COULD this be the start of a hugely successful career in film?

Peter Symonds student and Winchester resident, Rob O'Connor, has won the 14-17 year old category of the 2020 Rotary Young Film Maker Competition.

The competition was a 'cut down' affair compared to 2019 with fewer entries due to the pandemic.

Rob's film Quarantown is set during the height of the Spanish Influenza pandemic, a hard-boiled detective enters a grisly murder scene, and has to hunt for clues.

The challenge is for him to find the germophobic serial killer behind the clinically executed crime.

Competition organiser, Winchester Rotarian Steve Feeney, a professional video producer said: “I liked the use of the Film Noir style and the clever use of the typed "clues" to tell the story.

"Technically, the camerawork was creative with well thought out camera angles, well-constructed and framed, in focus and consistently and correctly exposed.

"The music was also created by Rob which was in keeping with the visual style that chosen.”

Rob's film now goes on to the district round of the competition