Crash Course finishes second in Car Shorts Grand Prix
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 November 2014
Crash Course, the futuristic short film created by Simon Heath and seven students from Media Design School’s Bachelor of Art and
Design, has finished the Car Shorts Grand Prix race with a stellar second place result.
The Car Shorts Grand Prix, an online film festival run by Direct Line Versicherung AG and Interfilm Berlin, saw people
from all over the world visit the Car Shorts website to vote for their favourite short film. Crash Course competed against over 350 other short films that featured a car or mobility based storyline to win over the general
public.
Crash Course, which features both computer-generated images (CGI) and visual effects, tells the story of a hapless driving student
named Gavin who can’t fly, let alone drive. When thuggish thief Hank hijacks their flying car after a heist, the
roller-coaster ride through the high-rise city gets him more than he bargained for.
The film was directed and produced by Media Design School’s Senior Lecturer of 3D and Animation, Simon Heath, and seven
third year students from Media Design School’s Bachelor of Art and Design degree programme. The team had only 14 weeks
to create over 40 visual effects shots for Crash Course, all of which feature in the 4:05 minute long film.
Simon Heath says that he was pleasantly surprised by the announcement that Crash Course had take out second place in the Car Shorts competition.
“We are thrilled that so many people around the world had the chance to view Crash Course. The fact that an international audience resonated with and decided to vote for Crash Course was an added bonus,”
“This result is the perfect way to recognise the hard work and long hours that our students put into Crash Course. Without their expertise, we would never have finished the film in such a short time frame,” says Simon.
All of the winners of Car Shorts are available to view by visiting this website. Alternatively, you can watch Crash Course on the Media Design School Vimeo page here.