Wantagh High School freshmen Sarah Garbowski, Dylan Loveland and Emily Williams are familiar with the work that is needed to put on a show. But for an assignment in their Advanced Dramatics class, the forum switched from the stage to a screen.

The trio worked together to create a short video for the “Passion Pitch: Imagining Your Future Selves” STEAM challenge sponsored by Meridian Stories. Their 90-second movie trailer, “Rise to Fame,” received a third-place award in the competition. 

Before creating the video, students had to pick two prompts. For career, the group picked social media influencer and for plot twist, the selection was mystery box. Sarah, Dylan and Emily then came up with a story and script, and their movie trailed centered on three social media influencers who received a series of mystery packages with cryptic messages. 

The students worked on their script in their drama class with Dr. Kim Davis, but did the filming and editing at home. They used a video editing app, CapCut. Dylan did voice over for the movie trailer. 

“I liked getting to show our creativity through the story,” Dylan said, “and we worked really well as a team.”

“The creative freedom helped us be more imaginative,” Emily added. 

Emily, who is used to performing on stage in the middle school and high school shows, said this was a great way to try a different type of acting. Sarah, who has been a member of the stage crew at school, enjoyed being on the other side and said the experience helped build her confidence.

In receiving their award, students received critiques from three judges. Sarah, Dylan and Emily said they appreciated the unique feedback from each judge and those perspectives will be beneficial for future projects.