Caught on Screen

A News Article, by The Eureka Reporter

  She dedicated a poem to her friend, who was suffering from anorexia. The tribute is now a powerful visual narrative.

  The one-minute film is one of nearly 30 entries for this year’s Young Media Makers Big Screen Showcase, which will be held Saturday from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in College of the Redwoods’ Forum Theater. Admission is free.

  The showcase includes digital documentary, narrative, animation and experimental movies by young people, whose ages range from 10 to 20 years old. The filmmakers include those from the Bay area as well.

  Some of the “media makers” who have entered their work and/or will make presentations this year are the Bay Area Video Coalition YouthLink; Bridgeville Elementary School’s first- and second-place Humboldt County History Day video winners; the CEDAR Academy of Arcata High School; Fortuna Union High School’s Environmental and Spatial Technology Lab; and participants in The Ink People Center for the Arts’ Magic Action Reface Zone.

  Prizes will be awarded in the following categories: commercial, documentary, narrative trailer, experimental and animation.

  Megan Johnson, 18, is a MARZ participant. Her film is titled “Dying To Be Thin.”

  “It’s a poem that she wrote about how much she loves her friend just the way that she is,” said Barbara Domanchuk, Young Media Makers’ director.

  The film includes magazine images, which Johnson scanned, to illustrate how “(her friend) doesn’t have to try and look fake, like all the images that are in the magazines” Domanchuk said.

  With the help of The Ink People’s video equipment, Johnson completed all the film’s preparation, including its titling.

  “What stands out for me is all these movie submissions come into the Big Screen Showcase with an obvious love for the art and science of movie-making,” Domanchuk said. “They apply … loving creativity to each of the subjects.”

  Virginia Howard Mullan’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at Bridgeville School have entered three films.

  “The videos allow students to excel in their area of interest and also in their talents,” Mullan said.

  She said she especially appreciates documentary filmmaking. One of the films entered into the showcase is titled “Redick McKee,” a documentary about an Indian agent who negotiated treaties.

  “It gives kids more buy-in,” Mullan said. “People that did documentaries, … they felt like they really had a purpose for this. … It really helps with … interview skills.”

  Of the 25 video projects from Humboldt County that made it into the state’s history competition, seven of the projects are from Mullan’s students.

  Caleb Price is an EAST lab student and junior at Fortuna High. He has entered a recycling promotional video into the showcase.

  The plot: “Bottle Boy” throws a plastic bottle away and is caught by agents from the “Central Recycling Agency.”

  Price has used computer programming to “rewind time” and layer the film with different scenes that interlock, such as the “boy” being caught red-handed on the security camera, while the agents watch.

  “My passion is film,” Price said. “When you see a movie, it plays with your emotions.”

  “It’s so exciting for them to be able to see their ideas solidify and become more than just an idea, it becomes a product,” Domanchuk said.

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