There is a huge weekend of frantic activity and stress ahead for three groups of UCOL students as they compete in two national competitions this weekend.
A team of Bachelor of Applied Visual Imaging (BAVI) and video diploma students will take part in the V48 Hour Film Festival and two groups of students from UCOL’s Cookery programmes from the Palmerston North and Wairarapa campuses will compete at the Wellington Culinary Fare on Friday.
Wellington Culinary Fare.
Six students from UCOL’s Palmerston North based Professional Cookery and Baking and Pastry programmes will take part as individuals in trainee and Open competition classes at the prestigious annual culinary event.
Lauren Birch (Open Beef Main), Sarah Wilson (Soup), Catherine Drinnan (Open Salmon Main), Connor Kernan (Chicken Brunch), Maia Wihare (Soup) will each have to present four identical meals within a one hour time limit, for judging. Samantha Christison will prepare her static Gateau entry ahead of time.
Certificate in Hospitality students Tom Pearson and Geneveve Du Plessis will each compete in the Classic Cocktail and Table Service classes.
The cookery students have been training for up to three sessions per week for the past three weeks and admit to being ‘quite nervous’.
Fresh from their first time competition success in Hawkes Bay’s Salon Culinaire, a team of UCOL Wairarapa cookery students will also compete in several categories. Joseph Parata (Open Beef Main) Dominique Waimotu (Open Beef Main), Matt Lett (Chicken Brunch), Casey Watson (Soup Trainee Class).
Dominique and Casey are also entered in ‘static’ or cold dish categories. Dominique will present an Open Dreamy Gateau, and Casey, an Open Childs Decorated Birthday Cake for judging.
V48 Hour Film Festival
The V48 Hour is New Zealand’s largest film-making contest and is renowned for the pressure it puts on its participants.
UCOL’s team, titled Mellifluous Buttons, is made up of eight second year BAVI students. Co-producers Suzie Smith and Jenna Davison say only one of their team has any experience with the V48 competition. “We know it will be a crazy weekend.”
The pair has been busy arranging the logistics – sponsors, food, transport, hair and makeup and scouting possible locations in preparation for the challenge.
“We have great team dynamics,” says Suzie. “We are also technically capable of handling anything they can throw at us.”
The teams are assigned a movie genre at 7.00pm on Friday night and have exactly 48 hours to write, cast, shoot and edit their movie entry.
UCOL Video lecturer in the BAVI programme, Mel Edmon says the contest is a great way for students to learn by doing. “They have to plan well and work together to meet a very tight deadline. “It is a brilliant assessment tool in an environment that you can’t recreate in the classroom.”
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