A view from a car window. A bridge at sunrise. A ballerina dancing on a road in the woods.
So opens senior Madeleine Fleshman’s short film, “A Screaming Cry in a Silent Room,” which won first place in Video Fairfax’s annual film festival in the high school age category.
“I really enjoy writing but I haven’t taken the time to continue it recently,” Fleshman said, “so this was my chance to combine film with something that functioned more like a short story.”
Fleshman originally created this film to serve as both her final exam and IB exam in her IB Film Study HL II class.
“I’m pretty proud of the finished project,” Fleshman said, “but this film would be nothing without the original score.”
The short film features a score composed by senior Nick Ritter, who created it using a program called Sibelius.
“It was a lot of fun to do and the movie came out awesome,” Ritter said.
The film depicts the relationship between Dess Andrews, played by sophomore Lily Roth, and Matthew Hale, played by senior James Lex. Senior Keith Boylan and sophomore Emma Heiden also have starring roles in the film.
Fleshman called the creation of the film “spontaneous,” and that she “just let it happen.”
Lex noted that though he enjoyed making the film, he “had no idea what was going on” for most of the shooting.
“It’s not important for [the film] to make sense … only to stimulate some aesthetic response,” Fleshman said.
Fleshman filmed during sunrise and sunset because of the quality of the light at those times.
“When I make films I focus on the visual elements,” she said. “That [time] is when things are most beautiful.”