By Josh Oakley
Their eyes were fixed on the small monitor positioned in front of the judges. A VCR held their hopes of a contest win tightly in its grasp. Anticipation fell over the two young filmmakers as they waited to see the judges' reaction.
The Golden Globes? Maybe the Academy Awards?
Well, almost.
The Second Annual Student Media Festival held at Pueblo High School was the focus of the Tucson middle and high school students. The contest, held April 7, brought together aspiring filmmakers whose hopes of making it big in Hollywood come ahead of most other things.
The contest is fairly new to Tucson students, said John Crouch, Communication Arts Magnet Program coordinator for Pueblo High School. In only its second year, the contest has drawn considerable attention among students.
"Tucson has the largest public-access network in the nation," Crouch said. "These kids deserve a venue like this to display their talents."
The contest caters to almost all possible categories of media, including short and feature video production, animation, computer graphics and music videos.
Five middle schools and six high schools entered videos and computer animation samples with hopes of gaining local recognition.
For the contest, the judges divided into three groups: short video production, feature video production and music videos and computer animation.
"We got a lot of respectable judges for the contest this year," Crouch said.
Two notable judges for this year's festival included James Rivas, the "Manic Hispanic" on MEGA 106.3's morning show, and Michael Chihak, editor and publisher of the Tucson Citizen. Both donated their time to evaluate various media productions.
Each judge was given an evaluation sheet to assess originality, production quality, topic and impact.
Burney Starks, a judge for the computer animation and short video production category, said he was impressed with some of the entries.
"The creative process of putting together something like computer animation was awesome," Starks said.
Starks said for the animation entries, the student had to show an object move in reaction with something else on the screen. Each student who entered an animation clip was required to have some elementary level movement in order for it to be applicable.
Starks, a 1969 graduate of Pueblo and the current magnet program marketing specialist for TUSD, said all the entrees were well done. He was especially impressed with the time the students put into making their short film. Starks noted that some of the stories in the films carried good moral issues that many of the judges took notice of.
"I would love to see some of this on TV," Starks said.
Although not many students turned out for the judging, Corey Cieslak and Sean Butts, both of Tucson High School, watched with confident expressions.
The pair entered their film, "Say Cheese," in hopes of taking best in show for feature film, but did not place in the top three.
Their movie, which was submitted as a silent film, was based on photography in the 1920s and 1930s.
"We got the idea from our teacher. She told us about photography studios that had discounts on pictures of parents' dead kids," Butts said.
With an idea in their head, these two students took an assignment for their media communications class and turned it into an entry for the festival.
Like many of the students involved in the festival, Cieslak and Butts used equipment provided by their high school as well as cameras from home.
Their work was far from the rigorous shooting schedule of most Hollywood movies.
"We just filmed around 4th Avenue and Tucson High. It took about two weeks to complete," Cieslak said.
The film included four participants, including Cieslak and Butts, who served as directors and actors. Though the film took judges by surprise at first, it did manage to get a chuckle out of the crowd.
"They probably didn't think it was as funny as we did," Cieslak said.
With no age limit for entries, even the youngest filmmakers had a chance to show off their artistic abilities. Students from Wakefield Middle School submitted short videos that outlined classes at their school as well as video production.
"Students write and film their own movies," said Denise LaClair, media production teacher at Wakefield.
Each student was given the oppotunity to get to know the camera by filming in different classroom settings and explaining class curriculum in a commercial-like format. The tapes were then sent to the editing room, where voice-overs and music were added, depending on the director's vision. Other entries included short film, feature film and music videos, which were judged separately by the judges in the middle school division.
LaClair said the response from the students was so positive that it is difficult to give equal time to students who enjoy the filming process.
"Everyone seemed to really enjoy working in the studio and with the camera," LaClair said.
"Students who aren't working in production tell me they miss the studio."
Most cameras and editing equipment were provided by Wakefield so that students would not have to use their own. Under LaClair's supervision, the students learned first-hand how to operate a Sony digital camera that each student used for the contest.
LaClair said her media production class has been getting a lot of positive feedback from students at Wakefield and other area schools. The production class provides the students with a well rounded program that develops writing and knowledge of media-related technological equipment, LeClair said.
Crouch was especially pleased with the outcome of the feature films made by the students at Wakefield, who placed in the top three spots for middle schools.
"It's a success story for a school with limited toys," Crouch said.
Wakefield only recently adopted a media arts department three years ago after receiving state funding to build a small technological production facility. Now with a new set to film on and equipment, the school should be proud of its accomplishments, Crouch said.
Along with sweeping top honors in the feature video production category, Wakefield also swept the music video categories.