March 28, 2024

Juniors Seia Watanabe and Kiera Richards create short film

Senior Kiera Richards acts as director for her short film. The film will be released at Costa's film festival in June.

By Lauren Farberman

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Lights camera action! Mira Costa Juniors Seia Watanabe and Kiera Richards are teaming up with a group of fellow Costa students to create their own short film.

Watanabe and Richards are both a part of Costa’s Advanced Cinematic Arts class. Their short film is for a final project in the class. The pair know each other through the class and also have made other short films throughout the school year. Richards will be on the film as the producer, while Watanabe will be serving as director.

Photos: Behind the scenes

“The prompt of our final project was to address misconceptions in society and when I heard that, I thought of something my English teacher Ms. Cabrera said.” Richards said. “She told our class a story about how a student said a painting of cars may be just someone who likes cars, and there doesn’t always have to be a deeper meaning, and that got me thinking of ideas for the short film.”

Learn more about the new Media Arts Department

In the Advanced Cinematic arts class anyone is offered the opportunity to write a script for the final project that addresses the prompt of misconceptions in society, Richards said. Once the scripts are complete the class reads and votes on their three favorite scripts along with the position they would like to be.

“I was really happy when my script was chosen because this is my first time getting my script produced and it is my first time directing as well whites exciting,” Richards said. “Watching films from past students have really inspired me and I cannot wait to have a film of my own and tell a story.”

The pair says one of the biggest challenges so far has been casting the film. They say that they cannot pay actors since it is a student film, so they reach out to fellow students on social media or just ask people they know.

“After contacting some casting agencies online I realized I wasn’t going to be able to cast the ages of older characters I originally had in mind,” Richards said. “Now that I have switched to high schoolers we are ready to begin filming and

https://laurenfarblavista.tumblr.com/post/160994547731/students-do-not-always-have-resources-like-actors

I am so excited to start bringing my story to life.”
The project is due the week of June 5th, right before finals. Richards said she plans to post the film to Youtube, post clips on Instagram and depending on the outcome of the film, she may submit it to some film festivals.

Learn more about the film festival

“I want audiences to watch my film and see that not everything has to have a pinpoint, or deeper meaning,” Richards said. “An artist can make many different types of art to convey a deeper message or just draw something just simply because they felt like it. Things are always up to your interpretation.”

Once Richards knew her script was being produced she teamed up with Watanabe as producer along with other classmates ranging from sophomores to seniors to assist with the film.
According to Wannatabe the film centers around a student who is asked to write a review on a popular New York artist. The student has trouble deciphering the meaning of the art, despite its popularity.

“I really loved the script the first time I read it,” Watanabe said. “I was immediately hooked and I found it so intriguing being that it really makes the audience question the meaning of art so I am really excited to be a part of the team bringing the film to life.”

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