By Destinee Norman

As the school year looms closer, the Nocona High School Digital Media Class (NHS AV Studios) is already in the midst of producing its first film for the 2018-2019 University Interscholastic League Young Filmmakers contest. Students are able to start production of their UIL films in the spring and summer semesters preceding the contest deadline in January 2019 . This will give students the opportunity to make more films that can compete in each of the four filming categories: Traditional animation, digital animation, documentary, and narrative.

“NHS AV Studios competed in the Traditional Animation category with two films last school year, so the students are excited to attempt completing and submitting a movie in four categories to expand their chances of winning another state title or two,” said NHS Digital Media Teacher Rob Norman.

“Being able to start in the summer will really benefit the kids who are busy in extracurricular activities such as sports during the school year,” says Norman. “We want our program to reach all kinds of students even if they can’t give us all of their time during the school year. Anyone can have an opportunity to film no matter what else they are involved in.”

Getting more kids involved isn’t the only benefit to summer filming, however, because their first film this year is a dark drama narrative that takes place in summer.

Shooting it in the summer will give the film more legitimacy, said Norman.

Getting a movie done during the summer also is a lot easier than working for only an hour or two a day during the school year and it gives the students more time to work on the other films.

“These movies really can be filmed in a week without any distractions, but during the school year you only get a couple of  hours after school and weekends. So, that can transfer into several months to finish the same film. Filming during class time really isn’t an option because most of the class period is spent setting things up and breaking things down for the next class and won’t give us an opportunity to film on location,” explained Norman.

Read the full story in the weekend edition of the News.