Friday, June 20, 2008

Updated: Samsung Mobile Fresh Films kicks off summer filming in Dallas

By Laura Seewoester

Updated 12:00 a.m., July 31, 2008

After the casting call earlier this week, Samsung Mobile's nationwide Fresh Films program kicks off this year's contest with the Dallas team. This is how it works: a small group of college interns work with nine teams of high school students around the nation making short films. Each team gets equipment and a script and has 7 days to complete the film, starting with casting on day 1. After everything wraps, the films are sent out for a few final edits, after which America and a celebrity jury panel votes for their favorite film. The winning film will premiere at AFI Fest in Hollywood, and the crew gets flown out for the event.

The students in the program rotate positions on the set so everyone gets to be the director, camera person and yell "Quiet on the set!" at some point during filming, gaining a variety of experience. And let's face it holding the boom (tired arms) is not near as cool as working the camera or using the slate. In the earlier stages of the project, the students also got to play the role of producer.

"Originally before the program I didn't think that producers did a lot," said Morgan Williams, a senior at Coppell High School, "but actually you have to call everybody... you have to get all the props ordered, all the costumes in order. It's a lot of work. Making a film isn't easy."

The students definitely made the most out of their "once in a lifetime opportunity." You would expect high school students to easily get off task, play around, and maybe even argue amongst themselves, however on the set every crew member was focused, attentive and not afraid to contribute their opinion. This is obviously no summer camp, it's practically a week of free labor, because these kids worked their behinds off. They even learned a lesson or two about unideal shooting conditions as thirty interns and students alike huddled around the camera in a particularly stifling garage on a hot June afternoon. Now that's dedication.

Fresh Films is also a good opportunity for the actors, who are cast by each crew. Kim Foster, a graduate from the University of North Texas, is getting to experience her first role as a lead, as well as learning a thing or two about film while watching the students participate. "It's kind of impressive to see that a bunch of teenagers are running the whole thing," she said. "I'm watching them and actually learning stuff about the camera and the lighting from just hearing them talk about it. It's nice to see them doing it with a patience that a lot of sets don't have."

The Dallas team finished shooting on Thursday and will spend Friday and Saturday in the editing room before the interns and supervisors move on to the other cities.

Update: The films have been shot and edited and are now ready for the next phase of the competition, where America votes for their favorite. Films will be available for viewing (and voting for) online as of today until August 27th.

Related stories

• Dallas-area kid filmmakers debut their production at AFI Fest (Nov. 7, 2008)
• Team of Dallas filmmakers reach finals in national competition to win Hollywood premiere (Aug. 29, 2008)
• Pegasus News Week in View: The Hits Keep Coming (July 31, 2008)
• Pegasus News Week in View: Antiques Roadshow edition (June 26, 2008)

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