The lights begin to dim as the audience grows quiet and the lights of the projection allows others to see those around them. The ideas and visions in the minds of students at Coppell High School and New Tech High @ Coppell come to life for people to see.
On Jan. 31, Coppell’s KCBY-TV hosted its second annual Film Festival in the Coppell High School Auditorium. The festival displayed 18 short films by students at Coppell, including students of KCBY-TV and New Tech High @ Coppell’s broadcasting program FUZE.
“I think the film fest is like a celebration,” Coppell senior program director Issac Mercado said. “It just promotes creative expression in the filmmaking format.”
At the end of each weekly episode, a segment of special features airs, displaying the creativity and directing talents of the students in KCBY-TV.
“Kids are talented,” KCBY-TV adviser Irma Kennedy said. “I wanted to provide them with an avenue to express themselves creatively. We had held [the film festival] in 2013 but I was waiting for a staff who could take it on themselves.”
Kennedy pitched the idea of the film festival to the KCBY-TV staff last year, and it was ready to do something with it. She decided to pitch it again and bring it back again this year.
The short films shown displayed the talents found in the students in Coppell. They had the audience laughing, in shock, tearing up and cheering.
“We have a lot of knowledge of audio video production,” Mercado said. “And we have special features at the end of the show, but I think the film fest is a good way to encourage people to use that artistic expression in a way that allows them to use their audio video production knowledge and manifest it into something physical like a film.”
At the end of the act, the audience was able to vote on the Fan Favorite and Best Picture.
New Tech @ Coppell junior Sophia Ninan won the Fan Favorite category for the first act with her short film Seconds Back.
Seconds Back tells the story of two best friends who find a time travel watch that will test their friendship. The film stars New Tech High @ Coppell juniors Sarvin Narang and Muheb Siddiqui.
Coppell senior Sid Gunasakaran won Best Picture for both acts with his short films, Cool Beans and The Yapplication, in which he worked with Coppell junior Mira Daniel.
Cool Beans tells the story of a boy when the words “I love you” cause a slip of the tongue and struggle to make it up to the girl who loves him. The film stars sophomores Yuvan Sampath and Makayla Arnold.
The Yapplication tells the story of a boy going into a job interview where it takes a twist. The film stars Narang, Coppell English teacher Benjamin Stroud and Coppell sophomore Sophia Taylor.
Mercado and Chloe Kryzak won Fan Favorite with their short film Happy Together.
Happy Together tells the story of a boy who falls in love with a girl who starts to fall out of love with him. When he finds her with another boy, he lets his love drive him to go mad. The film stars Narang, Taylor and Johan Padayatti.
“I’ve never done a film class, an AV tech class, I’ve always done theater,” Gunasekaran said. “But filmmaking, you control the narrative, you control what’s being shown. It’s all about showcasing something to an audience, just like theater and acting. But in filmmaking, you have so much more control, you can change the aspect ratio, you can edit, you can film, you control the story, you control everything. And I think I just love having that sense of control.”
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