Burbank High students’ short film wins at statewide festival
With an animated short film set to a poem about growing up, students from Burbank High School took home the Eye-Catcher Award at the 51st annual California Student Media Festival this week.
Sponsored, in part, by PBS SoCal, the festival is touted as a celebration of student-made multimedia projects ranging from websites to live-action movies. Participants range from kindergartners to high school students who attend schools across California.
The five Burbank students — Ariana Hernandez, Ronni Cranston, Gwyneth Moore, Shannon Hoang and Marina Common — spent three weeks animating the short “Come Out and Play.” Using audio of a poem by Shane Koyczan called “When I Was a Kid,” the two-minute short cycles through each of the students’ art styles as it animates the dialogue.
Hernandez, a 16-year-old incoming senior, said the local students thought it was “pretty stellar” that they won.
She said they chose Koyczan’s poem because of its relatability. The poem reminisces about Koyczan’s childhood and the pressures he faced while growing up.
“We mostly thought that the message would be a really good one to visualize,” Hernandez said. “We thought all of his poetry was awesome but that this one could relate with the audience.”
Their animation instructor at Burbank High, Jonelle Pickett, said honors from events such as the media festival help to validate the students’ hard work. The students all plan to go into the entertainment industry, and the award acts as a feather in each of their caps.
“It’s good recognition … It goes on their resumes as they move on [in life],” she said.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
