Scondary pupils have been putting their film making skills to the test in a bid to tackle the issue of mental health.

Year 9 and 10 students at New Rickstones Academy in Witham were among just 200 people aged between 11 and 19 in the country to create their very own short film for the Into Film Moving Minds Filmmaking Project.

The project has been set up to increase awareness about mental illnesses, with each short film focusing on improving confidence, communication and teamwork skills.

Students at New Rickstones have produced a film together about a boy who was getting bullied at school whose mind becomes "like a forest", with a positive and negative thoughts.

The stop-motion film meant students had to take 50 images for just one scene. The finsi

Student Dylan Warren said: “This is something very different to normal lessons and is good fun. We have had to be very patient with it as it’s a long process.

"I did not realise it would take so many photos for just five seconds of shot. There’s a scene where the character is crying and that took 20 photos."

The students had help from professional filmmakers and celebratory screenings will take place once the finishing touches have been done to each film.

The films will then me used as educational resources to help teachers start conversations about mental health in the classroom.

Filmmaking co-ordinator Beth Crosland added: “Our mission, as a film education charity, is to put film at the heart of personal, cultural and social development. We want to teach young people about film and the world through film.

“With this project, we were keen to do something in response to the increasing prevalence of youth mental health and wanted to see what we could do about it as a charity. Film is a really good way of opening up a discussion. We thought what better way to do that than to get young people to make films on what they feel about the issue.”