Ready On the Set

A group of about a dozen Moorestown Friends students gathered in a room in the Quaker Meetinghouse, brainstorming ideas for a short film they were making for the school’s 225th anniversary.

“What is the message you want to get out?” artist-in-residence Hezekiah Lewis asks. “You want it to grab me.”

“The gem of Moorestown,” offers Sarah Master, “We could use that as the centerpiece.”

Lewis, an award-winning filmmaker, spent two weeks at the school working with students as they created a 10-minute film that will be shown at the school’s auction March 12. The students learned filmmaking from beginning to end from Lewis, who is also a professor of communications at Villanova.

“I’ve always had an interest in filmmaking,” said Master, a sophomore. “This is a great opportunity that I wouldn’t get to experience at any other time.”

“They have taken ownership of the project,” said Lewis.

Upper School students had the most work on the project. They had to develop themes and ideas about what Moorestown Friends is through their eyes, said Lewis.

Students in other grades also had the opportunity to work with Lewis and his assistant John Goff. Younger students filmed scenes, commercials and talk shows. But it was the Upper School that had the most work. The students developed a shooting schedule and completed film development, preproduction and production.

“This is great hands-on experience for them,” said Lewis.

“Film is what I want to do,” said senior Curran Ellis. “When the opportunity came, I jumped at the chance.”

During the brainstorming session, Lewis and Goff help the students with planning, offering suggestions and posing questions.

“The thing that’s missing is you,” said Lewis. “Make sure you’re representing yourselves. Let us see, feel, taste that world a little bit.

“This is a day in the life of you.”

The students, with the help of Lewis and Goff, move through opening shot ideas, questions to ask students and what needs to be included. When they are done, Goff gives students cameras and sends them on their way.

The students will shoot B roll and they will interview other students. Sophomore Alex Howard, senior Liam Narozanick and junior Ryan Carty set-up a camera in one of the school’s hallways, filming students as they change classes.

“I’m learning a lot about how a documentary is put together,” said Howard.

“We have spent a lot of time planning and talking about scenes,” said Carty. “It’s good to have that planning and not ad lib it.”

The planning was important, Howard said, because of the limited time they had to get the film made.

The opportunity to plan the film and to shoot it was something many of the students didn’t expect to be doing.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said Master. “The first day, he asked, ‘What do you want to do with this movie?’ We have learned by doing and we learned a lot.”

By doing it themselves, the students have a better understanding of filmmaking.

“The way he’s doing it, it’s a better experience,” said Ellis. “This will help us more in the long run. We know how to set-up a shot, we’ve worked with lighting. I’m grateful how he handled the project.”

The best part of the project will be when the film is shown at the auction. The students feel their work shows just how creative and hardworking they are.

“It excites me,” said sophomore Austin Harris. “Adults don’t always trust that we might get it right.”

“It makes you feel powerful,” said Master. “It’s your message. It’s real students, the lifeblood of the school. It’s more real.”