Credit: Jillian Mele

An image captured from the short film called “This Girl Named Lucy” is shown in the WHS theater. This movie portrays a tragic love story between two friends.

On Wednesday, Jan. 31, students gathered in the Wayland High School theater to watch a film presentation put on by the Script to Screen class. The films shown were projects that students wrote, directed, shot and acted in over the course of a year. Films created during prior school years, as well as some more recent films, were presented to the audience to show off the movies that the Script to Screen class has produced over several years at WHS.

From “The Ventriloquist’s Hand” to “This Girl Named Lucy,” some of the films’ plots had audience members laughing throughout the showings. However, according to the Script to Screen class members, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of these movies.

Senior and Script to Screen class student Brendan Hines wrote and produced the film “The Ventriloquist’s Hand.” The story followed a group of muppets who secretly handed out midyear exam answers in exchange for money.

“[Inspiration for] ‘The Ventriloquist’s Hand’ kind of came from watching ‘The Godfather’ and I’ve always loved the ‘Muppets,’” Hines said. “I always thought it would be funny if the muppets acted like us, because ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ is where they take a story and put puppets in it along with the humans.”

Hines finds that creating a film is time-consuming and takes lots of preparation to execute. He explains that throughout the production of a movie, there are many steps film directors have to follow in order to produce something successful and compelling. This process may be stressful and could require students to plan well with others.

“You just write [the script] and then you get actors and film it, but you actually have to do a lot more than that because you have to be efficient,” Hines said. “As soon as the cameras stop rolling, you’re immediately on to what [has to be done] next. I think it’s fun and you can figure out what techniques you like, what kind of things you want to make and the style you like.”

Students and staff were able to attend the Script to Screen showings during blocks five and six on Wednesday. According to some students, like junior Zoe Mittelsteadt, the films were especially entertaining because they were created at the WHS.

“I thought the movies were really impressive because they made it in the school and I thought they were funny,” Mittelsteadt said.

For some students, seeing friends or fellow classmates take on a new role in front of the camera was an effective method to get to know them better.

“A lot of the people who were acting in [the films] were people I’ve seen and had conversations with,” junior Tara Sawrikar said. “I had no idea they were doing this, so it’s just really cool to see people I see everyday [in school] acting.

The film presentation featured several films from past school years, yet the future of class remains uncertain. Currently, Hines is the only student taking the class. The course has helped him foster and explore his passion of producing films, so he encourages people with similar interests to take the class.

“Please take the class, because I won’t be here next year,” Hines said. “It’s a great class and it should keep going, so I highly encourage everybody to try it.”

To see more Winter Week 2024 content, click here.