Corinne Fox’s Film Studies class embarks on their biggest adventure yet: to create their own short films. 

    There are three people gathered around a dining room table. One more enters the room, carrying two glasses of water. In the corner, senior Tomi Visgaitis stands while filming the scene on his phone. 

    He’s making his very first short film. 

    Film Studies is an elective class taught by Corinne Fox. While many class days revolve around watching movies and discussing them, there are three major hands-on projects in the class.

    These are the nickelodeon project, where students make a black-and-white short, the commercial project, where students film their own commercial, and the short film project, where students write, direct, edit, and even star in their own short films.

    The process takes up most of the third quarter. Students start with the assignment of making “a shot list, a storyboard, and a treatment,” according to Visgaitis. A treatment is a brief paper describing all aspects of the short film. A storyboard is a drawn visual of each shot. Finally, the shot list is a description of each shot, with focus on the order of filming, as well as components such as lighting and angle. Afterwards, they get into filming. 

    An essential part of the filming process is finding the perfect cast. “I just messaged my friends,” Visgaitis said. “Most are in my film studies class, but I also got a few people from the theater department.”

    Similarly, sophomore Mattea Drew said, “I just asked all of my friends who I know are interested in theater.” Her plan wasn’t without a few hiccups. “And then none of them were available. So then I asked more people, and they were able to.”

    Visgaitis, Drew, and junior Grant Cross all had different approaches to their film. Visgaitis chose to make “a satire comedy that makes fun of Hallmark films. I’m excited to see how it turns out, because it’s very corny and meant to be funny.”

    “My short film is based on a poem called “Birches” by Robert Frost,” said Cross. His film will have a friend reading the poem, scenic shots of nearby woods, and two actors.

    Meanwhile, Drew’s shot film is “about trying to make a short film and then getting so distracted that we never end up doing it.” She was inspired by a one-act she was involved with in middle school. “The plot of it was that we were trying to make a one-act. We were trying to fit the parents’ criteria, and the school’s criteria, and we ended up with a really bad one act. I thought it would be a funny short film.”

    When filming is done, students will move onto editing. Multiple class periods are allotted for that process, as it takes a while to get everything together. However, most students are excited for it. “It brings the whole movie together,” said Cross. 

    As for why Visgaitis, Drew, and Cross took film studies, all three of them have different answers. Visgaitis was “thrown into the class.” Drew, though film is just an interest, “likes analyzing film and plot and stuff.” Cross, however, hopes to pursue a career in film and wants to go to college for it. 

    The short films will be shown to the whole class in early April, in a mini film festival of sorts. Students are excited to see everyone else’s work, as well as show off the hard work that went into their own.