Focusing on the meth issue
Published: January 18. 2006 4:00AM PST
Amy Crager, a 17-year-old senior at Marshall High School in Bend, was handcuffed and led out to a police squad car on Tuesday morning. Lights flashed and the squad car pulled away, only to loop around, come right back and let Amy out of the back seat.
She came back inside the gym with a grin on her face. Mountain View High School Resource Officer Steve Craig removed the handcuffs, and Amy and the rest of her group discussed what just happened, reviewed the coverage and announced success.
Another scene finished.
These and other students at Marshall High School are learning firsthand how a film gets made, from pre-production to screening. They're also learning a lot about the topic of their film: methamphetamine.
A 2005 $6,000 grant from the Meth Action Coalition, a Deschutes County citizens group that campaigns to create awareness on the dangers of meth, and Greater Bend Rotary has enabled the school to purchase equipment to be used in a film production class. Four new cameras were bought, as well as tripods, some new computer programs designed for making films and a DVD-burning machine.
In return, the Meth Action Coalition asked that the money and resources given to the media production department be used to produce meth awareness media, which includes public service announcements aimed at showing the perils of meth use.
Melissa Stolasz, the teacher for the film production class, decided this would be a unique opportunity for the film production class' first project - to educate her students both about filmmaking and about the destruction that meth can cause.
"What we've all learned has been invaluable," said Stolasz.
Six groups in the film production class are now on their way toward a finished project, be it a short film, documentary or public service announcement.
Amy's group is making a short film about the effects that meth can have on friendships, family and school. Group member Sonny Daniels, also a senior, plays the part of a meth dealer named Rob Shards. In the film, friendships are torn apart, confrontations cause stress and eventually a life is lost when the drug dealer is carried away in a body bag.
Crager and Daniels, along with group members Kayla Whitehead, 17, a senior, and Chase Drews, 16, a sophomore, are working together on the design, filming and editing of the film.
"Because it's a short film, it's not too overly serious. It's fairly serious, but there are some funny parts too," said Daniels.
This project has been going since the beginning of the quarter in November. For the first few weeks, groups in the class brainstormed plots, researched and worked on pre-production for their films.
The past two weeks of class, and some hours outside of class, have been dedicated to the filming and production of material. Then the groups have three more weeks to finish up with the editing and post-production phase of the project.
Sophomore Tiffany Harder, who's 15, and senior Leigha Wilcock, 18, viewed their finished public service announcement during class Tuesday, which concentrated on showing the physical effects meth has on its users and those who surround them. Gruesome pictures of babies with chemically affected skin caused a few groans.
One group concentrated on the ingredients of meth, showing all the toxic chemicals used to make the incredibly addictive drug.
Groups have to take every aspect of filmmaking into account when they're filming and editing their pieces, from lighting to continuity. They even have to rate their own films based on language and violence.
Stolasz explained to one group who wanted to use fake blood in a fight scene that "fake blood can take a film from PG to R." The group decided to go without the blood.
According to student feedback, the class is enjoyable, especially because of the creativity and freedom it allows.
Working behind the camera helps them learn different ways to film, too, and ways to improvise with limited resources. When Daniels was filming a scene one day and needed a moving shot, he stood on a skateboard and had a friend pull him backward while he filmed the actors walking toward him down the hall.
The beginning of February marks the end of the quarter and the deadline for groups to have their finalized films. A screening will be held for the entire school to view the projects.
All of the projects will be put on a disk and given to the Meth Action Coalition, said Principal Dave Holmberg, for possible future use.
"We made a commitment (to MAC) to produce usable media material," said Holmberg, who is confident that the students have embraced this project and made it everything that it can be.
"It's been a great project, they've learned a lot, so have I," said Stolasz.
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