MAP seniors make movie about teenage stress

In December, a crew of four is slated to begin shooting a movie at SHS. The movie will depict the stress felt by many high school students, and the importance of not keeping one’s troubles bottled up. Professional actors from around the Bay Area have already been cast in the film.

And not only is the film being shot here at the school; senior director Kevin Lee and senior producer Brandon Glajchen are also doing it as part of their Media Arts Program senior project.

Lee said he thinks the final movie will be an hour.

Glajchen is in charge of the dynamics of the project, contacting people and keeping the film on track. Glajchen is also is a director of photography, meaning he will hold the camera during shootings.

Senior Derek Makeever is in charge of themes and symbolism in the film that may add to or enhance the film. He is also a director of photography.

Senior Fredrick Lee is in charge of props, costumes and makeup.

In the movie, a popular girl named Alice runs into an outcast, Egon. Both teenagers have had traumatizing events in their lives. They get know each other and learn each other’s secrets.

“They end up discovering each other,” Kevin Lee said.

Lee said he spent a year and a half on the idea, working with a student from Monta Vista High School. He and Glajchen were forced to rework the script after its writing.

“We had to adjust the script to make sure it’s not cheesy anymore,” Lee said. “Because you think that the script is really good in the beginning, but when you finish it, and you look at it again like a month later, you realize how terrible it can be.”

Lee said although he has made other short films in the past, this one is near and dear to his heart.

“I wanted to make this film because I’ve seen it throughout my life here at Saratoga High,” Lee said. “I’ve seen people that are just stressed out about their own private issues, that they hold their secrets inside, and they don’t tell people. They pretend to be happy at school, but they cry at home, and retreat into their own private world.”

Lee said he felt it his duty to make this film.

“I think I got to make something to let all my friends and fellow classmates know you should never do that,” Lee said. “You always want to be open. Never isolate yourself.”

The crew hired local aspiring actors for all the roles. They found the actors online and don’t pay them.

“[The website] gives them a chance to be recognized by bigger studios, eventually, say, Hollywood,” Lee said. “But in order to do that, they have to have a recognizable resume. So this is just a time period for those actors to do something for free, until they get recognized.”

Fifty actors between ages 17 and 25 signed up for the auditions, held in the MAP building and Spanish teacher Bret Yielding’s room. However, only around 10 of those 50 were actually invited to the audition.

“With a normal, professional studio, crews will spend months over auditioning,” Lee said. “They can audition 5,000 people. But here, we don’t have that time. So what we had to do for each character, we had to pick out two or three people. Like our top choices for each one, and then ask those people to come.”

Lee said four actors have already been cast, and they have yet to cast a fifth.

Lee said he would not consider casting a Saratoga High student.

“I would like to cast a student for my film,” Lee said. “But personally, it does have its negative effects, especially when it’s going to be viewed at school.”

Last year, Lee said he cast SHS students in “Awareness,” a film he made for his film final.

Lee said by casting students in the film, student viewers were unable to see the characters as anything other than their peers.

“And instead of being drawn into the intense suspense of the film, they start laughing, because it’s Rod being chased,” Lee said.

Lee said students would no longer “be pulled into the movie.”

“And I think that even though it’s nice having your friends be in the film, it’s just such a big distraction,” Lee said. “And I think that it’s best for this upcoming film to have less students in it, to have more faces that nobody knows.”

As of now, the script is 35 pages. Lee said it’s “two-thirds done.”