EVERETT — Instead of limousines, they arrived at the movie screening in school buses.
Glamorously dressed as if they were on a Hollywood red carpet, students from the International School of Communications at Marysville Getchell High School walked into the Historic Everett Theatre on Colby Avenue for the world premiere of “What Lies Within Us.”
Once inside, they cheered as video production teacher Andrew Christopher introduced director Dylan Thomas and assistant Nolan Bennett.
“It’s great to be here,” said Dylan, a junior. “It’s a relief. This project has taught me to respect what it takes to make a feature film.”
Producer Makaila Wood, also a junior, said the premiere was the first time she had seen the film end to end. Just last week, crews had finished the last of the editing.
“We are one of the only high schools around to make a full-length feature,” Makaila said. “That’s why we love our school.”
Made in 18 months during two school years, the movie was written, acted, directed, edited and produced by students. Yes, they had some coaching from several teachers, including Christopher, who served as executive producer.
“This is our third feature film and the first time we had our premiere in a theater,” he said. “It’s the exciting culmination of a lot of hard work and a remarkable student-produced movie. They held onto the vision.”
Students created the roles, wrote the subplots and worked together to make a cohesive story about a popular football player named Shawn Bennett who is injured during a high school game. What will Shawn do now that he can no longer play football? How will his friends react?
The story involves a group of personalities one could find at most high schools. The snobs and the gossips, the nerds and the introverts, the loud and the loving.
The audience giggled during the kissing and fighting scenes, laughed out loud at the comedy and cheered their friends throughout.
The movie taught students to work on a deadline, audition, delegate and manage, compromise and collaborate.
Christopher, who graduated from Marysville Pilchuck High School in 2003, earned a broadcast degree from Asbury University in Kentucky and set out to be sports broadcaster in Georgia and Florida.
“I was glad to return to my hometown, start a second career and take over a program started by my teacher,” he said.
The movie is well-written, acted and filmed.
It might have been nice if background noise had been edited from scenes with lots of dialog. And the hospital scene might have been better shot at a real clinic instead of the nurse’s station in the school office.
Otherwise, two thumbs up from this audience member.
The cast includes Tristan Hasseler, Kayla Graham, Will Eliason, Kirsten Daniels, Crystal Brewster, Kaylee Grant, Katjah O’Neill, Adam Polk, Ryan Krautkremer, Conner McLellan, Nate Roth, Emily Petrie, Keziah Nelson, Kaitlin Oskam, Payton Albee, Nate Becker, Puneet Hans, Matt Ircink, Isiah Cash and RaeDeene Fitch. Parents, school staff, other students and community members rounded out the cast.
Crew members also included Kenaah Martin, Austin Ha, Holly Yoon, Teresa Ambat, Maxwell Larsen, Christian Henderson, Tristan Hasseler, Barret Stout and Lindsey Fitch.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
“What Lies Within Us” by the numbers
18 months to write, film and edit
3 classes — writing, acting and video production
22 writers
165-page script
80 scenes
30 actors
60 extras
8 crew members, including camera team, directors and producers
50 minutes a day to shoot video
105 minutes run time
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