FILMING is under way for a new feature film which is turning dozens of Canvey children into budding actors.

More than 200 youngsters are being given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a new movie that will be set on Canvey as part of a three-year project led by the London Bus Company.

The storyline of the 90-minute film, called Oil City Rockers, will focus on ghosts at a school helping out children that have been bullied.

Organisers have completed the first bit of filming at various locations across the island.

About 100 young people were booked as ghost and demons for the largest scene in the film last month which was staged at the Paddocks Community Centre in Long Road.

The Island Girls football team were also booked for two days of the summer to shoot, as well as local photographer Jack Skedge, who was employed to photograph the scene and appear as a demon.

Katherine Austen, project manger, said: “The project has been a great success to date.

“We are shooting again in the autumn and spring and hope to complete the project by 2015. We have had tremendous support from the community."