanus: Gladiator meets historical re-enactment – intro to a truly epic drama, immaculately researched and resourced