Throughout the year, students in the video productions class have been filming short clips and mini movies, which were showcased in the annual Slick Rock Student Film Festival held in the Fox Theatre in Visalia, CA, May 14. Of those who submitted their films into the festival, five students attended the ceremony and three made the premier cut.

With over 230 films presented in the festival, both high school and junior high students had the opportunity to display their creativity outside a typical classroom setting. This year, Jordan Boudreau, ’13, who has competed at Slick Rock in the past, was recognized by the organization as Best of Show with his music video, “Welcome Freshman.”

“I submitted a music video for a song that my friends made; the video was originally made as a promo for my church,” Boudreau said. “It was originally nominated in the music video category, but it didn’t win that. The next award announced was Best in Show, and as it looked like they were about to read the nominees, they called the name of our video, saying we had won.”

Although Boudreau did not initially intend to submit his music video, he was filled with excitement due to the atmosphere of the event. Also helping with the film, Reedley student, Trevor Short, ’10, and Clovis West students Micah Smith and Josh Ramsey, ’11, all assisted in composing the song within the video.

“When they called our video, we were stunned for about 30 seconds, then we just started yelling,” Boudreau said. “Slick Rock was better this year, not only because of the award I won, but because of the people I got to work with; they were all there.”

Unlike events such as Math Field Day and Academic Decathlon, which promote academics, Slick Rock encourages aspiring film makers in creativity.

“It [Slick Rock] highlights a part of learning in schools that is not based off of test; its actual creativity,” Boudreau said. “If you just went up to a random person and asked them to make a five minute video they would have no idea what to do. Creativity is a work in progress; eventually you just start seeing things as if you were making a video.”

In addition to Boudreau’s creativity, video productions teacher, Scott Callisch appreciates his desire to experiment and try new things.

“Jordan is willing to experiment, not a lot of other kids are willing to that,” Callisch said. “He will ask, ‘how can I do this?’, then find a way to do it.”

One of the participants, Juan Ruelas, ’13, entered his video, “I’ll Have What She’s Having” but did not receive an award for his efforts. Despite this, Ruelas commends Boudreau for his victory at the festival.

“Jordan kinda lucked out because he was expecting to win his catagory but won for something completely different, so it was kind of like no one knows what the judges are looking for,” Ruelas said. “I think this will give him more confidence in his videographer career cause he’s won two rocks now and this time he won the big one.”

From his experience, Boudreau encourages younger film makers to always pursue high quality products.

“Make everything as if you were making it for a big film festival,” Boudreau said. “Whatever you do, do a quality job. Do your best because you never know what it’s going to turn out like.”

For more information about Slick Rock, read the May 24, 2010 article, Campus captures two Slick Rock victories.

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