DV Mission 2026
And the results are in!
We were nominated in 3 categories!
A great achivement for our first year!
A great evening was had by all at the DV Mission Awards ceremony at the Wedgwood Rooms on Saturday (7th).
In total 26 entrents completed the task and their films were entered.
The selection and quality of films was outstanding and we were very excited to be nominated for 3 catergories, which was excellent for our first year.
Watch out for us in 2027, we will be going for a prize!
The class decided this year to take part in the DV Mission 2026 film making competition.
In this, you are given 48 hours to produce a short (2 minute) film.
At 5.00pm on Friday (27th February) you are given the theme of the film, which this year was Pirates, you are also given 2 lines of text that have to be included in the film and everything has to be finished by 5.00pm on Sunday (1st March).
No pressure then.
Luckily for us, Billy had taken part in this competition before and was able to give us some very useful pointers.
We all agreed to meet in a pub, where else could we go. All the coffee shops were closed. Honest!
We decided to make our film about proper pirates and started down the theme of press gangs and trying to avoid them. It was suggested that some of the men could then disguise themselves as women to avoid the press gang.
This then changed to treasure, skulduggery and all the things pirates are known for.
We then came up with the title Pirates! In an adventure with Slippery Dick and the stolen treasure
It was then suggested that Slippery Dick should still be dressed as a woman to disguise himself from the pursuers.
Everyone agreed that it would be funnier if the man had a beard!
So, guess who got volunteered. Yes, our very own Dick.
Quote from Dick - "What was I thinking of?"
After more drink was consumed and chips eaten, we had the outline of a plan, the script was coming together nicely and we agreed on a plan of action for the Saturday.
We all met up at the Rock Gardens in Southsea where we filmed the scene where the treasure was buried and a great drone shot was captured by Billy. You will have to see the film, but very impressed. From there we moved onto Old Portsmouth where we filmed a couple of scenes around the Cathedral. Billy had the foresight to contact the owner of the Sallyport pub and arranged for us to be allowed to film in there and so this was our next port of call. It did prove to be a little bit difficult to film in the main bar as customers were coming in and it quickly filled up. Luckily, they had given us a private room as well, so we retired there to film the rest of the scene. This is when we got our first look at our villain, Slippery Dick, dressed as a woman, which caused much mirth amongst our cast and crew, although I thought he looked very appealing! It was then onto the streets of Old Portsmouth to film a number of scenes and to provide much amusement to the passers-by. We finished down on the Hard for the last scene and then, you guessed it, we retired to a local hostelry for a well-earned beverage (okay, yes it was alcohol, but it had been a long day.
Sunday dawned and it was the day of the edit, which had to be completed by 5.00pm. Billy had already started before Chris arrived, followed later in the morning by Dick, bringing supplies of very large pastries from Crazy Crumb in Marmion Road. They disappeared very, very quickly and then it was back to work. There was an awfully large amount of footage, thanks to One More Time Chris, to try and condense down to 2 minutes. As the hours ticked away, we were then joined by Karah and slowly we started to make progress, making lots of cuts and edits. Luckily in the afternoon we were refuelled with pasties, pies and coffee and carried on at a pace. 4.00pm came, don't panic said Chris. 4.30pm came and Chris said don't panic almost there. Then at 4.45pm, perhaps we should start to panic! Karah was becoming a nervous wreck! But Billy carried on working away adding in titles, gunfire, our logo and yes, we got it finished and sent off. Phew!
We would like to say a very special thank you to Jon Jupp, who without joining in and letting us have access to all his props and costumes, I don't think the film would look as good as it does.
I would just like to add, can he get in some larger women's dress's added to his collection as it was a little snug!
All I can say is that everyone involved in this should be very proud of themselves.
The film looks amazing and win or lose, it is a great testimony to what you can achieve if you put yourselves to the test.
Chris and Billy are going to do another longer edit of the film, which will be shown at the premiere of Lessons Learnt on the 18th March.
There is an awards ceremony at the Wedgwood Rooms on Saturday, 7th March, where the winners will be announced.
After this, then the film can be released on the wider public!