By Isabell Macrina
Hometown Weekly Staff
Walpole High School students from the Filmmaking class came to the Walpole Council On Aging to talk about their class, experience, and the upcoming annual Walpole High School Film Festival.
The teacher of the class, James Connolly, introduces the students with him today and starts with showing three short films from classes before. All of them are available to watch on the film festival’s YouTube page. Sturges Merges is first, a comedy about a teacher who has to deal with a merged classroom and tries to find ways to get the other teacher out. Next was Bullseye, about two gym teachers one of whom is a little too committed to golf and ends up hitting another teacher.
Connolly highlighted the amount of staff involved in the short films. They were all excited to act out the students’ ideas and lean into the humor. Even the last short film, Baking Bad, has one teacher suspected of being a drug dealer by a student before it is revealed he is, simply, a baker. All the short films had the seniors cracking up.
That is another thing Connolly encourages. Between the class pitching ideas, writing scripts, and putting everything into motion, he encourages them to write what they know but exaggerated. From committing too hard, to dealing baked goods out of the classroom. Everything done in the class is fully student centric. They write the ideas at the beginning of the year, vote on them, and get to work in groups to make them happen.
One thing students Connor Murray, Aruhya Panchakshari, and Owen Ahlfont shared was the mentorship they received in the class. After helping in the class when they were freshmen, they learned the ropes and were able to feel more comfortable with their ideas now that they take the class. With Connolly encouraging them to write what they know, some of the students like Sarah Caulfield and Maeve Singer are taking that to heart and writing about their struggles with getting a parking spot and heading to school past the police station.
All of their work culminates in the annual Walpole High School Film Festival, where they get to premiere their movies to the esteemed judges (faculty from the school) and get voted on to win in different categories. Theres a red carpet, interviews by the journalism and TV production classes, and more! It also teaches them to be grateful with winning and losing, and helps them grow more comfortable with themselves.
It is an incredibly inspiring class to see students encouraged to pursue their creative ideas and given the resources to learn and grow. WHS Film Making class gives students the chance to try something new and maybe inspire a new career option for them.
