Jackson, NJ – Five days. Just 105 hours. While it might sound like a lot of time, it is a “flash” in the world of filmmaking. Yet students in Truman’s Media Program took on that challenge as they participated in the 2023 New Jersey High School Film Challenge in May.
Amir Thompson and Jayden Gonzalez act out a scene while Jeshua Guerrero-Lopez films.
“While stressful, the work and synergy we made was something I wouldn’t trade for the world,” said media sophomore Jayden Gonzalez. “Simply working with these people who I had a prior relationship with made coming up with ideas and executing them was great, and something I hope everyone in the Media Program gets to experience.”
Two teams of five students answered the call to compete. One group was comprised of the same five students who recently attended the Student Television Network’s National Convention in Long Beach, California in March. They were Gonzalez, junior Amir Thompson, and seniors Jeshua Guerrero-Lopez, Teresa Coffey-Carlton and Brianna Wright. The second team was made up of all first-time competitors, and included freshmen Carl Harris and Nick Irizarry; sophomore Sanaa Hills and seniors Jesus Farias and Arthur Baez.
Schools from across the state of New Jersey participated. Truman was invited by the program leaders at Jackson Liberty High School after they developed a relationship at the Student Television Network national convention. All competing teams were given the prompt “In The Moment.” Their films had to include a character named Morgan and a some kind of time keeping device (watch, cellphone, clock, etc.) as a prop.
Jeshua Guerrero-Lopez edits under intense deadline pressure with just minutes to go on May 5th, 2023.
“I love seeing the kids compete with people outside of our home school,” said media teacher Dave Roush. “They get a taste for just how tough the competition can be and the unique creative approaches other students take to such a broad and generic prompt.”
On May 26th, 22 members of the program traveled to Jackson Liberty High School for interactive workshops, a film screening party, a networking lunch, and award ceremony. Unfortunately, neither of the Truman films won awards this year.
“The workshops were incredibly helpful and valuable towards future endeavors and the awards ceremony was invaluable in seeing other people’s work first hand, seeing how others handled themselves in their work, and how proud they were of it was amazing,” Gonzalez added.