YOUNG animators from Parramatta Marist High School have doodled their way into the finals of the national Screen It film competition.

Gerard Colomo, Arvin Caraos, Michael Kowik and Jason Estepa of Parramatta Marist watch their film. PICTURE: JOHN APPLEYARD

Two of the Westmead school’s films were selected among the five finalists in the secondary animation category by a panel of industry experts.

The annual competition, held by Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image, invited entries from school-age students Australia-wide.

This year all year 9 students at Parramatta Marist worked in pairs to produce films for the competition.

School year 9 co-ordinator Karyn West said the two finalists produced their films using cell-based animation, a laborious process which saw them hand-drawing each frame of the film, sketching about 1500 images for the two-minute films.

“It’s much more time-consuming but cell-based animation allows them a lot more control over the movement of their images,’’ she said.

“Most of the students wouldn’t be doing art as an elective, they were really stretching themselves, but the entries the school presented this year were much more sophisticated than previous years’ entries.’’

The films – Cyberspace and Piracy – discussed the issue of cyber-safety in response to this year’s competition theme of cybersmart.

Entrants were invited to enter a work into one of three categories: live action film, computer game or animation, with separate sections for primary and secondary school students.

Mrs West sees programs using the school’s film and computer labs as being invaluable for teenagers, who often do not respond to traditional book-based learning.

“From a curriculum perspective, engaging the boys and using technology and finding an end-product that they actually enjoy was a real benefit.

“Not only do they learn computer skills through a program like this, but also softer skills like communication and teamwork.’’