When students were commissioned to make a film they thought it sounded glamorous.
What they didn't realise was that they would have to cope with rats, sinking into mud on a landfill site and working with more smelly rubbish than they could imagine.
Five sixth formers from The Milton Keynes Academy were commissioned by Campbell Park Parish Council to make a 20 minute film to encourage more young people to recycle waste.
The result is ‘The Big Clean Up' which was shown to The Mayor of Milton Keynes Cllr Debbie Brock and local dignitaries on December 2.
"I ended up dreaming of bin bags," said Tenita Williams, "We spent weeks researching, filming, singing, acting, presenting and editing the film including working solidly through the half term holiday and every lunchtime and after school.
The result is a highly professional, educational and entertaining film which puts across the message that recycling is vitally important.
It was filmed on local estates as well as the Newton Longville landfill site, the Envar compost centre in Huntingdon where local discarded food is sent, and the Milton Keynes Recycling facility.
The young filmmakers were Victoria Smith, Ayan Yusuf, Ashleigh Rabe, Peyton Miles and Tenita Williams, who worked with a £2,000 budget which was mainly used for DVD production.
Project manager Victoria Smith said: "We wanted to show people what happens to their rubbish and we also needed to put across some really serious messages. We decided to make the film fun too so we re-wrote a Spice Girls song and perform that at the end of the film."
The girls discovered that making a film is not straightforward. Disaster struck when Victoria ran down a slope in Campbell Park singing and fell straight into a pond. The girls also had rats jump out at them when being interviewed in Fishermead and sank into stinky mud on a landfill site.
Ashleigh Rabe said: "While researching the film we learned a lot about how rubbish can be reused in a good way. We were also shocked by the amount of rubbish just dumped in the city and the amount of litter on the estates. A lot more could be done to make Milton Keynes a cleaner place."
Teacher Miss Lomas added: "I'm really proud of the girls' efforts as they worked so hard and produced such a good result."
The film will form part of the students' Level 3 Creative and Media Diploma project work.
Cllr Mike Johnson, Deputy Chair of Campbell Park Parish Council said: "One of the key objectives of the Council is to make the parish a desirable location for people to aspire to live in and, to generate a sense of pride and wellbeing in their location. Taking responsibility for the correct disposal of rubbish and maintaining a clean environment are essential in achieving this objective."
He went on to say: "The partnership with the Academy and the council was a perfect match because it allowed the authorities to get across an important environmental message, whilst allowing the student to achieve their academic requirements. They have done an excellent job in conceiving and delivering the DVD project on time and in a way that will engage viewers of all ages. They are to be congratulated."
SANDWICH DONATION
To support the project the Academy's catering team donated 50 rounds of sandwiches to Love Action for use in their soup kitchen on Fishermead. This also took place on December 2.
