SEVEN young carers from across Swindon went from novices to bona fide filmmakers in just three days this week.

The youngsters are all responsible for looking after someone in their lives, whether that be a sick parent or a sibling. It means they often can’t enjoy the same opportunities as others their own age.

The Swindon Carers Centre works with them to alleviate some of the pressures they face and this week, during the first three days of half term, they organised a filmmaking workshop in partnership with Create Studios.

They spent the first day working with a local filmmaker, Aoife Twomey, to learn basic camera skills and how to use different shots to tell a story.

Their second day was spent putting their ideas to the test and filming with the Orbital retail park as their set.

The organisers of the workshop thanked the Orbital team for going out of their way to help with access and support during the filming.

Wiltshire Police also offered their assistance with one of the groups even recruiting two accommodating PCSOs as extras in their production.

Wednesday morning was spent editing the films before an exclusive screening in front of family and friends.

Reflecting on the workshop, filmmaker Aoife said she had been impressed with how young people who may not have known each other before this week were able to come together and work so well as teams to put together their films.

Both groups pushed the boundaries of filmmaking and told stories using innovative props, storytelling tools and of course, special effects.

The audience were treated to two very different productions - the dark and moody psychological thriller starring Wiltshire's finest alongside the young carers and then an action thriller starring 'chicken nugget man' which was packed with amazing special effects.

The budding directors were based out of North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson’s Orbital office for the week and he was on hand to see the result of their hard work on Wednesday afternoon.

“We were watching the young carers produce the films over the past few days as our office was turned into a film studio,” said Justin. “I think they’ve got the potential to be the next Steven Spielberg.

“They miss out on so much that we as children took for granted. There was so much excitement as they were putting the films together and you could see how proud their families were today.”