By Breanna Shiflett

Many students at Tuscarora are getting ready to say “lights, camera, action!” as the Film Club begins its first major project — the creation of three short films.

The films, which are being created by three teams, vary widely in their topics and themes. While none of the short films have titles yet, this isn’t to say that the members of Film Club haven’t been hard at work on their projects. The club meets several times a week, and each member is heavily involved in the production of the short films whether they are an actor, director, or screenwriter.

Junior Sam Fabbioli, president of the club, has set off to make a deep film that contains a strong message — that of the repercussions of suicide. Fabbioli explains that the movie is about a young basketball player with a fairly average life — that is, until his home life starts to degrade and he eventually turns to suicide. “We wanted to explain how easy it can be for anyone to do it,” he explained. “It’s a very strong topic, and we’re trying to raise awareness.”

The second short film differs strongly from the first in tone. Even though it still talks about problems that affect high school students, it displays them through a parody of a reality TV show. Juniors Jonah Kight and Logan Clem co-wrote the story, which is similar to an episode of Skins, and have even started filming. Their group is the farthest along out of the three, and their hard work is starting to pay off. “It feels very natural,” said Clem. “I’m happy to be able to express my ideas, and I can’t do this without [the group].”

The genre changes again with the third and final short film, which is being written by Emmel El-Fiky and . The mystery movie revolves around a group of high school friends who suddenly start disappearing one by one after visiting a cemetery during a  field trip. The friends have to find out the correlation between the disappearances and what they were doing before they started. Although the script is still in development, the film promises to be a thrilling ride. “We hope we will get a reaction out of viewers,” said Dekeyser. “We hope it will make them feel something.”

While the films don’t have a specific projected completion date, the Film Club is trying to put together a Film Festival at which they will screen the movies. However, the Festival won’t just include these three short films — the club is accepting submissions from any filmmaker in the school so that students can come together and appreciate every student-made film Tuscarora has to offer. The submissions will not be judged, but they must be submitted by January 6th.