A little imagination goes a long way.
Neuqua Valley High School will be putting that message on display in more ways than one this week as a group of students from the Naperville school compete in the Student Silent Film Festival.
Taking place Wednesday night at Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove, the annual competition invites students from across the Chicago area to create their own original films without the aid of voices or sound effects. Neuqua Valley is one of 11 participating high schools this year and the only competitor from Naperville.
“I’m really excited,” said senior Emma Jenkins, a member of Neuqua Valley’s film team. “I’m just excited to see (our film) in the big theater and to see other people’s reactions to it.”
Jenkins was one of 13 students behind the film. She was also one of three students who acted as a producer on the project, alongside fellow seniors Saanvi Betita and Jillian Mannisto. All students are part of Neuqua Valley’s Media Production 3 class.
Neuqua Valley’s original silent picture is entitled “Friendzone.” Running for 5 minutes and 38 seconds, the film was inspired by this year’s festival theme: “Creativity Unleashed.”
“Friendzone” follows a young boy facing the growing pains of adolescence as he gets older, from struggling to fit in to making friends at school. To cope with the challenges, he relies on a small cadre of imaginary friends.
“What more creative than a kid and their imagination?” Betita said.
A testament to the festival’s theme in content as much as design, the imaginary characters in “Friendzone” are animated. The mixed media approach was thanks to a few students on Neuqua Valley’s team who had animation experience.
“We wanted to make good use of all the kids in our class,” Jenkins said. “Just to bring all our talents together and make something more inventive.”
Neuqua Valley has competed in the Student Silent Film Festival since its inception in 2017, Neuqua’s media production teacher John Gelsomino said. Every year, Gelsomino gives his upper level students the option of participating in the competition. Only one entry per school is allowed.
The festival was founded by Ed Newmann, Bill Allan and Derek Berg. Newmann, who lives in Hinsdale, is an animator and entrepreneur. He founded the Chicago-based Calabash Animation studio. Allan, of La Grange, is founder and supervisor of the television media program at Lyons Township High School. Berg, of Clarendon Hills, is founder and CEO of Clarendon Hills Music Academy.
Their festival was born out of a common interest in educating local media students about the art of creating silent films. For its first few years, the festival was held at Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington Hills. Recently, though, the festival has found a home at the Tivoli.
“We thought it was valuable for young kids to understand what it was like in the early days of filmmaking,” Newmann said, “and what it was like for storytellers to figure out how to engage an audience without sound, without voices. … A filmmaker is a better filmmaker if they learn how to tell a story without (dialogue), where a character can’t just walk on and start talking.”
As part of the festival’s homage to the early days of filmmaking, all submitted films Wednesday night will be accompanied by live music.
In the era of silent films from the 1890s to the late 1920s, music was often played live in theaters to accompany action that took place on screens, according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. To that end, each festival entry will be supplied with a score. Musical arrangements will be performed by Berg on a uniquely designed keyboard rig that employs virtual instrument samples.
“With my keyboard setup, I use a Mac (computer) to access a library of 30 vintage synthesizers, orchestral and acoustic instruments, and rhythmic loops,” Berg said in a news release. “This setup gives me endless ingredients to craft sounds for any film.”
Jenkins, Betita and Mannisto are especially excited to see what Berg comes up with for “Friendzone.”
“We want to see their interpretation of what we worked on, like if it comes through as we want it,” Mannisto said. “I think that’ll be cool.”
They’re also eager to see their competitors’ films.
“(Creativity Unleashed) is such an open-ended prompt,” Mannisto said. “So I’m excited to see what other people came up with, (to see) if we’re similar or different. I’m pumped.”
Newmann says this year’s batch of submissions are some of the best he’s seen submitted to the festival.
“I’m thrilled with the movies that (the students) have come up with this year,” he said. “They’re outstanding.”
Of the 11 competing schools, three winners will be named Wednesday. A panel of judges — composed of professionals from the entertainment or art education industries — will select the top three based on the quality of films’ story narrative, development, camera work, lighting and editing.
Jenkins, Betita and Mannisto say that while they’d welcome kudos, the competitive portion of the festival is more so a bonus to the main reward: getting to share their hard work on the big screen.
The Student Silent Film Festival is open to the public. Advance tickets are $18 and can be ordered at https://www.studentsilentfilmfestival.org/. Same day tickets are $25 at the door.
