Fade Out.

So, I feel really old right now. I can’t believe my last day of high school is in two days. Although I am excited for the future, I’m really sad about leaving things that I love so much behind–especially film. For me, film has been such a big part of my high school experience. At first, I was skeptical of taking film–partly because I was so involved with sports and partly because Mr. Alan scared the crap out of me (clearly that is not the case anymore). Nevertheless, I am so happy that I decided to join because when basketball started to not work out, film was my outlet. I think what I am going to miss the most about film is the people. First and foremost, I’m going to miss Mr.Alan. Not only has he put up with me the last 3 years, but he’s made film an unforgettable experience for me. I’m still amazed by his dedication and passion for film. However, as much as he cares about the films, he cares about his students far more. For me specifically, he would never fail to step aside from film to talk to me about things that were going on in my life. Because of how much time Mr. Alan spends at film, he ends up not only being your teacher but your mentor, and even your friend. I’ll really miss his company and support next year.

Aside from Mr. Alan, I’m truly going to miss every single kid in film. Because the class is made up of every type of high school kid out there, everyone belongs in their own little way. I became friends with so many people that I would have never known if it weren’t for film. As competitive and stressed as we were during the year, we were all there for each other–whether it be getting a Chillzone for someone or being an extra in their movie. I want to thank all of my classmates for making film such a unique experience and I hope to stay in contact with all of you. Special s/o to my crew, especially my co-directors for all the good times. Marc and Peter–although I could’ve hit you at times, you guys have become some of my best friends this year and I’m so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you both.

So, I hope, after reading my sob story, future film kids will have learned that in film you will make movies, but far more importantly, you will meet people who will become your best friends. It is such an amazing experience that I am so grateful to have been apart of.

-E
(mom)

The Journey Matters Most

Film Festival was the one of the qickest and longest weeks of my life. Watching Carmichael on the big screen made me think of this entire journey, beginning in May of 2013. When I told E Ryan that I wanted to help her write a script the Monday after the 11th annual Walpole Film Festival, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. At first, E had an idea of an evil backpack that took over the lives of the WHS students. Although the pitch was childish, the idea of backpakcs being the center of kids’ lives is what we eventually centered the script ‘Carmichael’ around. After having a meeting with Alan and Marc Sheehan, E and I went back to her house and watched American Psycho for the first time. And then, after taking note of the themes and the motifs, the script took off–Marc and I spent countless summer hours in his basement brainstorming scenes and writing witty jokes. In September, when we completed the final draft, E, Marc, and I knew that we had something special in our hands, and we couldn’t wait to get started. We casted Mike Mazzotta, Rob Boush, and myself; and honestly, we couldn’t have picked better actors. Although filming was very stressful, and even meant waking up at 5:30 in the morning to go to a country club 45 minutes away, it was four months I will never forget. We learned a lot about ourselves: how to react when times were good and how to take a step back when times were bad. But each shoot (and re-shoot and re-shoot and re-shoot) ended up being very significant for our final product and helped us develop our characters even more. It was not until I skipped Anatomy the day after our due date and watched Carmichael by myself did I realize how good Carmichael really was. And so that is what I see–the journey of completing Camichael–when I look at my Alan for ‘Best Director’; not just some trophy that everyone wants.

Yours truly,
Peter Hoegler

P.S. If you are reading this as a currect or future director, take time to step back and appreciate what you’re actually doing. This experience will be unique to anyting you do in future years.

The end.

Greetings readers,

Film Festival came and went last week, and it went very well. To start the week, E hosted the wrap party, which was very fun for everyone who went. At the wrap party, Quince made quite the comeback in music Trivs in order to secure third row seating for awards night. Carmichael primarily played on Tuesday night, and we were very pleased with the crowd’s response. Although we were nervous how it would be received, everyone seemed to enjoy and understand our movie. We are very proud of the final product: everything came together very well. Everyone on our crew was a crucial part of our success this year, and everyone looked pretty awesome on awards night.

Carmichael received the award for Best Director and Best Actor, and Marc also was part of the Cleaner’s award for Best Screenplay. We are very grateful for all the nominations and awards Carmichael received.

