Frame by frame, shot by shot: each detail of a film comes together to convey a message and express ideas. This is what NTV members hoped to achieve with their individual film projects for the Orange County Film Festival.
NTV members had the opportunity to produce or direct a film in a category of their choice for the film festival. Many of these members received nominations for their work in categories such as Commercial, Independent, Music Video, Public Service Announcement and Show Open categories.
“Normally in NTV, we are assigned a role like producer and director and we’re given a segment to make,” junior Cherry Shin said. “In individual films, I can choose what I want to make and get more freedom so I can experiment with equipment and ideas, because it’s all up to me.”
Inspiration for the films came from experiences that high school students could relate to or enjoy, ranging from unique visualizations of music to in-depth looks at common struggles. Examples include a music video to the song Covet by Basement or a public service announcement talking about how social media can be harmful.
“I submitted a public service announcement on the dangers of social media and how it creates unrealistic beauty standards,” Shin said. “I sometimes feel like I’m always on social media so I thought it was a good opportunity to talk about it since it’s an ongoing problem.”
Students began the pre-production process with a moodboard, using words and drawings to capture the feelings and emotions they wanted to evoke. The planning is specified further as they create storyboards, where each shot is visualized and an outline for the film’s progression is created. The film crew uses these storyboards to ensure that everybody has the same vision in mind when filming.
“Let’s say you want to make your film more scenic, you start looking for grass and flowers or if you want to make it eerie, you could use an empty house,” sophomore Allen Okamoto said. “It just depends on what you want your film to give off. You should be able to look at one frame of the movie and kind of have an idea of what it is.”
Once the crew had a clear outline of their films, shooting scenes took between eight to 10 hours of dedication spanning over multiple days. Despite storyboards detailing each scene, the film crew often had to improvise on the spot to find new angles and lighting to create the perfect shot when shots and angles didn’t work out the way they expected.
“There was one time where I filmed until 2:00 in the morning,” Okamoto said. “Usually those are the times when you know the film is going to turn out good: when you’re on set and spending all this time.’”
Students then edited the shots together, which took them around four hours on average. This is where they add in extra elements such as sound effects and text to further develop the story and message.
“I feel like it’s humbling because you really have to be hands-on for all the processes of the film,” senior producer Joy Bae said. “Someone like me who’s a producer getting experience on directing or acting is special because it’s not something that you get to do once you go off to college or the real filmmaking world.”
While applications for NTV have closed, students interested in joining can explore film through the Video Production elective.
