ORWELL — It began with a small contest and ended with an Oscar Academy Award. Well, not literally. Although, for Grand Valley High School juniors Chris Cedar and Mitchell Preske and their multimedia teacher Kris Doran, their prize is close enough. Cedar and Preske, who are in the first-year multimedia class at Grand Valley, have gained the experiences of being anchors, editors, directors and reporters through their morning news program, GVTV. Every morning GVTV keeps students and teachers updated with daily events happening around the high school. The skills obtained through working with GVTV assisted Cedar and Preske in creating a film that led them to state recognition.
It all started when Brad Dawson, Grand Valley High School’s computer teacher, discovered a video contest that he thought some of the multimedia students would be interested in entering. Dawson let Doran know about it, and Doran presented the idea to the class. Cedar and Preske decided to step up to the plate and take on the contest even though they had to work in a time crunch.
“This entire video was done at the last minute,” said Cedar. “We found out about the contest a couple days before the deadline. It took a total of around nine hours.”
Cedar and Preske based their project on knowledge they already learned in Doran’s class.
“The video is called ‘The Camera and You.’ The purpose was to demonstrate the proper way to operate a high tech video camera,” said Cedar.
Preske also said that they taught viewers how to use different camera angles. The video was entered into the category “Demonstrate a Concept.”
Maybe one reason the film was so successful is that Cedar and Preske made running a video camera seem effortless. With the help of two friends, the project was easily started without having to spend too much time memorizing scripts.
“Micky Krenek and Logan Nye were the stars of the video. They are just phenomenal actors and are comfortable in front of the camera,” added Cedar. Nye acted as an instructor showing his student, Krenek, how to operate a video camera.
“It was fun to be in Mitchell and Chris’s video,” said Nye. “They came to Michael (Micky) and me the day before asking if we’d do them a favor and help them make a good video. We did the acting in only about two hours, but Mitch and Chris worked into late that night editing the video. In the end the video looked great. They deserved the award.”
When they first entered the contest, Cedar and Preske did not intend to go state bound. “The first award we won was the regional award. We competed against schools from all over northeast Ohio,” said Cedar.
The announcement that the boys had won the award came somewhat unexpected during the school day. “Our high school principal surprised us over the PA system saying that we had won and would be going to the next level, state,” said Cedar.
The next step in Cedar and Preske’s journey of success led them to an Ohio technology conference in Columbus where the state award winners were announced. On Feb. 4 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the eTech Ohio Student Video Contest results were revealed. Cedar and Preske were declared the champions in the “Sharing Expertise by Demonstrating a Concept” category. They were presented a Video of the Year for grades nine to 12 trophy.
When Cedar and Preske returned to school with the news of their accomplishment, the Grand Valley Local School District was thrilled for them.
“I think it is really cool that Chris and Mitchell won. It is the first year we have had the multimedia class and they have already won an award for it,” said senior Barbara Smith.
Just like real movie releases, everyone who wishes to view “The Camera and You” will have to wait in anticipation a little longer. The Grand Valley Local District Web site is being revamped, but when it is finished people should be able to locate Cedar and Preske’s award winning project on the site. The multimedia class is planning to have a GVTV section for people to check out what they have been working on.
“Our newscasts (GVTV) and other multimedia videos will be there for people to view,” said Cedar.
The next step in Cedar and Preske’s filming career: making a comedy movie. Everyone at GV would not be surprised if they see Cedar and Preske’s names in lights one day.
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