Instead of staging the school's traditional annual musical production, children from grades 5 and 6 have been busy scripting and filming three-minute movies.

Their efforts will be on show to family and friends in a red carpet extravaganza at the Drum on September 13.

Story ideas developed by pupils included a moral dilemma faced by a boy finding money on the ground - with conflicting advice from an angel and the devil - and a chaotic wedding at which everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Senior school co-ordinator Paul Whitehead said the idea of the festival was to get pupils to use their growing ability with technology in a creative way.

"This has got them doing hands-on work and they have really thrown themselves into it."

Marcelo Oillataguerre, of Dingley Village's Stagefright Productions, had helped children become comfortable with film equipment and to develop their ideas. "He has professional film equipment and helped get the kids' storyboards organised and he fine-tuned them a bit," Mr Whitehead said.

"He also showed us how to take different shots and use angles and so forth."