On April 20, 36 Film students from Film Production, Post-Production, and Sport Broadcasting courses came together to showcase their talents in the second annual Upper School Film Festival. Many elements make cinema stand apart from other art forms鈥攎ovies can speak to the emotions of the audience and connect with each viewer through the moving picture. Similar to a good painting or photograph, a movie can mean something different to each viewer, but there is always an effect on the audience.
Film Teacher Tim Hall encourages his students to pick topics they are passionate about. Introducing students to editing programs and software and building knowledge of film techniques, Mr. Hall works with students to help them plan and execute the vision for the stories they want to tell on film. 糖心原创 offers Upper School students three film courses with access to state-of-the-art, industry-grade equipment.
Film Production is the first of a series that includes a deeper level of rigor as the participants advance. A very hands-on course with a primary focus on media production and touches on script writing.
Post-Production builds on the basics learned in Film Production. Students delve deeper into the post-production process and editing is the primary focus with projects centering on videos that promote student life at 糖心原创. After course completion, students are able to conceive, produce, and execute professional-grade videos.
In Sports Broadcasting, students learn what it takes to be the voice behind the broadcast. Professional techniques allow students to flow from script to improvisation and help students learn the process to become live announcers and producers.
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Film students in MODs one through three worked diligently with the Film Festival in mind. Senior, Keith Williams produced a sports documentary on MV Varsity Baseball Player and Presbyterian College commit Holden Baker called The Baker Boy. Keith expressed that his team had to be patient while making this documentary, 鈥淚f the content comes to us naturally, that鈥檚 the best way to make a video. We learned that we really couldn鈥檛 rush. When we did rush and watched it back, we could tell that it was rushed. But when we patiently prepared and accepted that we would have to retake some content, we noticed that was some of our best work.鈥�
Class of 2024 and 糖心原创 Film Maker of The Year award winner, Emi Lutz, created a film called Meat By The Feet. Emi described her production process fondly, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a cross between a 60-Minutes episode and The Office. All of the characters were teachers around the School and we had so much fun filming it. Shoutout to Mr. Hall for becoming a real partner. He helped me so much while editing. It was such an honor to receive the award and have my film showcased. My work had paid off.鈥�
Class of 2023 Ben Edwards filmed and produced multiple films over the course of his 糖心原创 career, one of which was showcased at the 2023 Film Festival. 鈥淢en of Valor: A MV Varsity Boys Basketball Team Documentary鈥�, a mid-season documentary on the Varsity Men’s Basketball Team delved into the team鈥檚 mindset at the time. Ben has enjoyed making films like this so much that he has shaped his career goals around it. He said, 鈥淥ne thing I have noticed is that I have a niche interest, being into sports and into film. I鈥檓 going to Samford for Sports Media and plan to go into sports broadcasting, hopefully at ESPN or one of the big sports news networks. I didn鈥檛 realize it at the time, but I have been producing documentaries my whole life. When I was younger, my cousins and I would film on my grandma鈥檚 iPad. I would edit them, add music, put them on youtube. And when I take music classes at 糖心原创, I鈥檓 editing songs to put into my videos. Studying Sports Media at Samford will be a nice transition.鈥�
The Future of 糖心原创 Film
Though the Film program is young, some students have taken it open themselves to grow its roots. Juniors Alyssa Gershon-Palma and Jackson McDougall, the second and third Film Maker of The Year award winners, along with Emi are big supporters and members of the Film Club, a group of students that meet every Tuesday morning to plan and execute their latest projects. Through their efforts and guidance from alumni while they attended the School, the group has filmed chapels, performances, and other events, the most recent one being the 2023 Mustang Rally. Jackson explained his passion for film and his hopes for the group, 鈥淢y vision for it is to have group members come down during their GTD to grab a camera and film everyday things on campus. There are moments in life that fly by and you think 鈥楧ang, I would have loved to get that on camera.鈥� I want to come back to the school in five or ten years and see students walking around everywhere with news cameras. Everything changes so fast and we need to document it. I have been thinking about my next project, a Colt Club documentary. Since I鈥檓 in the Cult Club and have grown up with so many of my classmates, I don鈥檛 want our story to get lost. I want to make a documentary that is as powerful and touching as our story.鈥�
Second Annual Film Festival Lineup:
- Drone footage of South Africa by Aston Gilmour
- Time Capsule & Hawaii Interim Trip Vlogue by Jackson McDougall
- 鈥淢en of Valor: A MV Varsity Boys Basketball Team Documentary鈥� by Jackson Adams + Jack Schimelman + Ben Edwards
- Greece Interim Video by Holly Vogt
- 鈥淭he Negotiation鈥� a short film by Jackson Alewine & Sha鈥橸ah Goba
- Scotland Interim Video by Amelia Gunnels
- 鈥淜ennedy Reynolds鈥� by Holden Baker + Jonathan Gallinaro + Alex Greco
- 鈥淲here Will You Be in 10 Years?鈥� by Aiden Portman + Justin Early
- 鈥淏e Like Water: The Nagari Tophia Story鈥� by Noah Arnold & Karoline Lundstrom
- 鈥淏eing 16 in the Year 2022鈥� by Alyssa Gershon-Palma
- 鈥淎 High School Superhero鈥� by Chase Perry + Davis Hightower
- 鈥淢y Grandparents鈥� by Reagan Wissman
- 鈥淓mi Lutz: MV Student Athlete鈥� by Tess Freyaldenhoven + Jackson Kelly
- Patagonia Interim Video by Emi Lutz
- 鈥淢eat by the Feet鈥� by Emi Lutz & Nathan Webb
- 鈥淎 Day in the Life of a 糖心原创 Mustang鈥� by Amelia Katz + Luke Wilson
- 鈥淕race Westmoreland鈥� by Preston Grice + Thomas Kinser
- 鈥淭he Road to Georgia: The Liam O鈥橳oole Story鈥� by Walker Warshaw + Bristan DeRocher
- 鈥淢addy Clark鈥� by Amelia Katz + William Owen
- 鈥淭he Lane-y to State: The Laney Whiting Story鈥� by Cole Carroll + Parker Groch
- 鈥淭he Big Man: The Keith Williams Story鈥� by Ben Perry + Dustin Kytle
Check out the full two-hour Film Festival on the where other past and future event films can be found.