Tension fills the air as students sit at tables around the room. Every category but one has been called, and Hagerty has yet to place in any. Feeling defeated, senior Andy Ayup waits for his category:personal vlog. Unexpectedly, cheers fill the table, as they announce he placed as an honorable mention in his category. 

From Feb. 18-21, the video production department traveled to Long Beach, California to attend the Student Television Network’s national convention, “Limitless.” There, they competed in a variety of categories including short film, commercial, movie trailer and personal vlog, in which the students were given a prompt for their videos and a deadline by which they needed to submit them for judging. Though stressful, junior Win Champlin noted the excitement he and his teammates felt when they completed their commercial. 

“The best moment was when my team kind of clicked. We all found out that we had the same vision and we brought that vision together,” Champlin said. “We were all super excited about how it turned out.”

Although the video production department is primarily known for school news, the contest categories enabled them to demonstrate their other multimedia skills like creating suspense in a movie trailer or comedy in a short film. Junior KJ Lanz, who worked on the commercial team with Champlin, was required to promote activewear.

“It allowed us to be creative in a different way than we usually would be, and try to think of it through more of a marketing perspective, rather than just a short film,” Lanz said. 

Senior Jacob Hartman added that while the workload was challenging in such a short period, it was rewarding as they were able to learn more about the pressures of the industry and the time management requirement in order to succeed. 

“We had to consolidate everything into six hours, which was really tough for a one-minute video, because you have to give yourself time to film and edit. We found an idea really quickly, which allowed us to take a lot of time to film,” Hartman said. 

Ultimately, they were able to use the stress as a way to bring the group together. Ayup notes that the individual skills and personalities of his classmates helped strengthen his personal vlog. 

“I’m really happy and I’m proud of all the work we’ve done together because without our group, I wouldn’t have had the vlog that I had. They’ve all helped in their own way to make it possible,” Ayup said. 

In addition to their experiences at the convention, the students were able to visit a Warner Brothers studio and note how the concepts they were using in their contests apply to real-world filmmaking. They also attended educational sessions led by experts in the field to teach them various skills and give advice on how to make it in multimedia industries. Using these experiences, students like Lanz felt more confident about their future in the industry, taking the advice of professionals and exploring their options in filmmaking and multimedia. 

“One of the guys from the Sony booth was saying I would enjoy something to do with concerts because I really love music and the creative aspects of filmmaking and set design,” Lanz said. “Without a doubt I’m majoring in film in college.”