justin-mitchell-bhp

[Music plays and images of award participants flash by on screen. Text appears: BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards 2017]

[Image changes to show an aerial shot of houses and roads and Justin Mitchell on a skateboard]

[Image changes to show Justin Mitchell smiling at the camera]

Justin Mitchell: Hi, my name’s Justin Mitchell and I’m 14-years old, I’m in Year 8 at Saint Kevin’s College and my project was called Synth-etic: the world's first 'hood-wind' instrument.

[Image changes to show Justin walking along a footpath]

Synth-etic is the first of its kind, it is a wearable keyboard in your hoodie pocket, it features an eight note scale, which can be modulated up or down as well as 127 different instrument settings.

[Image changes to show Justin seated at a table and playing on his device and then changes to show Justin seated and talking to the camera]

It means you can play whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you are.

[Image changes to show Justin seated and playing a piano and then changes back to Justin seated and playing on his device]

I wanted to combine my love of music and science in one simple project. I wanted others to be able to learn to play music and learn it through their own experience without disturbing those around them. The target is musicians, but it’s great for non-musicians as well.

[Camera pans over the parts of Justin’s device as he continues to play with it]

For musicians it’s just an amazing outlet for their creativity. I think that a lot of teenagers just see music as noise or noise that sounds good,

[Image changes back to show Justin seated and talking to the camera]

but I think that if they use Synth-etic they’d see music as kind of a song with its parts and they’d appreciate it a bit more.

[Image changes back to show Justin skating down the road]

I’m quite a curious person, I don’t think I read a single fiction book until I was ten or so, so I’ve been immersed in quite a few facts and figures. I just like to find out why, that’s always the question I’m asking myself – why am I doing this? Why is this happening?

[Image changes back to show Justin seated and talking to the camera and then moves to show him seated and playing a piano]

Music is one of my favourite hobbies, it’s a big part of my life, I’ll play music up to three hours a day. Other than music and maths and science I am a normal kid, so I will just hang out with my friends, play board games, video games, maybe even watch a movie.

[Image changes to show Justin playing an instrument]

I also like sport, the mains one being hockey, lacrosse, table tennis.

[Image changes back to show Justin seated and talking to the camera]

In the future, I think, technology will have a big part to play in helping people in their everyday lives, whether it’s health, entertainment, as in Synth-etic, or fitness.

[Music plays and text appears: BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards 2017]

[Sponsors logos appear on screen]