Modesto students going for a repeat win of prestigious high school film-making award
When you walk into a classroom at Downey High School, you might mistake it for an animation studio. Rows of computers line the tables, their screens showing cartoon arms and legs slowly bending as students animate them with each mouse movement.
The teens’ goal? To animate the storyboard drawings they have in the back of the room and snag another award in the All-American High School Film Festival, where last year Downey took a top honor.
“It was really cool to see how creative the other kids were compared to us,” said Michael Cahoon, a senior who went to New York in November for the film festival.
Cahoon said when the announcement came that Downey’s film, “Overcast,” won in competition with 80 other films in the animation category, the Modesto students jumped up and began to scream and hug one another.
The New York Film Academy awarded “Overcast” director Aleksandar Mindov, a 2023 Downey grad, a $45,000 scholarship for the film.
Heath Grant, the animation teacher at Downey, said four other films— “Imaginarium,” “Horizon,” “Grizz” and “Keyframe” — all were nominated at the film festival in previous years, but last year was the first time the school won.
“I tell them every year ... that my goal is to see your name in the credits in a movie or game or something like that one of these days,” Grant said.
Since the start of this school year, around 24 students have been working on what they’re calling a Western with a twist..
During the first two weeks of school, students were required to pitch story ideas and present them to classmates. After a vote selected the animated film’s idea, other roles were decided.
The class voted for two directors, three lead animators and a project manager. The rest of the class is divided into small groups the film will need such as animation, lighting and texturing.
Once the film animation is finished, the class will team up with Downey’s video production class to do sound design and with the theater class to audition for character voiceover roles.
To finish the film, students come after class or work during their lunch. Even once the school year ends, some students may have to work on finishing touches before submissions for the All-American High School Film Festival are due in July.
Ian Wohlstadter is one of the directors of the new film. He said he enjoys filmmaking and was mesmerized by building and animating things from scratch. He said body language and expressions are key in animation, which is a major difference between filmmaking in live action and through 2D or 3D lenses.
“I love filmmaking,” he added. “I love art. I love drawing. I like creating things in general,” said Wohlstadter, who said he’s sure that whatever career he pursues, it must allow him to be artistic.
