Saugus Film Festival showcase of talents

SAUGUS – Students in Ken Webb?s advanced digital imaging class wowed their classmates Tuesday night at the First Annual Saugus High School Film Festival.A pair of music videos by Shaun Downey got huge ovations from the crowd, one for Coldplay?s “Fix You” and another for “We Are Young” by Fun, which featured a single-take shot of classmate David Picariello walking backward down a long hallway at the high school while members of the Drama Club danced around him.Downey won first prize for that video, as teachers Kate Payne, Veronica Flynn and Nancy Lemoine served as judges.?A lot of music videos do the one-shot thing and I really liked the idea of just being able to one,” said Downey. “I had the entire Drama Club so I thought I might as well. We actually only did one take. I was satisfied with it.”The festival?s only full-length film was an 18 minute-long documentary called “Wake Me When You Need Me” by Chris Masih, who also hosted the festival. The film followed fellow host Steve Essery as he put together his own short film for the festival called “Master Chief.”?I?m very happy with it,” said Masih. “I?m glad that the subject loved it too.”?I absolutely loved it,” added Essery. “I feel like it?s a pretty narcissistic statement saying I love a video all about me.”Essery also won for best short film for “The Nigh Time Zone,” which was about a boy becoming best friends with an alien, who then destroys the earth.?I spent like two weeks watching 80 episodes of the Twilight Zone and I said to myself, ?Hey I can do that too,?” said Essery. “I took my friends to a place in Rockport and we filmed around there.”Picariello won best documentary for his film Inside E09, a parody of the TV show “The Office.” However, his mockumentary was a behind-the-scenes look at the advanced digital imaging class in room E09.?The whole ?Office? theme was actually Shawn?s idea,” said Picariello. “Going into it was mainly me filming everything and him helping me, but I edited everything. Film is probably my second favorite thing I love to do. Besides being on stage, making something for people to watch and being in films is so much fun.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].