Seniors are leaving this Friday, but we look forward to the Juniors doing big things next year, and we look forward to the 13th annual Film Festival and the movies that will come.

Sincerely,
Jonesie and Jon

The End Is Near

Hello World,

Our due dates have officially been announced and ours is April 28th, which we are feeling good about. Although we only have 2 scenes left to film, we have a lot of scenes that we have to go back and get more footage from. We have learned that Mike Mazzotta is the busiest person in the world so that has been a slight challenge since we still need footage that he is in. Today we chose our poster, and the Prince was slightly picky (per usual) but we eventually decided on one. In other news, we killed it the other day in Trivs, improving our score to 78 .We’ll get back to you all soon but we simply have too much work to do right now.

Peace,
Quince

Final Stretch

Quince nation-
What’s up ya’ll; we’re heading into our final sprint here at Quince Productions. Last week, we filmed the biggest scene of our movie–the masquerade–and it was a huge success! Over 25 guests showed up at Blair’s Millbrook home and everyone had a grand time. We only have two more full scenes left to shoot–which are both outside. But we have to do three other scenes that still need shots, so Quince will be working hard in April.
Right now, Kelleher is editing the backpack scene and Marc is touching up the scenes in the teacher’s lunch room. The movie seems to be coming together well after a stressful winter. Stay gold pony boys. Quince out.

-Petr

Hey Snow, Go Away

Readers-
We are heading into our last month at the Walpole High Film Festival. Quince is almost finished filming, but we need this snow to melt. We have four scenes to do outside, including a highly anticipated golf scene at the WCC. Marc, Pete, and Bryan said that they are willing to drive down south, particularly Virginia, to golf and maybe go on a vacation. At the moment, Marc is editing the opening scene because we have a re-shoot after the half-day tomorrow. Brian Hazerjian has been on fire lately: making unreal music in less than 15 minutes. You can often times see him running back and forth between Alan’s room and the film room; it’s very impressive, actually.
Quince has been much less stressed lately, which is a very good sign. Marc is very happy with the movie so far; E is recovering from her successful basketball season; Bryan has an easy life as usual; Jessie is dominating school and sports; Mazzotta is trying to get girls from other towns; Kelland is climbing things; Boush continues to golf; and Pete writes blogs.
Rumors have been swirling that Quince and Rambutan are on the verge of a crew war. Personally, I want to fight Clementine because they have been very stubborn lately. Stedman is currently staring us down, and he looks up to something. We all think Kelleher, who has received a letter from Harvard for track by the way, could take Clementine by himself.

See ya monkeys next time,
Quince

Quince’s Response to Buzz

Quince is like a ship. We have our captain, Marc, and everyone else. Marc often goes overboard and then Kelleher, E, and Hoegler have to guide the ship until Marc swims around for a bit and comes up on board. Well at least that is what the buzz said.

Prince Marc the terrible had a mental breakdown when we forgot the battery a few weeks ago at a shoot, but, as of late, he has been much more kind and benevolent. Each member has found their role in this crew and we have been much more comfortable around each other. You know what they say, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. But the thing is, we don’t have a weak link. We are just a group of good-looking teenagers living life to the fullest.

Quince is just playing a good game of basketball. We step onto the court, makes some plays, and go up for dunks. If you’re E, you’re draining threes like there’s no tomorrow; while Kelleher is here just trying to touch the net.

Stay classy my friends,
QUINCE

Post February Break #Werk

Howdy,

This is yours truly Pete Hoegler writing up in here.

Quince put in work over the break. First on Friday–Valentine’s Day–we successfully shot the scene in Blair’s study. We pulled off an unreal Breaking Bad type shot and the entire crew jumped up down, screaming. After, when Marc had a date at Bertucci’s, Kelleher and I crashed and sat down at his table to have some bread. We were like, “Marc you mad, or nahh?” On Saturday, Marc and I came in to film early in the morning to edit and do some voice overs.

Quince came in ready to play on Tuesday; we had both the opening scene and the Masquerade scheduled. Not going to lie, we were pretty stressed out. After filming the first teacher’s lounge scene, we decided to postpone the Masquerade because of the snow. So we all went home to take a nap.

