Severn Students to Produce Movie

By Kaylee Schwitzer, Severn School

Our Mission:

As upperclassman at Severn School, we have been given a tremendous opportunity this spring to embark on a major project in the fine arts.  

Our Digital Film and Video class, comprised of thirteen high school juniors and seniors, will be working together to plan, film and edit a 10-minute movie.  Our goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the filmmaking industry as a whole and to explore the process of movie production.

The prerequisite in order to be in this class is a lower-level digital film and video class. However, that class consists of much smaller-scale projects such as music videos, commercials and shorts. That being said, for many of us, this will be our first large production.

 The Story:

Our movie, written by one of our team members, Ryan Boulier, tells the story of a boy who, after his father’s death, gains possession of a very unique, old computer. While messing around with it, our protagonist has a very strange encounter. 

The computer flashes a series of mysterious horse names and all of a sudden the computer successfully predicts the outcomes of several horse races and our protagonist is forced to confront how he is going to react to this information.

He has two options: he can either take the easy way out by cashing in on this inside information or he can be morally sound and act accordingly.

Resources:

Due to both the nature of our project and the average age of our team, we are relatively limited in terms of resources. In other words, we have no money. Although we are incredibly fortunate in terms of camera and lighting equipment, which will be provided by the school, we will also need to draw from the local community for support.

Between now and our shooting days in April, we will need help accumulating all of the following:

•  Actors

• Casting calls will be held in March
  • Contact Casting Directions Tara Sheehan and Caroline McCleary by emailing lightmovesfilm@gmail.com for more detail

•  Props/Costumes

Contact Production Designer Tim Harding at s11tharding@severnschool.com or lightmovesfilm@gmail.com.

•      Food

We will be shooting on April 15-17

We will need to feed the entire crew (actors included) on all three days and we are looking for donations

     Monetary Donations

We are working on an incredibly low budget so anything and everything we can get makes a difference

•  Location

We are looking for a place to shoot the betting shop scene.

Meet the Team Leaders:

Dan Gvozden went to Severna Park High School and then graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU as a Film Production Major in 2008. He has directed, produced and written many pieces. If you are looking for more information about his experience in the field, check out his website by logging on to: www.dangvozden.com.

He is currently in his second year as a Severn teacher and he will be guided us through our pre-production, production and post-production processes. If you have questions for him about our project, email him at anoldhope@gmail.com.

Greg Caple will be the director of Light Moves. He first became passionate about film after taking the first Digital Film and Video Class. Throughout the process, he will be overseeing everything from aesthetic decisions to creative management. He will also oversee all aspects of the film: pre, during and post-production. If you are looking to contact him, shoot him an email at s11gcaple@severnschool.com.

Kaylee Schwitzer will be spending the semester producing the film. She is incredibly passionate about the project and is an avid movie fan. She is the president of the school’s Film Club and is hoping to study Film at Bowdoin College next fall. As producer, she will be in charge of the general management of the production as well as managing locations. If you have questions about our mission or how you can help us, contact her at kaylee.schwitzer@gmail.com or lightmovesfilm@gmail.com.

The Director of Photography for Light Moves will be Nick Kondylas. He has been making and editing wake-boarding videos for several years and wants to take his knowledge of aesthetics and composition to the next level. He will create and control the visual tone of the entire film. If you would like to help out with his aspect of the project, contact him at s11nkondylas@severnschool.com

 Tim Harding will be the team’s Production Designer. In other words, he will be managing all costumes and props as well as dictating the visual layout of scenes in the movie. We are definitely looking for community support for costumes and props so if you can help, contact him at s11tharding@severnschool.com or email lightmovesfilm@gmail.com.

*Editor's Note: Dan Gvozden is also a contributor to Patch.com.