Only in its second year, Frederick Film is growing at a rapid pace: it has around two dozen members and has screened nearly fifty films in the past sixteen months of its existence. The club has gone from a meet-up at the local movie theater once a semester to at least once a month, with the club recently watching and reviewing films like Crazy Rich Asians, Night of the Living Dead, The Old Man with the Gun, and The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Yet Frederick Film has a new goal: they no longer want to merely watch films. They want to make them.

The plan is essentially to have the members create different short films and enter them into film festivals and contests such as the St. Vrain Valley Film Festival which the group attended but didn’t enter anything in last year. There are many different roles for making a short Film such as directors, writers, actors, producers, filmers, and other assorted jobs that all come together to produce the final product of the film. In order to learn about and refine the varied skills that go into making short films different workshops will be held by Mr. Coon to teach students the technical skills that go into these different jobs required for making making short films.

The members of this club are certainly looking forward to having their stories be put into this medium. As member Susan Rose put it: “I’ve been in film club for over a year now and it feels like it’s been leading up to making these films. I’m so excited to make mine.” The rest of this club reflects the same sentiment and are all greatly looking forward to getting into the making of these short films. Especially after a year of waiting to just get established as a club and to figure everything out adding on an extra layer of anticipation.

Fueled by this excitement many members are whipping up ideas that they are just itching to put into action, as expressed by member Nicole Woods with her own production ideas, “I would love to develop a film driven by music with a plot structured around the lyrics and genre of the song.” Although it’s not just the base ideas that they’ll be able to work on. The technical aspects of putting these ideas into action are of interest to the members as well. As said by member Aron Navarrete-Jimenez “There are many movies out there that get very creative with their camerawork and I would love to try and do the same in my own production”. Which is all possible with what this club is planning and working on. Essentially those within the Frederick Film Club are taking steps to achieving and learning about something that interests them, film and everything that comes with it.

There are already many ideas being cultivated within the minds of the different members. All are encouraged to go after what they see in their mind’s eye and make it a tangible thing through film. A peek into one of the group’s upcoming productions comes from member Susan Rose “My film is based off my 55-word story that I wrote about a boy and his grandma.” That just being one of the numerous ideas for the productions that are swarming around the minds of the members that are going to be produced by them. They are planning on creating for a variety of different genres and keeping their work diverse and versatile. It is an exciting time for Film Club and I am looking forward to seeing what the group has in store. If you want to get involved contact Mr. Coon or drop by one of the club’s weekly meetings to see what’s going on. We are looking forward to seeing you there.