Wednesday we got here bright and early, with Starbucks in hand, ready to film some more. Most of the crew went down to the Foreign Language hallway to film the scene with Christian and Madison while I stayed back in the film room to label all of the footage. We edited and ate Good Food for the rest of the day. That night, Marc called me up crying because we didn’t have a black check book for the waiter. So I was like, “Yo Marc. I got this bro.” So, I drove to Conrad’s to ask if I could borrow one and they said no, so I went to Jalapenos. Fortunately, they gave me one. As usual, Hoegler being clutch and ftf (for the film).

On Thursday, Marc and I shot Bakale as a host outside of the teacher’s lounge. Bakale was excellent in this role. Then after, Marc, E, and I went to the Walpole Country Club to shoot the scene when Harper is named golf captain. Stina Cofsky helped out acting as Flirty Girl 1 and with Art Direction. Also, Sean Lynch acted as the boy who comes over to congratulate Harper; this kid was awesome. Sean has a very bright future in the Film Festival.

Friday we just dominated life as usual.

PEACE,
Quince

Midyear Week

Hey guys!

On behalf on the crew, I’d like to apologize once again for our lack of blogging. We have been SUPER busy because its midyear week, which means as soon as we are done with our tests we go right to film and get to work on our movie. Because we have half-days everyday, we decided to take advantage of the time to film with Mr. Hahn and Mr. Bakale. We have three rather large scenes with them in the teachers lounge. Our four boys–Christian, Blair, Gregory, and Harper–eat lunch everyday in the teacher’s lounge with Mr. Hahn because they are wicked cool. These scenes take a TON of art direction because we basically have to transform the boring, bland teachers lounge into an upscale restaurant. To pull off this restaurant look we brought in tables clothes, plates, glasses, flowers, lights, and other decorations. Even though we had confidence that Jessie Jones could handle these scenes, we decided to bring in some back up. We had a meeting in Mrs. Kerr’s room with our art direction crew–Marie Kelland, Catherine Paul, Olivia Sheehan, and Dan Mullen. They had some awesome contributions, like the lights. We are shooting the scenes in reverse order because the last scene is the easiest and smallest while the first one is the longest and hardest. We are really excited to get these three scenes done!!

Aside from the teacher lounge scenes, we filmed part of our “backpack” scene over the weekend. During this time, we realized Mike (Gregory) can get a little mouthy when he messes up his lines. We also realized that this scene is difficult, not only because its long but also because it requires different shutter speeds and lighting. We want the reveal of the backpacks to be intense. Although we have more to do for this scene, I am confident that we will get it done the way we want it.

As for trivs, we haven’t played in a while because everyone is so busy with filming. This is a blessing for us because trivs is not our thing.

We’ll be in touch soon!!
-E

Gregory during the backpack scenes.

Scheduling, fun!

Dear Diary,

Hello, its been awhile…Quince has been hard at work! We have discovered that JJones has a very squishy nose, and she is well aware of it. Art Direction is meeting on Friday with our little helpers. We started our masks the other day and it was lots of fun! We discovered that we have some underestimated artistic talents on our crew (E and BK), but overall the masks are looking pretty sweet. However, we have not finished; we’ve only done about half of our masks, so we will be holding another mask making session sometime soon, and Mr. Alan’s kids will be joining us. Also, very exciting, we are beginning to edit what we have shot by cleaning up the background noise.
Right now we are scheduling…again. We are trying to straighten out our plans for this week and midyear week as we plan to film some big scenes. For tomorrow, we plan to film our wood shop scene, so E and Marc just went to go talk to Mr. Scott. Also, this Wednesday we will be filming a hallway scene with Christian and Madison, once JJones borrows some preppy clothes since she claims to not own any of her own. Finally, for this week, we are reshooting a dinner scene at BK’s house, and after the crew is taking a trip to the movies to see Lone Survivor. So that’s the upcoming week for Quince.
Good news, Quince is not in last place in music trivs, second to last place actually, but we have not playing in a while since everyone’s been filming in class, but that’s all.

We’ll get back to you soon, have a marvelous week and good luck on midyears!

QUINCE