This year, the Digital Media and Skull Studios students created two videos for the UIL Young Filmmakers competition. One, an animation about a girl and a fox in a magical forest and the other a documentary about Doug Baum, ‘The Camel Man.' To make it to the state level in this UIL academic contest, you must make it through two preliminary judging levels, then place in the top six at the third level (equivalent to Regionals) but that didn’t happen this year. Our students learned a lot and are ready to improve immensely for next year’s competition. Although these films' runtimes are not very long, many hours go into planning, filming, editing, and creating them. Please watch and enjoy our two entries below. 

The Camel Man 

 

We took 15 students to Boerne for a long day last December to get all of the footage used in this film. We met with Doug Baum, owner and operator of Texas Camel Corps. He was interviewed by Citlali Ferreira, who asked excellent questions, which helped tell the story seen in the video. We filmed Mr. Baum working with his camels, loading them up, and traveling to downtown Boerne to an event at the St. Helena’s Episcopal Church. Our crew filmed and photographed the event and interviewed spectators asking about their experiences, especially those related to the camels. After we returned home, the long, focused hours, days and weeks of editing began. A team of editors took many hours of footage and summarized it into a seven-minute film. This film got lots of great reviews and scores from the judges. We made it to the semi-final round, and just missed being able to go to the final, state level competition. It was a heartbreaking miss, as our scores tallied up to put the film in 7th place in the State of Texas. Only the top six documentary films in each division make it to State, where the top three places are announced. I would like to thank our administration for allowing us the opportunity to go to Boerne to do the research needed to be able to put a program together. We would have nothing to submit without the support of our administrators to do the work of gathering hours of video interviews and footage. Please watch, and if you see any of the following students, let them know what you think of their film. 

  

Elias Moore 

Sarah Ytuarte 

Malakai Garza 

Kaden Moore 

Jacob Guevara 

Victoria Palencia 

Aiden Juarez 

Yarely Rocha 

Katara Whitfield 

Sebastian Montesdeoca 

Skye Granato 

Citlali Ferreira 

Mila Salinas 

Leilani-Blu Jimenez 

Micaela Heath 

Faith Hernandez 

  

Judges had the following to say about 'The Camel Man.' 

• Very interesting choice of topic. Unique! I learned a lot!! Excellent video and awesome sound. Thank you for using an external microphone for the testimonial. Rich and crisp and clear b-roll throughout the documentary. Great job. Background music was good - stayed in the background and didn't overpower the testimonial. Bravo! I am looking forward to seeing more from your team in the future! 
• Interesting title that grabs my attention. Here are some thoughts while watching: Nice, attention grabbing intro with creative footage. I love this story idea and the fact the story subject is something I've never watched before. "I was supposed to be a rock star."-- Love it. Awesome quote and I immediately like your "character" making me invested in learning his story. Nice job setting up his interview- great rule of thirds composition, audio, contrast could be a bit sharper but still not bad. Nice use of b-roll. Your camera person did an incredible job getting sharp, creative footage with many angles and photography techniques (disturbance, viewpoint, etc). This story moves along at a good pace, some of the cuts feel a bit abrupt and could have benefitted from smoother transitions, but again, I'm still thoroughly enjoying the story. I felt when the story was coming to an end, so good job leading the viewer into the conclusion. I do wish his last couple of words didn't fade out so I could really just hang on his closing statement for a moment but I realize you did that probably because you were really pushing that 7 minute time limit. There are so many awesome things about this film! Incredible job! 
• I can't say enough good and positive things about this film! The subject matter is quirky but highly informative. The "Camel Man" knocked down several myths about camels that I've been wrong about for 60+ years. Above all, Doug Baum is a very interesting man and a superb story-teller! His voice in the interviews is just so even in tone and pitch for this piece. Add to that his unique interest in all things camel, and it makes for a fantastic short film. Such great work, guys!! 

The Fox’s Journey 

 

A few of our animation students came together to create The Fox’s Journey, a short story about a girl and a fox in a magical forest. What they were able to accomplish in a short amount of time is amazing. We were able to submit this film because of the extraordinary efforts made by Alexandra Cabrera. Again, please take a few minutes to watch, and if you see any of these students, let them know what you think of their film. 

Alexandra Cabrera 

Amaris Plaza 

Benjamin Davila 

Judges had the following to say about 'The Fox's Journey.' 

• The story was heartwarming and cute. I really enjoyed following the story throughout the entire film. The artwork needed more development because it just didn't flow as smoothly as it needed to. The artwork still conveyed a good story but it needed that extra factor to it in order for this to become a fully rounded film. 
• Nice job. Good story, clear and well told. The twist was nice…Overall this was a really good film. Good work. 

I’m proud of both entries and would appreciate it if everyone would let our talented students know how appreciated they are for their hard work.