Film Students Go Into Production!

Lights, Camera, Action! The Stevenson 5th period film class had an incredible weekend of production for their final film project of the school year, titled Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Stevenson Film teachers Rebecca Cavalier and Stephanie Choriatis supervised the process, with the students as the creative visionaries behind the production. Students worked with a cast of professional New York City actors and shot on location on the Upper and Lower East Side of the city.

The filmmakers had been in pre-production for the last two months, working on everything from location scouting, casting, set design, scheduling, and cinematography. In the style of professional film crews, students were each assigned a different crew position, and completed necessary duties during class involving their position.

Olivia, the film’s producer, said a majority of her work came during pre-production. “I was constantly emailing actors, contacting locations, tweaking the schedule, and it was a lot more work before the filming began. But once we were on set, most of the job had been completed.” This differed from the film’s two directors of photography, Jayleen and Blaise. “I was on my feet the whole weekend,” said Jayleen.” There were very few moments where I had time to rest; I was always either filming a shot or setting up to film the next shot.”

The most difficult part of the weekend was the bitter cold that the students endured while filming in Tompkins Square Park. With temperatures dropping below freezing, and hand warmers being used left and right, the students plowed through this challenging weather. Film teacher and Stevenson Media Specialist Stephanie said, “I’ve been on dozens of outdoor shoots over the years, and I have never experienced cold like I did on Sunday. Our kids are all heros for withstanding it.”

Coming up March 18th and 19th, the 6th period film class will go into production for their final project titled Waiting for Frances, and will be shooting on location at the Magnet Theater in midtown. More to come!

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Waiting for Frances will premiere this coming June at the Apple Store in SoHo - time and date to be announced within the coming weeks. For more information on the film program at Stevenson please contact the Admissions office.