ASTI Students Produce Award-Winning Film

There are over eight billion people in the world, each one with a unique set of skills and attributes that make them an individual. Of these eight billion, most are average joes, like you and me, who spend their days wasting time and loitering around until we eventually get an unremarkable job, settle down, and crank out some babies. There are also the rare few, however, that are so extraordinarily talented that mediocre mikes like us cannot help but curse the heavens for our ordinariness. Two of these unbelievably talented young people are ASTI juniors Max Gurevich and Kalim McCoy, the creators of what might be the greatest short film to ever come out of ASTI. Max and Kalim are lifelong friends, and have wanted to make a short film together for as long as they can remember. Their original plan was to create a sci-fi movie set in a spaceship, which they were going to film on the USS Hornet, but this plan was derailed when they were informed of the fees. “Their rooms have all these dials and buttons and stuff. It looks pretty spacey. So we were like, okay, we go in there, key out the windows, make it look like we’re in space,” Max explained in detail. “Last minute, they were like, ‘$300 dollars please’.” Max and Kalim couldn’t pay this fee because they are both broke, so they were forced to pivot. In the end, the creative duo decided to create a story revolving around a man (played by Max) entering an ‘experience machine’, a VR-like simulator that extracts memories and thoughts to create surreal dream-like scenes for the user. Though designed for patients with PTSD, Max’s character tries to use it to relive memories of his deceased twin-brother, who tragically “couldn’t put down the bottle.” “We had a document where we broke down a bunch of different ideas for things that might look interesting. Over time, we wrote a story that fit around those pieces,” Kalim explained. “The point was to have fun, experiment, and push our skills to the limit of what we could do at the moment. We weren’t too worried about making something super polished.” Though the plot was unique and intriguing, the parts of the film that Max and Kalim were most proud of were the soundtrack and special effects- both of which the boys taught themselves to do. “I worked in Cubase, a music production software,” said Max, who created the music. “I waited for Kalim to give me scenes, then imagined what kind of music fit.” The music was paired beautifully with the visual effects, which Kalim created. “The VFX took forever,” he revealed. “This project had about 25 visual effects shots, by far the most I’ve ever worked on. Some were extremely complicated and computer-intensive. But it was fun. I used Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro and looked up tutorials when I needed specific techniques.” Not only was the film a glorious creation, it was also a blast for the boys to make. “It was really fun to film, and there are so many funny outtakes. More importantly, we learned a lot and created something that represents our technical abilities,” said Max in his inspirational closing statements. “I want to make more stuff,” added Kalim. “It was a really fun project, (and) we put out something pretty good.” The duo presented the short film as their final project for Mr. Long’s science seminar, for which the original assignment was to do something related to STEAM that you’re passionate about. Mr. Long was very impressed by the boys’ efforts. The Journalism club was also quite impressed by the film, and thus rewarded the boys with the highly prestigious “ASTI Phoenix Beautiful and Inspirational Film of the Century Award” for their creation. Though I am merely a reporter and therefore am supposed to remain objective, I cannot help but agree with Mr. Long and the Committee Members of the Journalism Club. As I sat on the cold, hard ground of Mr. Long’s room, minutes away from the start of Winter Break, taking in the grandeur of my classmates’ creativity, I was moved to tears by what I was absorbing into my sensitive eyes and ears. Though much of the plot was lost on me, I laughed and I cried as I listened to the heavenly music and gawked at the mind-boggling special effects. I then reflected on all the time I had wasted playing games like Super Auto Pets and eating Taco Bell while Max and Kalim were using their brains and making something long-lasting that they could be proud of. But this time, instead of cursing the Gods for my idiocy, I felt a warm feeling rising up inside of me, a feeling that suggested I was ready to finally step away from a life of sloth and begin taking advantage of the world’s many resources. Of course, nothing came of this temporary feeling, and I quickly returned to my time-wasting, but it was nice to feel like Max and Kalim and the thousands of people like them, who I simultaneously admire and despise, even if it was only for a moment.