Lights, Camera, Action! That’s what the Roosevelt Film Club is all about. “We’re just like Hollywood,” freshman Sarah Bondi states, “Except, on a much smaller scale.”
Last year, the Roosevelt Film Club was a movie-watching club. This year, it is a movie-MAKING club. RFC has gained over 20 members, which allows them to create many movies simultaneously. Additionally, the club collects member fees that go strictly towards the movie budgets, helping create more intricate and high-quality films. “More members, more money, more movie!” Bondi exclaimed excitedly.
Sophomore Petyr Xyst, one of the two leaders of RFC, wasn’t dettered by the amount of responsibility and organization skills needed to run the club. He began the process with his good friend, sophomore Anders Bloom. “Anders and I had every class together, and share a common interest in filmmaking. When we heard about club proposals in the announcements, we decided to sign up. It didn’t really become serious until it turned out the club was actually happening.”
Throughout the entire year, the club intends to make about 20 films total. Each day the club meets, they split up into small groups and work on filming their movies. Bondi, the director of one of the movies currently being filmed, explains, “I’ll have people do lots and lots of takes, until I can decide which one is the best for our movie.” This process is somewhat time-consuming. It takes several weeks to plan the storyboard, film every scene, then edit and stitch it together for the final product.
Xyst also added that every month they try to have a theme, and this month’s is horror. Bondi explained that originally it was going to be comedy, but Halloween urged them to change it to horror. “That means lot of blood! Fake, of course…” she informed.
Furthermore, the club was asked how they differ from other film-making operations at RHS, specifically Rider TV. Xyst explained that RTV focuses mainly on periodical short scenes that involve mostly “internet-based” comedy, while RFC makes longer, more plot-heavy films.
RFC has many goals for this year, and plans to be involved in many film festivals. In January 2016, the club aims to enter one of their films into NFFTY, the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. Xyst explained that NFFTY is a 40-hour film off between Roosevelt and other high school film programs. This adds a new level of rivalry between Roosevelt and other Metro high schools, such as Ballard and Garfield. Competing in the NFFTY will be RFC’s main focus for this year, as well as participating in the Seattle Film Festival.
The club is excited for what is to come of their films, and hopes Roosevelt will join them in high hopes. Each semester, they plan to screen some of their movies at the Grand Illusion Theater on the theater’s high school film night. Many members are grateful they have had the opportunity to make movies through the club, whereas they wouldn’t if Xyst and Bloom hadn’t created it. Bondi says, “This could be start to my career in filmmaking.” If they keep at it the rate they do, this year’s Roosevelt Film Club will on the yellow brick road to success.
Featured Photo: The Film Club’s founders, sophomores Anders Bloom and Petyr Xyst. Photo by Aidan Walter
