You’ve probably also have seen the infamous Man Juice commercials on YouTube. From MMA competitions to wacky viral videos, the Marianas High School video productions crew has been churning out time after time high quality videos that makes one wonder if the videos really were made by high school students.
The video productions crew is comprised of students in the Video Productions II and III course of MHS, as well as from members of the video productions club. The core of the MHS film crew is composed of current high school seniors.
Under the watchful eye of their teacher and club advisor, Jojo Alepuyo, these students are responsible for converting a designated area into a film production site when filming events on the island. This task amounts to hours of hard work. Hundreds of feet of audio and video cable are be laid on the ground and hidden from plain sight, and lighting equipment must be placed in the best possible positions.
After preparing an area for filming, these very same students, led by a director chosen from their peers, then film the event. Mind you, these students do not just point their cameras at a general direction and sit there for hours.
Constant attention is required by the cameramen, all while performing various camera-techniques that these students learn. Often times, there will be more than one camera filming an event, and the film director has to be aware of what his many cameras are currently viewing. This requires a great amount of multi-tasking ability, and his responsibility to choose the best possible picture for viewing shows his ability to think under pressure.
The work doesn’t stop once the filming ends, however. The real brunt of the work takes place in the editing room.
In this process, the artistic and creative skills of the video productions crew are tested. Raw footage comes under the scrutiny of various editors who use professional level editing software. Transitions and various graphics are inserted into the video that improve the viewing quality. A fully functional DVD menu is then created, and once all editing is done, the DVD’s are burnt using a dedicated machine.
All this work, which always extends past school hours, is done by highly motivated high school students. Many students use the video productions course of MHS as an outlet for their creativity. It also gives these students something productive to do during nights and weekends.
Currently, the film crew of MHS is undertaking a massive effort to complete its yearly Senior DVD. The Senior DVD is a tradition in MHS. It is a short video, or group of videos, that showcase the senior class. The current senior film crews have become bolder than their peers, and plan to blow away their fellow classmates during its first screening at the MHS prom. However, this multi-month project is strictly confidential. One can only wonder what the productions crew can create this year.
