Mysteries of the door a winner for filmmaker

A young animator has emerged as this year's winner of the University of Adelaide's Festival of Short Films competition.

Held as part of Open Day in August, the free competition gives young filmmakers the chance to win prizes, as well as giving their work exposure to the public and industry representatives.

The winner was 19-year-old Alex Delderfield, whose four-minute short film, Seek, took direct inspiration from this year's theme, "Behind the Door".

Seek is a digital animation about a strange character who stumbles across a mysterious door in the middle of nowhere. He soon discovers that getting through the door is harder than it seems.

Alex, a first-year Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Adelaide, produced the short film under intense time pressure (less than 20 days) during his holidays. He used a free 3D animation program called Blender to create his film.

As the winner, Alex has received a Sony Handycam valued at $1400, the use of an editing suite from digital media company Fat City valued at $1000, and 12 months' free membership to the Media Resource Centre (MRC).

Second place went to 21-year-old Lauren Lovett for her film Let's Hold Hands, a music film clip which used stop motion to illustrate a relationship kept behind closed doors. Lauren is a Bachelor of Arts graduate and is currently studying Honours in English (Creative Writing) at the University of Adelaide. Her prize was an iPod classic.

Third prize was awarded to 10-year-old Scott Haycraft for his short film, Knock Knock, which features a man who becomes frustrated by constant interruptions at the door. Scott, a Year 5 student at Hahndorf Primary School, used a digital still camera to create the stop motion animation film. His prize was an iPod nano.

All of the finalists' films are streamed online at the AdelaideNow website: www.adelaidenow.com.au and the University of Adelaide website: www.adelaide.edu.au/openday/festival