On Friday, January 20th, the red carpet was rolled out for AITE’s first-ever film premiere. The students celebrated the end of the semester of their class, Authors Of The Eye: Film Theory and Analysis, taught by English teacher Alyssa Domini. Their final assignment was to create a short film using what they had learned throughout the course. The one and only criterion for the movie was that they had to use the film technique of foreshadowing, which is the method of hinting at or indicating a future event.

 At the start of each film, the student creator came up and introduced themselves, their film name, and a general outline. “Orange” by Liam Ferguson, “The Haunted Train Station” by Bianca Morales, “Murder at AITE” by Zoe Smith, “Karma” by Ava Lesser, and “Losing Yourselves” by Isabella Vasquez were some of the films that premiered. After analyzing each film, the students gave each other feedback and constructive criticism on film concepts like script writing, sound, camera movement, and acting. The students faced challenges during the production of their films and they had to overcome them, just like any other director would.

This unique class was created by Domini this year after she was inspired by her brother who is a grip in the film industry. A grip is a movie technician who operates the set. Domini said she often critiques films with her brother and thought it would be an intriguing class for students. When giving students advice on the filming process, she said, “sometimes you have to work with what you get.”

Zoe Smith, a junior, produced a film about a murder that happens at AITE. There are many suspects and a teacher is trying to get to the bottom of it. Zoe worked for a week to create her 8-minute film called “Murder at AITE.” She says that she would definitely recommend this class to other students. Sophomore Liam Ferguson’s production was called “Orange ” and featured a mother’s dating scene gone wrong. Ferguson described his production process and some challenges he faced along the way, mainly when working with actors. “The cast kept laughing while we were trying to film,” he said. Regarding the class, he said, “I would recommend it, this class is really fun.”

Authors of the Eye is a half-year English elective course that focuses on film theory and cinematography. Each week students focus on a different aspect of film and cinematography and watch a movie or TV show while paying specific attention to that concept. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are eligible to take this class. If you are a movie buff or simply want to watch more movies, then this is the class for you!