Mendy Mao

Ethan Guan (11) writes out the roles that club members could volunteer for at the film club meeting. “The intricacies of making film makes it such a beautiful process,” Ethan said. “It’s a combination of so many art forms, and because of that, you can have so many different emotional tones involved.”

Film Club officers picked a to-be-titled drama by Sophie Pellet (10) for their second film production in English teacher Christopher Hurshman’s room during lunch on Monday. 

This is the second year that Film Club selected a movie idea pitched by a club member. The club will help the club member film and send the film to film festivals. During the meeting, Sophie presented her screenplay to the club and submitted a screenplay draft to Film Club co-president Ethan Guan (11). Once he accepted the proposal, members passed the laptop around the room and read it over. 

After club members selected Sophie’s film for production, they went over scenes in the screenplay and signed up for roles they were interested in. Film club officers recruited potential actors, crew members and extras. Club member Samaara Patil (9) signed up for all three options and discussed some of her goals in the filmmaking process.

“I’m excited,” Samaara said. “I think it will be a fun thing, especially because a lot of my friends signed up. I’m really just hoping to be part of the production, be able to help with the finishing touches and see all the outcomes if this goes well.”

The selected production last year was another of Sophie’s films, the comedy “Not Your Average Superhero.” Sophie reflected on her decision to change direction from comedy to drama.

“The stakes are kind of lower when it’s a comedy,” Sophie said. “I’ve already done this before, so I felt more comfortable branching out to something a little bit more serious. When writing something with very intense emotions, it’s very personal writing, and I don’t think I was willing to do that and share that last year.”

As the writer, Sophie will direct the film. Sophie and her editor Mendy Mao (10) are still editing the screenplay. The film will star a teenage boy named Max who gradually realizes his loneliness as his only friendship falls apart. Sophie also plans to put up audition posters around the upper school campus once the screenplay is complete.

Two years ago, Sydney Ling (12), Edis Mesic (12) and Ethan made the short film selection possible when they jointly started the Film Club. Ethan proposed the selection and oversees the filming process. He commented on founding Film Club and on his visions for the club going forward.

“I started the club because there wasn’t a film club at Harker,” Ethan said. “At such a prestigious institution, we’re not covering this amazing form of artistic expression — come on! Last year, it went I think as good as a young club could go. We made one film, had a couple of meetings. This year, we’re planning to do things on a bigger scale.”