From here to the Oscars?

Oceanside High students prepare for annual student film festival

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The cameras are rolling at Oceanside High School, and the awards are rolling in with them.

Film students brought home eight awards from the Locust Valley High School Film Festival on March 27, including first-place honors in four of the festival’s eight categories, which were judged by WABC-TV entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon. Of the 51 finalists, 14 were from Ocean-side, and the students placed in each of the festival’s categories: animation, TV commercial, public service announcement, documentary, drama, comedy, movie trailer and music video.

Oceanside High will host the district’s own sixth annual Oceanside Student Film Festival on April 25.

While the district’s video program isn’t even a decade old, its student cinematographers have been proving their mettle since Assistant Superintendent Robert Fenter first introduced video classes to the high school curriculum. The program has grown to incorporate three high school classes — Video, Advanced Video and Broadcasting — along with the film festival and a student-run online news broadcast called “Sailor Station.” Students also film Superintendent Phyllis Harrington’s monthly message to the community.

Audrey Miller, who teaches studio art, video and broadcasting at the high school, said that the program gives students the chance to work in an environment with a professional feel. “This broadcasting class is really run like a business,” she said. “In the back, they’ve got an ideas board. If they want to use the ideas, they can; if they don’t want to use it, it’s there for somebody else. Then there’s a board over here where they list what they’re working on now. Stuff is either good enough to go on the air or not, and they can decide what their grade is. So if they edit something, it’s two points. If they do an article, it’s one point. … They’re all very self-motivated.”

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