EMMAUS, Pa. — Right before coronavirus hit, students in Emmaus High School’s broadcast studio and film production program discussed a larger undertaking than the course's usual broadcasts and other projects: A full short film.
It would involve a complete film-making process, from forming a team and establishing roles to booking a set and all that goes into post-production and editing.
That all was put on the back burner because of the pandemic, but last year the idea came back to life.
- Students from Emmaus High School's broadcast studio & film production program created a nine-minute short film that has been selected in the prestigious All-American High School Film Festival
- This is the first time the program has submitted to a major festival
- The festival takes place Oct. 21-23 in at theaters in Manhattan, and many students from the production plan to attend
“Our teacher brought it up to us again,” said recent graduate Sara Bonaventura. “Because we had already been in the mindset years ago about doing a group film. We were all definitely really excited.“
Eight juniors and seniors in the class joined together to produce what they quickly decided would be a horror film.
“One of the genres that I love is horror and thrillers in that kind of vein,” Director Thomas Hartill said. “I just think there's something so interesting about using these terrifying and grotesque situations to say something about the human experience.”
Hartill, who also edited the film with co-director and screenwriter Meghan Whitby, said while there were some challenges, the project was a lot of fun and very collaborative among the team members. The process took a lot of effort and time, with initial planning in late December, filming continuing through May and editing for the six-month project completed in June.
“I remember the one thing that I kept telling everyone in the crew trying to make the film was, like, when in doubt, try to make it a little bit weirder,” Hartill said. “I just think it's always better, as long as it's got a purpose to it, to do things a little bit weirder and a little bit more interesting, as opposed to the standard high school short film that you would see.”
And it paid off.
The resulting film, “Haunted (Or the Act of Letting Go),” was announced in July to be screened at the All American High School Film Festival, dubbed the largest student film festival in the world.
The film will be played alongside selections not just from the United States, as the name implies, but throughout the world, out of thousands of submissions.
The festival takes place Oct. 21-23 in New York City at theaters in the heart of Manhattan, and many of those from Emmaus High School who worked on the film and are still in high school or now in college plan to attend. By being screened at the festival, “Haunted (Or the Act of Letting Go)” is in the running for various awards and prizes.
“Thomas had his hopes up a lot higher than the rest of us did, I think,” said Bonaventura, who acted in and assisted with production of the film. “So Meghan and I were really stressed out, primarily for Thomas being heartbroken about it because he directed it and it was like his little baby.
"So when they live streamed the announcements, Meghan and I listened anyway, we were like, ‘We're not gonna get in, but we'll listen.’ We weren't even paying attention at one point and then all of a sudden, we heard Thomas' name be announced. We looked at each other and just screamed because we were in such disbelief.”
The nine-minute film features intense themes of addiction and grief, in addition to fears of the supernatural. It seeks to capture an isolating feeling for the viewer through the lead character's struggles.
Jill Kuebler, who teaches the film program at Emmaus High, said that despite doing team productions in the past, it was the first time the program has submitted work to a major festival. Typically, the program consists of smaller creative film projects and creating content for the schools’ newscast after learning techniques and editing, letting students discover different aspects of production and in which they work best.
"The students were elated," Kuebler said. "They were so incredibly excited. Obviously, it's not about the accolades, but it's really, really neat to have something that you worked so hard on and put so much effort into culminate in a panel of judges from renowned film festival put your film in the running."
Students say almost all of the production, other than the setting of deadlines and assisting with submission, was handled by the team of students -- something that has gone a long way to prepare students looking to continue in film for what comes next in college.
“I think for all of us, that was a first,” assistant editor Elise Stauffer, now a senior, said. “So finally being able to do and learn what it's like to work on a bigger crew is really helpful.”
Co-director Whitby, who now attends Hofstra University’s film program with Hartill, said, “I've already met some people in classes of mine that talked about feeling nervous, because they feel like they don't have much experience or they didn't have any film classes at their high school.
“So I feel very lucky that we have that program at [Emmaus] high school because it's just like, I feel like it's prepared me so much already.”
Kuebler said it has been great to see her students pursuing their passion and be able to produce such a film, something many are not able to do until college.
“It's incredible, it's very rewarding,” Kuebler said. “It's the culminating piece of this entire program. They've been with me for four years, they're taking all the skills that they've learned, and putting them to the best use that they can, working together, leaning on each other, learning and growing from the experience.
"It wasn't always easy, and they had to do a lot of problem solving, but it worked out and I'm just so glad it was a positive experience for them.”
"All of a sudden, we heard Thomas's name be announced. We looked at each other and just screamed because we were in such disbelief"Sara Bonaventura, actress and producer
Locally, the Emmaus Arts Commission Student Film Fest is accepting submissions for its 18th year for Lehigh Valley high school and middle school students wishing to put their filmmaking to the test.
Students will be given only eight days to write, shoot, edit and publish a short film, with judging for awards done by industry professionals. Registration for the festival closes Oct. 14, with screenings Nov. 11 at Emmaus Theatre.
The Lehigh Valley also has a locally produced film by Emmaus resident Noah Schreiner called “Small Things Add Up" showing in the middle school category of the All American Film Festival. Schreiner won awards at the local Emmaus festival last year for directing a different short film.
Kuebler said Emmaus High plans to submit future production team projects to the festival, and students in the course will work on multiple tasks.
She said that even though different students may be involved in different aspects of a film project or be producing in different genres, such as Emmaus High School’s newscast, it all contributes to the same goal.
“I think it's all communicating with other people," Kuebler said. "I think it's all collaborating with others. It's all building your technique, no matter what genre whether you're doing a newscast or, you know, creating a horror film. It's all learning how to use cameras, learning how to use different shots, learning how to edit, learning how to be flexible and learning how to work hard.
"So, and those are lifelong skills whether these kids go into filmmaker filmmaking or not.”
