By Grace Dietz
Online Arts Editor
The South Bay Student Video Festival left viewers amazed and allowed for student expression through a variety of topics, such as gun reform, love, gender equality and the social struggle that all teenagers encounter.
The festival explored different topics and video styles, such as animation and non-fiction. The unique films showcased made for a must-see video festival that astonished viewers.
Mira Costa hosted the 18th annual South Bay Student Video Festival on May 18 in the small theatre. Judges including Sue Schiebler, Jose Garcia-Moreno, Fred Schroeder and Andrew Ceperley received approximately 600 video submissions from students around the world. The judges then chose the films that were featured in the festival and selected the winning films.
Prior to screening the films for the audience, Jacquelyn Sparrow and Oliver Michelsen, the President and Vice President of the Mira Costa Cinema Club, interviewed J.D. Roth, the television producer who produced “The Biggest Loser,” on stage to hear his story and perspective on the start of his career.
The interview with Roth was inspiring for the teenage filmmakers in the audience and allowed them to learn how he succeeded in becoming a producer. Roth emphasized the importance of perseverance in filmmaking, which added a genuine aspect to the festival by showing the real experience of someone who had experienced success in the film industry.
The 2018 South Bay Student Video Festival contained videos submitted by students from different schools and countries, which offered a variety of perspectives. The inclusion of videos submitted by students from different schools and countries, such as Beckman High School, the LA County High School of the Arts, Mira Costa High School and the Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Canada, demonstrated the diversity of the film festival.
The South Bay Student Video Festival was extremely professional, as the videos flowed well together in the slideshow that the Mira Costa Media Arts Program created. The smooth transitions between the videos reflected the professionalism of the student participants and the fluidity of the films constantly entertained viewers.
The intimate setting of the small theatre enabled viewers to truly appreciate the amount of detail that went into every film. Due to the close proximity to the screen, viewers were able to see small details within the films, helping them to appreciate the exceptional quality of each submission.
The atmosphere of the small theatre combined with the lighting successfully pleased viewers. Music was played in the small theatre prior to the showcasing of the films, which set the mood for the display of the videos and kept viewers entertained until the festival began. The lighting in the small theatre perfectly illuminated the screen, which allowed for the details of the videos to be seen.
J.D. Roth’s interview before the display of the videos helped attendees gain insight into how to be successful in the film industry. The prevalent topics addressed throughout the films allowed for students to express themselves, which made for a more genuine and intimate film festival that was unlike any other.
Written, directed and shot by Cooper Roth, a junior at Costa, “The In Between” was the winner of the South Bay Student Video Festival. The film successfully depicts the struggles of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 20. The voice-over passionately expresses the social and mental pain that teenagers face every day, ranging from academic pressures, relationships, social status and sexuality. “The In Between” prompts teenage viewers to persevere, as they recognize that their teen years are just a transitional period in their lives and that they have the strength to make it through. The spectacular film was impeccably written and directed, with powerful acting and an emotional voice-over.
“Windows Open” was the only film in the festival to win two awards, the Best Music Video award and the Achievement in Cinematography award. The video, directed and edited by Daisy Cornejo from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, depicts two musicians, Sora and Char, in a live music video with various clips of a woman drowning in water. The water traps the woman at the beginning of the video as she fights for her life, but in the end she comes to the surface to breathe, emphasizing the importance of perseverance. The powerful message paired with the superb singing make the video a one-of-a-kind film that thoroughly entertains viewers.
Although the film “OCD,” produced by Carolina Mourinho from Santa Monica High School was only 57 seconds long, it managed to capture the purest form of love. In the video, a man who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is in a relationship with a woman who left him because she couldn’t understand his unusual daily routine caused by the disorder. At the end of the film, the man passionately states that he would change himself and his abnormalities just to love the woman again. The film managed to completely sweep the audience off their feet through the illumination of how a man would sacrifice his own happiness just so his girlfriend could be unconditionally happy.
For more information about submissions to next year’s festival, contact Mr. Hernandez at mhernandez@mbusd.org.
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