Essington School students join forces with Pitch Black for class project

Darwin media studies students joined forces with Pitch Black’s German branch for an epic class project. Here’s how it turned out.

The Essington School media studies students Jesse Wallace and Charlie Dann were part of Pitch Black’s 2024 civilian project. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Exercise Pitch Black is continuing to impact young Territorians even after the jets have stopped for another year.

The Essington School student Emily Banfield was one of five media studies pupils selected to work on a civilian project – alongside journalists from the Bavarian Broadcast Corporation – as part of Germany’s involvement in the exercise.

Ms Banfield said she started taking media studies as a subject in Year 8, and continued through to Year 11.

The Essington School media studies students Emily Banfield and Jovianne Tan were part of Pitch Black’s 2024 civilian project. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Now in Year 12, she is no longer enrolled in the subject but said she could not pass up the opportunity to work with industry experts.

“It was a really good experience – I got to use equipment that I’ve never used before that the Germans brought over,” she said.

“It was a great opportunity to go over to the RAAF base because with the strict security measures, it’s very hard to get in and so we’re very lucky to be able to get in and get up really close to the planes.

“We even got to sit in one as well, it was very lucky for us.”

Ms Banfield worked alongside peers Jesse Wallace, Charlie Dann, Jovianne Tan, and Georgia Park on the project.

The Essington School Senior Media and Digital Communications Teacher Karlie Weinert. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Senior Media and Digital Communications Teacher Karlie Weinert said the student pieced together three short films throughout the project.

She said the first film covered Exercise Pitch Black, while the others touched on Cyclone Tracy and Generation Z in Australia.

Ms Weinert said one film had already been shown at the Deckchair Cinema, and she hoped to see the remaining short films aired in the coming weeks.

She said they would also be broadcast in Bavaria.

“I’m a former journalist myself, and so I’m always really … really keen for them to experience the real world side of it,” she said.

“Regardless of whether they go into careers in the media or not, these experiences to learn how to communicate and collaborate with each other on the projects and get out there and meet people and hear their stories – it’s such great life skills for them.”