This year, the video productions class is once again participating in the Slick Rock Student Film Festival. Each year, the video productions class sends in videos to be judged at the competition. This year, the festival will be held in the Fox Theater in Visalia, May 18.
Video Productions Teacher Michael Ogden has led participation in past Slick Rock festivals, and he is glad that the class can enter films into such a distinguished competition.
“Slick Rock is a student film festival for people throughout the Central Valley,” Ogden said. “They compete against each other in submitting films in different categories. The video production students are always excited about entering a film in Slick Rock because it is a very prestigious film festival where students are able to express themselves creatively.”
Ogden reflects FC’s history in going to the Slick Rock Festival. This year, seniors Jordan Boudreau, Rachel Quiring, Matt Adams, Brandon Porter, and sophomore Jennifer Smith, collaborated to produce a piece to send in.
“As far as I know, students in video productions have been submitting films to Slick Rock for several years here at Fresno Christian, and we have had some success in the past,” Ogden said. “Last year, Jennifer Smith, a sophomore this year, entered a film on suicide prevention and was a finalist in that category. This year, Jordan, Rachel, Matt, Jen, and Brandon all collaborated to make a drama piece.”
Ogden enjoyed his experience at the actual Slick Rock festival last year. He appreciates the effort put in by all the people that run the event.
“All the films are displayed on a massive screen,” Ogden said. “It?s great because in Downtown Visalia there?s a huge car show and all kinds of food being sold on that street, while many of the other roads are blocked off. Later in the evening the award show happens where everyone dresses up, a red carpet is rolled out, they pick up the students and take them to the event in a limo, and they interview them and treat them like celebrities.”
Quiring finds Slick Rock to be the one major project that the video productions works on throughout the year.
“Slick Rock is kind of just our big fun project that we all get into in video productions,” Quiring said. “Most of the time, we just do whatever we want; the class is pretty free, so we just do a bunch of fun projects. This is kind of the one thing that we really work towards and get excited for. We all try to make this one video really great.”
Boudreau, enjoys the experience that Slick Rock presents. He finds that working with other people makes the project easier and more interesting.
“Slick Rock is a really fun event to participate in; you are able to get together with a bunch of other people and make a film,” Boudreau said. “It?s really cool when you get a lot of people working on it so you get all different kinds of creative inputs, and you can also space out jobs instead of just having one person do it.”
Boudreau’s hopes are that they would be able to win once more during his senior year, even though he will be gone during the actual festival.
“I?ve won it every other time I?ve entered a film, so I?m hoping to win it again this year,” Boudreau said. “Unfortunately, I won?t be able to go to the festival because of the senior trip, so I?m kind of bummed out about that.”
For Boudreau, the best part of video productions is coming up with the ideas for movies. He also explains the video he submitted to the festival.
“My favorite part is coming up with the idea for the movie,” Boudreau said. “When I come up with a good idea, I get really excited about it. The idea for this year?s video is about a black and white world where emotion drives out color. This guy finds that out and tries to explain it, but they think it?s crazy. I also like editing a lot too because I can sit down and work on the film and see it come together. ”
Quiring worked together with other students to create the drama film that they submitted. She believes that it will at least make it through the first round of the competition.
“I didn?t submit a video that was exclusively mine, but I collaborated with a group of other people to make one project that I think is pretty good,” Quiring said. “We entered the movie, ?Colorful Emotion,? into the drama category, and I think it definitely has a pretty good chance of at least making the first cut.”
Jennifer Smith enjoys watching all the films at the festival. She believes that their movie is creative, and has a chance of winning some awards.
“I?m just excited to see more films, and I?m hoping that there are some improvements from the ones last year,” Smith said. “I know that our films have improved since we went. I didn?t make my own film; I just helped out with Jordan?s film, but I do think that we have a chance of winning. I think it?s really creative.”
For more features, read the May 1 article, Cheer looks to build program, prepare for camp.
