Film Festival movies capture the audience’s attention

Fellow+film+directors+clap+as+Isaac+Brown+wins+the+award+for+directing+the+Best+Comedy.+Photo+taken+by+Ethan+Shicks.

Fellow film directors clap as Isaac Brown wins the award for directing the Best Comedy. Photo taken by Ethan Shicks.

Movies, stars, and movie stars. These words describe CAHS’ 2015 Film Festival. On February 20, Friday night, ASB put on a movie marathon of 13 original films created by CAHS students.

While not labeled as a formal event, people dressed formally. At the same time, ASB provided a massive concessions stand, with plenty of popcorn available.

Each film portrayed a different emotion or message. Some films entertained, and some films hid deeper meanings.

For example, Anthony Salvato’s “Daydreamer” portrayed a boy’s fantasies for a girl, detailing the line between imagination and reality. Kolbe Schazenbach and Nathan Pak’s “15” gave a demonstration of how dangerous secrets can be when kept.

Students in Mr. Goodman’s Video Production class created a portion of the films. The class produced a video for the California Charter Schools Association Video Contest. The film detailed the benefits of a charter school education like the one CAHS provides.

After ASB presented the films, the public voted for which films deserved awards. Only one film could be awarded for the categories: Best Acting, Best Cinematography, Best Comedy, Best Drama and Best Film Overall.

During intermission ASB showcased three older films while they tallied up votes.These films include the winner of the first film festival in 2012, the second place winner “Black or White” and the winner of 2014’s festival, “Cade Lembeck vs. Max Burns”.

The audience voted Isaac Brown’s “Dubstep Warriors” for the Best Comedy, Kolbe Schanzenbach and Nathan Pak’s “15” for Best Acting, Caleb Arend’s “The Gloves Are On” for Best Cinematography  and Noah Castillero’s “Until It’s Gone” won Best Drama.

In the end, Stephen O’Loughlin’s LEGO rendition of “Guardians of the Galaxy” stole the show. The yearlong project won the award of the Best Film Overall.

When asked about how he created the film, O’Loughlin said, “I built the Dark Aster ship, and then I built the Milano Cockplit. For the rest of it I popped in ships that LEGO made. I filmed it on a green screen and then I moved it around, and then I duplicated that layer hundreds of thousands of times to create the bigger shots in the film.”

 

Watch some of the films from this year’s film festival:

“15” by Kolbe Schanzenbach and Nathan Pak

“2014 in Seconds a Day” by Jakob Woo-Ming

“California Charter Schools Association Video Contest” by CAHS Video Production Class

“Daydreamer” by Anthony Salvato

“LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy” by Stephen O’Loughlin

“The Gloves Are On” by Caleb Arend

 

Watch the films from the intermission:

2012 Film Festival Winner” by CAHS Video Production

Black or White” by Anthony Salvato

Cade Lembeck vs. Max Burns” by Stephen O’Loughlin