Conner DiPaolo
Copy Editor
Visual arts classes from around the district, this monday, collectively presented the Inaugural Newport Mesa Film
Festival, bringing together different forms of visual arts like design, photography, animation, and film, all in the Robin-Loats
Theater.
Designed after the Oscars as a red carpet event, festival goers dressed in suits and dresses. Food prepared by the Newport
Harbor Culinary Arts Department was distributed before the event and during the intermission of the film festival. NHHS film
students Erika Nilsson and Christian Garcia filmed the event for future reference, as a part of a large Newport Harbor support staff that catered to the events needs.
Garcia said, “I think it is a really fun event, especially because its student run and shows student’s work.”
Mrs. Cernak, the Newport Harbor film teacher who helped organize the festival, introduced the idea of the film festival to the
school.
“[The time spent on the production] has payed off,” said Cernak, “The winners had outstanding works and deserved their
awards... I’m excited people [were] enjoying themselves.”
Photography had three different categories that people could win awards from. The first, “glamour shots” aimed to bring
back the style of old age Hollywood actor and actress pictures with high contrast of lighting and black and white
style. Carson Gullo of NHHS won the glamour section with her shot of her mother as a subject that was inspired by
Audrey Hepturn’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
“Originally [my photo] was a project for advanced visual imagery with Ms. Cernak,” said glamour shot finalist Savannah
Vrbas of NHHS, “I think that people put a lot of hard work into trying to produce [their art]. It’s a good way for people
to show their work and express themselves.”
The second photography category, “5 shot series,” photographers took five photos in a series in an attempt to mimic the style
of a storyboard for an imaginative movie. Cassidy Scanlon of Newport Harbor won with a series using a high light contrast and black and white style.
The last category in photography, film stills (a literal still from an imaginary film), Raleigh Hopper unexpectedly won the
award with her picture “Untitled” of friend Elyssa Barnett in a photo shoot in a parking lot.
“When I was on the way to a movie with my friends I saw the buildings and thought it matched the picture really well so I
made my friend pull over and we did a mini photo shoot in the parking lot,” Said Hopper.
In animation, where cinematographers make various animations from music videos to home bred creations, Bobby Anaya
won his category with a brief movie to the soundtrack of the song “Let’s All Go to the Lobby.” Anaya’s film was played during the intermission to call the spectators out of the theater.
For the most (figuratively and literally) dramatized awards, the film/ video finalists were played throughout the event, in the
interim between the sections. Alexis Martin of Costa Mesa High School won for best overall with his Vacant, a production about a student dreaming of a hallucination.
Tyler Carlin, “Best Director” with his Hungry Dead, said, “I went for a more comedy action movie... I wanted to make something
for the students and teachers to really enjoy and not just the judges.”
Copy Editor
Visual arts classes from around the district, this monday, collectively presented the Inaugural Newport Mesa Film
Festival, bringing together different forms of visual arts like design, photography, animation, and film, all in the Robin-Loats
Theater.
Designed after the Oscars as a red carpet event, festival goers dressed in suits and dresses. Food prepared by the Newport
Harbor Culinary Arts Department was distributed before the event and during the intermission of the film festival. NHHS film
students Erika Nilsson and Christian Garcia filmed the event for future reference, as a part of a large Newport Harbor support staff that catered to the events needs.
Garcia said, “I think it is a really fun event, especially because its student run and shows student’s work.”
Mrs. Cernak, the Newport Harbor film teacher who helped organize the festival, introduced the idea of the film festival to the
school.
“[The time spent on the production] has payed off,” said Cernak, “The winners had outstanding works and deserved their
awards... I’m excited people [were] enjoying themselves.”
Photography had three different categories that people could win awards from. The first, “glamour shots” aimed to bring
back the style of old age Hollywood actor and actress pictures with high contrast of lighting and black and white
style. Carson Gullo of NHHS won the glamour section with her shot of her mother as a subject that was inspired by
Audrey Hepturn’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
“Originally [my photo] was a project for advanced visual imagery with Ms. Cernak,” said glamour shot finalist Savannah
Vrbas of NHHS, “I think that people put a lot of hard work into trying to produce [their art]. It’s a good way for people
to show their work and express themselves.”
The second photography category, “5 shot series,” photographers took five photos in a series in an attempt to mimic the style
of a storyboard for an imaginative movie. Cassidy Scanlon of Newport Harbor won with a series using a high light contrast and black and white style.
The last category in photography, film stills (a literal still from an imaginary film), Raleigh Hopper unexpectedly won the
award with her picture “Untitled” of friend Elyssa Barnett in a photo shoot in a parking lot.
“When I was on the way to a movie with my friends I saw the buildings and thought it matched the picture really well so I
made my friend pull over and we did a mini photo shoot in the parking lot,” Said Hopper.
In animation, where cinematographers make various animations from music videos to home bred creations, Bobby Anaya
won his category with a brief movie to the soundtrack of the song “Let’s All Go to the Lobby.” Anaya’s film was played during the intermission to call the spectators out of the theater.
For the most (figuratively and literally) dramatized awards, the film/ video finalists were played throughout the event, in the
interim between the sections. Alexis Martin of Costa Mesa High School won for best overall with his Vacant, a production about a student dreaming of a hallucination.
Tyler Carlin, “Best Director” with his Hungry Dead, said, “I went for a more comedy action movie... I wanted to make something
for the students and teachers to really enjoy and not just the judges.”