Many student dream of becoming famous someday. Some students think about going into the film industry, and other students go out there and make their dreams come true, like Michael Litman (9) and James Altschul (10), who went out and created their own silent film.

Altschul entered the silent film, “The Kid in the Front Row” on behalf of VH Media, into the first student silent film festival at the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington where the team won first place.

“The drive to get it done came out of our love of cinema and film-making. However, the idea of a silent film came from the contest,” said Altschul.
According to Altschul, the recording of the film was a bit difficult.

“It was a bit tough because we were filming in the Studio Theater at the same time that the musical was going on, so that was a bit of a conflict.”

He also said that despite the conflict, the filming of the film was still a lot of fun.

However, these students did not work on their own, as they did have some help from Sandy Martin, VHHS video technician.

“I just offered guidance in the process,” said Martin.

According to the director, the theme of the film is “Listen to your fans, not your critics.”

This is only the first work of Altschul, as he is also working on another student film to look out for.

“I’m currently working on a short film I wrote called, “The Fall of Justice Man,” that’s about this kind of vigilante hall monitor. It’ll hopefully be out in spring 2018.”

The film “The Kid in the Front Row” follows a simple premise. In the film, there is a failing magician who has lost all his fans except for one kid who sits in the front row. The magician goes into his dressing room and finds a bottle labeled “the magic juice.” At first, he does not take the magic juice, but when at his worst, he takes the magic juice, and it gives him powers.

This film had a very skilled cast and crew, with Altschul as director and writer; Litman as writer and actor; Sebastian Domenech (10) handling cinematography and special effects; and Martin, Erik Johnson (10), Nathan Jay (11) and Derek Shull (10) assisting.

If you are interested in watching the film, you can watch it for free on YouTube.