Film : Two spooky shorts from Charter School
Ninth-grader Ian Chickering of Oak Bluffs is one of 14 Charter School students who have produced two spine-tingling mini-movies for the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival this weekend. "The Scare" and "Finger Lickin' Good," will play at 9 am Saturday, in the Chilmark Community Center.
Photo courtesy of Ian Chickering. Click on photo to enlarge."Filmmaking is one of my main interests," Ian says. Inspired by the cult classic, "The Blair Witch Project," he and a group of students from the fifth through eleventh grades turned out "The Scare" during eight school days.
Ian, son of David and Deborah Chickering, signed up for the two-week elective, designed by MVFF's managing director Brian Ditchfield. The Charter School freshman helped write, direct, and act in "The Scare," playing the part of Mark, the ghost boss.
Former Charter School teacher Lindsey Scott, director of Children's Programming for MVFF, and Brooke Ditchfield, actor and artistic director of ArtFarm Enterprises, suggested the project to Mr. Ditchfield.
After watching and discussing films, an examination of film genres helped the class decide which were their favorites, and the horror-comedy genre blend won hands down in each group.
The students spent two days writing before organizing costumes, make-up, sets, and a shot plan and getting to work with cameras borrowed from MVTV. Mr. Ditchfield praises MVTV's station manager Steve Warriner and training and operations manager Carl Holt.
"They trusted us and gave us free rein," he says.
The results were "The Scare," a story about a ghost who has to learn how to frighten people in ten minutes; and the seven minute long "Finger Lickin' Good," in which a stand-up comedian who frees a school from zombies. What's next for these young filmmakers? Ian says he plans to put "The Scare" on Facebook.
