Spring Branch ISD Featured News

Two Guthrie Center students recently participated in the SkillsUSA District 8 Digital Cinema competition and received the Bronze award for their outstanding film, The Tripod.  

For the competition, Stratford High School seniors Callan Reimann and Callum Morrow were instructed to create a three to five-minute original film. This year's prompt was Unity and they were given one week to create a script, film and edit their piece. 

The film followed a group of filmmaking students making a movie for their class. In the film, the director is irrational and a bully, who berates his crew and blames the camera equipment for his failure. His camera crew is on the verge of abandoning him when his tripod comes to life and bullies him back. As the film progresses, the director learns to appreciate his crew and they unite to create a successful film. 

Horacio Rodriguez, the filmmaking teacher at the Guthrie Center, notes that this competition required the students to take a new approach to create a film. Callan and Callum had to learn to consolidate their shooting and editing schedule to maximize their time.

“Having a one-week turnaround made the creative process more exciting!” said Callan and Callum. “We learned to adapt to the short deadline.” 

Callan and Callum are part of Spring Branch ISD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communication program. Students can choose to pursue 3-D Animation, Commercial Photography, Design and Multimedia Arts, Filmmaking or Graphic Design. Students gain knowledge and skills through instruction, skills practice and hands-on exercises. 

CTE aims to provide challenging career pathways for all students to provide them with various skills to reach SBISD’s T-2-4 vision, where every graduate attains a technical certificate, military training or a two-year or four-year degree. 

The students competed against another team from the Guthrie Center and other teams from Spring ISD, Aldine ISD and Pasadena ISD. 

Rodriguez believes it is important for young filmmakers to “flex their creative muscle” as often and early as possible. 

“Our advanced filmmaking students are at the point of honing their craft and defining their style,” said Rodriguez. “Competitions like SkillsUSA expose their product to working professionals and provide them with beneficial feedback.” 

Learn more about Career and Technical Education programming in SBISD here.