"Out of the Garden"
St. Edward High School IB HL Film Class of 2018
St. Edward High School has the largest International Baccalaureate (IB) program in Northeast Ohio. While St. Edward offers a wide variety of IB courses for students to take, I enrolled in the IB Film HL course my junior year, the most challenging high school film course globally. An aspect of this course is the production of a short documentary by the whole class, with one student editing the final copy for grading and film festivals. For my capstone IB Film HL project, I was the editor for "Out of the Garden."
Time Frame: January - May 2017 filming, August 2017 - April 2018 editing (ongoing based on class schedule)
Overview of Project
"Out of the Garden" chronicles the journey and resettlement of refugees from Syria in Cleveland. Following President Trump's travel ban iniative, the St. Edward Film Department Chair had the idea to produce a short document that would humanize the families and stories behind the statistics heard on television and misconstrued by politicians. Families, advocates, and those in politics were interviewed to capture different perspectives. Hours of footage were edited into a seven-minute short film.
Project Elements
Placement of media assets, splitting clips, color correction, audio EQing, background noise reduction, font design & text overlay
Composition Software: Garageband
Primary Skills: Strategic use of loops to create score for trailer, eventually used for opening and closing credits
Team Members
Directors: 6 students that led individual interview squads
Directors of Photography: 6 students that acted as cinematographers and controlled Camera A (Canon EOS 6D)
Camera Operators: 6 students that controlled Camera B (Canon EOS Rebel T3I)
Boom Operators & Mixers: 6 students that held boom microphone and recorded audio
Editor: Me
Faculty & Staff Support: 4 members
Awards & Accolades
- "This is the best documentary I ever watched in an Production Portfolio project," Senior IB Grader
- Best Picture, 2018 iMagine Film Festival (Cleveland)
- Best Documentary, 2018 iMagine Film Festival (Cleveland)
- Official Selection, 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival
- Public Affairs/Community Service Category Winner, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: Lower Great Lakes Chapter - 2018 Student Production Awards (regional)
Official Selection, The 2018 National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Student Production Awards (national)
