Wayland High School juniors Parker Bryant and Jason Mai have received international recognition for the movies they produced as sophomores in the Honors Script-to-Screen class co-taught by Theatre Arts Teacher Richard Weingartner and Television Production Teacher James Mullane.
The awards were presented in May at the 5th Annual Movie Festival held in the high school theatre. Both students received The Communicator Award in the “Best Picture” category from the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA). The award program was created 21 years ago by RS Owens, producer of the Oscar and Emmy Awards.
Mullane, executive director of the town’s cable station, WayCAM, submitted the student works produced in the state-of-the-art studio at the high school on behalf of WayCAM and the students.
“This is especially exciting,” Mullane said recently, “because this is the third international award our students have won since this class was developed five years ago.” In 2014, Caitlin O’Keeffe, who has since graduated, received a Bronze Telly Award for her student film “Supply and Demand.” Her production was one of more than 14,000 entrants in the international competition. “The Telly awards program was started 36 years ago and is a leading awards program with an international following,” Mullane said.
“To have three of our students honored by these well established and respected competitions is epic. It really speaks to the quality of our students’ skills in scriptwriting, casting, directing, cinematography, and editing as well as all of the many organizational and creative details involved in producing a short movie.”
Mai and Bryant were among 6,000 entrants for AIVA’s awards this year. Mai’s movie, “Animals,” (full movie online here, and the trailer here) and Bryant’s movie, “Spectacle,” (full movie online here and trailer here) were entered in the student category. According to AIVA, the Communicator Award program is one of the largest award programs of its kind in the world. The Award of Distinction is presented to projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement.
Judges are a select group of industry executives from companies and organizations such as Disney, Conde Nast, Coach, Estee Lauder, Time, Inc., Yahoo, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
During their high school years, both Bryant and Mai have been taking Television Production classes. The Honors Script-to-Screen class combines the efforts of drama students and those interested in production. Students write their movie scripts, cast the talent, recruit a crew, and direct the taping of all scenes. They also edit the movie and add a soundtrack. Movies are 10 to 20 minutes in length. Last year’s class produced three films.
The junior students – who also produced films for this year’s Movie Festival – were unaware of their selection for last year’s movies until Mullane called them up on stage to receive engraved silver trophies from AIVA. They both acknowledged their surprise at receiving the international award, but were quick to credit their teachers and all of the students – cast and crew – who helped them produce their movies.
