At first, I was going to the Student Television Network (STN) National Convention because I got to be in Florida with my friends but after, I gained a ton of new friends and a new passion.
It all started off with pulling an all-nighter the night before I left Los Angeles and flew off to Tampa, Florida. I was competing in the silent film category and I was roaring to go. It was an exciting, new experience that I was ready to uncover.
The morning of March 1 was the day I got ready at 2:30 a.m. to get picked up and driven to the Van Nuys Flyaway. The plan was to leave the Flyaway at 3:30 a.m. to get to LAX and have lots of time to check our suitcases of video equipment as well as go through TSA. Our flight to St. Louis, Missouri, was to take off at 7:25 a.m. We had connecting flights, and I knew it was going to be a long day.
The flights went quickly with lots of sleep involved and after landing in St. Louis, we finally got to Tampa, Florida, on a second airplane. We stayed at the Embassy Suites Hotel with two chaperones and 12 students. Quickly dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we went to the opening ceremony of the convention where 2024 Student of the Year Finn Royer introduced himself and his memories of his experience with STN. The convention boasts over 3,500 students from 186 schools including both middle and high school students.
On March 2, one team of six students competed in the short film contest for STN. Seniors Axel Aleman, Jackie Gomez, Genesis Cuellar-Figueroa and Vanessa Gonzalez were on a team with junior Sebastian Olfatmanesh and sophomore Mateo Zazueta. With a prompt to start the film off with a conversation you cannot hear and a suitcase having to be in the film, ideas started flowing. The contest had a time limit of four hours to film and three hours to edit with a maximum of a two-minute runtime. Even though I was not on the short film team, I was able to be one of the main actors as the rules stated anyone could act in each film, just not be involved with any background processes such as filming or editing. We ended up just shy of honorable mention, placing sixth overall in division two of short film.
The next day, it was time for the silent film competition. The team was comprised of myself as well as senior Alexis Abraham and juniors Serena Elkins, Mose Judge-Glascock, Jordan Viviano and Gabriella Urteaga Galvez. The prompt for the competition was a scavenger hunt with the last item being unattainable. The guidelines were a one-minute runtime with three hours to film and two hours to edit. I was, once again, a main actor for the film and I had a really great time.
Both March 2 and 3, our video production teacher Tennesse Norton presented his own workshop called “Crafting Stories Frame by Frame.” In this workshop, he showed his previous work in movies like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” where he was in the animation department as an intern and “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” where he was sole animator. He also explained how he creates his characters, following movements like real life to make them come to life. He showed detailed slides and videos with behind-the-scenes footage, which really gave a deep dive into what went into creating these amazing movies.
Overall, the convention was a very exciting and new experience for me and helped me realize new pathways for my future. Expressing myself through my work in film was eye-opening and I plan on continuing this new aspect of my life. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
