Parrott theatre students Jacob Fisher and Macie Yao rehearse a scene prior to filming. Submitted photo.

Just like the stars of Broadway, Parrott Academy’s high school theatre students are missing the opportunity to perform for a live audience due to the school’s pandemic protocols. That’s why Theatre teacher Amy Calhoun developed a film project for her high school class.  Given five short “open ended” scenes, each student chose a script to develop into a short film.  

“Each student must cast and direct his own scene,” Calhoun explained, “as well as plan a list of camera shots.” Once all scenes have been rehearsed and filmed using the iMovie app, the students will work on editing, learning how to splice the best takes into a seamless whole.  

Junior Jacob Fisher of LaGrange enjoyed working with the “open” scripts. The set of lines can be interpreted in many ways. “It’s interesting to see how different people can play with the same lines, and how each director gives the scene context,” he said.  

A major challenge is continuity. Mrs. Calhoun noted, “They have to be sure that if the coffee mug is on the left side in the opening shot, it’s not on the right side in the next shot. For each scene, objects and lighting must match the previous scene so it all flows in the finished film.” Once the project is complete, plans are underway to showcase the student works on Parrott’s own fine arts YouTube channel.