Editor’s note: The original version of this article was inexplicably lost on Feb. 25. The Feather has attempted to recreate it as accurately as possible in this version.
After weeks of seeking dates, filming videos and finding outfits, students converged on The Grand 1401 in downtown Fresno for the 17th annual Night of the Stars (NOTS) formal, Feb. 19.
NOTS, which this year followed a Roaring ’20s theme, featured a night filled with student-produced movies, a three-course dinner and a juice bar which served a variation of mixed drinks.
As the evening winded down, Oscar-like awards were handed out in order to identify each class’s cinematic achievements. Although for many juniors this was their first experience with NOTS, the class of 2012 received the Parents’ Choice award along with both Best Actor and Best Actress for their rendition of Hitch.
“This was the first year I was involved in filming, so it was an entirely new experience,” Austen Houts, winner of Best Actress, said. “At first it was really fun because we were messing around and weren’t really feeling the pressure or anything, but at the end it was crunch time, so we had to work and finish it. Overall, it was really fun and I would do it again.”
Junior Trevor York, who won Best Actor, acknowledges that his class’s movie was not flawless; however, he believes the acting and experience of the film made it worthwhile.
“It was good, but we definitely could have done better,” York said. “The acting was definitely phenomenal; it was very hard work. The lines part wasn’t that hard, but there was filming every Saturday for 5-6 hours, and it was very time-consuming. It was definitely worth it: filming with friends, getting closer with people. It was a lot of fun and a great high school experience.”
While the juniors took both Best Actor and Best Actress, the seniors walked away with both Best Supporting awards, with Frank Daniel winning Best Supporting Actor and Sydney Carlson securing Best Supporting Actress. Daniel credits his award to his character’s performance in the original 17 Again, which the seniors adapted for their NOTS film.
“This was my first major role, and it felt good to win,” Daniel said. “I was trying really hard to accurately portray Ned, who I just took straight out of the movie. In order to prepare, I watched 17 Again again and again and again, which was an inspiration.”
Although the senior class was behind in the amount of awards they had procured, they bested the juniors as NOTS progressed by also receiving Best Screenplay, Best Producer and Best Picture. After being the first class in campus history to fail to complete a NOTS movie (for NOTS 2009), director and producer Zach Camden says the awards his class earned this year discredit the negative stereotypes the seniors had obtained over the years.
“These awards should say a lot,” Camden said. “When we were freshmen and sophomores, all the other classes considered us the lazy class who couldn’t put on anything; but now, thanks to a committed group of people, we’ve hopefully been able to get rid of that label. I proud to see my class come this far.”
Camden, who received Best Director last year, doesn’t covet the award, which went to junior Josh Hopper, but believes that the end result of his work was enough of a reward.
“It would have been nice to have the award [Best Director], but really I just wanted our class to have a movie that they could be proud of and everyone else could enjoy,” Camden said. “That?s what?s important to me; it was never really about getting awards.”
When the awards were over, special recognition was given to leadership advisers Robert Foshee and Jane Gillespie, as well as the entire student leadership class, for putting on the event.
After four years of experience with NOTS, Camden says that, in terms of the quality of the movies, this year was the best.
“I thought all of the movies were great,” Camden said. “Out of all my years of high school, I would say this was the best group of movies, as in every class had a good movie.”
For more information, read the Feb. 1 article, Freshmen choreograph dance flick remake; the Feb. 9 article, Sophomores plot ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ rendition; the Feb. 14 article, Romantic-comedy remake links junior cast; or the Feb. 8 article, Senior class reinvents ’17 Again’. For more photos, check out Night of the Stars 2011 (123 PHOTOS).
