Each year, the seniors of the Mamaroneck High School video class collaborate to create their final project as Mamaroneck High School students: the Senior Film. In the creation of this short film, students have the opportunity to employ the skills they have developed over the past four years as part of the video program.
“The senior film is a narrative film that the entire senior video class–and this year’s advanced video class as well–create together,” explains Elena Elmoznino, the video teacher. This collaborative effort involves everyone in class writing a script, followed by a voting process to select the script that will be turned into a film.”
The idea of making one big senior film started in 2019, when former video teacher Ms. Dombroff had an exceptionally strong group of students,” Elmo recalls. “She realized that was the year to take on such a huge project.” Despite challenges involving the pandemic, the tradition persisted, and this year marks the fourth creation of a film. “This year’s film is more of an homage to high school revenge films,” Elmo adds, “unlike last year’s film, no one dies, but there is a lot of humiliation! It’s going to be fun and all the actors in our class are fantastic!”
Titled I Hate Scarlett Lynch, the film was written and directed by Gretchen Barnard (’24), who was inspired by the “hundreds of comfort movies” she watched while sick over winter-break, particularly the 2006 Romcom John Tucker Must Die. The film revolves around Scarlett Lynch, the quintessential high school queen bee, and the repercussions she faces when challenged to be kind. “Everyone hates Scarlett Lynch, but they also have to love her because she’s the queen bee,” Elmo explains, “until the principal–Kristen Barnard–directs Scarlett Lynch to be more ‘inclusive’ in assembling a team to facilitate the senior prank.
Behind the scenes, the piece is something incredibly special for all involved, especially for seniors who have anxiously awaited their final work as a student. Ian Novoselac (’24) shares that one of the most rewarding feelings in filmmaking is “actually seeing the pre-production, shot listing, lighting, and all other elements of production come to fruition in front of the camera monitor.” As one of the Directors of Photography for the film, Novoselac created “the actual image seen in the film by writing the shot lists, controlling the lighting and blocking of the scene, and setting up and operating the camera.” However, everyone involved lends a hand in all aspects.
Through the film, Barnard and Novoselac share the same goal of inspiring the student body to further acknowledge the hard work and dedication shared by the video class, and to also consider getting involved with the program. In a broader sense, Elmo hopes the film will bring light to the hardships of being in high school, and states that the film serves “as a mirror for us to see the painful truths about high school and the boxes we force ourselves into.”
Don’t miss your opportunity to see the premiere of I Hate Scarlett Lynch, showcasing on May 31 at the MHS Video Show!
