His emotions are on lockdown as he focuses through the eye of the camera lens.

All that runs through his mind is the framing of shots and the plans he made with the actors beforehand. It isn’t until the shooting is finally done and the film starts coming together through editing that senior Matthew Guzman’s exhaustion and pride for his work hits him.

Guzman, who wants to be a director, created his first short film “Hearts Recollection” as a junior. He wrote and directed the film, gathering a few of his friends to act for it. Filming took an entire day, starting at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 12:10 a.m.

“It was the last shot,” Guzman said. “Then I hugged my actors, my friends and I thought, this is what I want to do throughout my life.”

Whenever Guzman starts making a short film, he always breaks it into three stages: Pre-production, production and post-production. He begins with brainstorming, choosing an idea to stick with, writing and revising the script and creating a shot list. For production, it’s an organized day with the actors to shoot scenes. And finally during post-production, that’s when he sits down and puts all the pieces together to complete the short film.

“Seeing everything I wrote down on a page from an idea I had, I don’t think I’ll ever experience it in anything else,” Guzman said. “I can look at what I’ve made and be proud of it, say, ‘I did that.’”

Generally, movies that Guzman finds are done well with cinematography, writing and directing have always inspired him. Visually and narratively, movies from all genres have inspired him to create in unique ways. Horror films like “The Thing,” Drama films like “Forrest Gump” and adventure films like his personal favorite, “Back to the Future,” all let him have new ideas on the movies he wants to make.

“The future is whatever you make it,” Guzman said, when talking about the lesson he learned from “Back to the Future.” “And you got to make it a good one. I always sort of live like that.”

In 2024, Guzman made a second short film called “Back-Rank.” The idea came from a prompt given to him by Chapman University as part of the application for their film program. He had to make a two-minute silent film about a hard decision. His film follows two people in a final chess tournament with contrasting playing styles.

“Honestly ‘Back-Rank’ was very rushed because of the time constraints,” Guzman said. “My favorite part of that was really just filming the last scene.”

The player with the black pieces has a humble playing style and prefers to take longer; in contrast, the player with the white pieces has a more egotistical and fast style. The white player ends up getting stumped on a move the black player made, running out of time and losing the match.

Movies are made to tell the world a message for Guzman, to show that everyone has a story. In his films, regardless of genre, he aims to spread a message that touches his viewers in a way that opens their eyes on a topic. He has made a total of five films so far.

For AP Psychology teacher Cerise Anderson, movies are a way for her to be entertained and enjoy life.

“It’s a time that you can just kind of relax,” Anderson said. “[You can] get unstressed, depending upon the movie. You can kind of escape, depending on what you like.”

The first movie Anderson saw in theaters was “E.T.” in 1982 when she was 9 years old, back when tickets only cost $3 each.

“Walking into the theater, I was extremely excited,” Anderson said. “As the movie developed, I went through many different emotions. Whether I laughed, cried or sat on the edge of my seat in suspense, I found myself rooting for E.T. to get home.”

Anderson enjoys watching dramas and movies like “The Breakfast Club” and “Dirty Dancing,” but her favorite kind of movie is horror.

“It might not have been the best decision for my father to let me watch ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ when I was 12,” Anderson said. “But because of that moment, he instilled in me a love for horror movies. It’s that shared experience that created the connection I have with him, and it’s why I love the genre today.”

Senior Miroslava Conflenti’s admiration for film started early on in her life as movies got her into storytelling, inspiring her to write her own tales.

“Every other weekend when I was 7, [my grandma and I] would go to the theater, and we would watch just whatever movie was available,” Conflenti said. “It was really fun. It was like our bonding moment.”

Conflenti’s top three favorite films include “The Book of Life,” “The Hunger Games” and “Como Caído Del Cielo,” which centers around Pedro Infante, an actor whom her grandfather grew up seeing the movies of.

“[My grandfather’s] favorite actress was named Miroslava,” Conflenti said. “He told my mom that should be my name. So for film, I use it as my stage name.”

Out of the top three in her list, “The Book of Life” has reigned supreme in her favorites since it came out in 2014.

“Seeing ‘The Book of Life’ with its iconic animation, with its iconic storytelling – which included Aztec and Greek mythology into one story – while also keeping Mexican tradition and culture, was something unheard of,” Conflenti said. “And that’s my culture being seen on a screen. It was something I could watch every day.”

Conflenti hopes to grow the Latin presence in Hollywood films as a director and writer, already having started her own short film website with a few of her friends. The website was made to help young aspiring filmmakers get the support needed to realize their movie-making dreams in the movie industry. The website is temporarily down for repairs, but the organization can still be found @B18fimprod.

“No matter what movie you’re watching, you’re gonna get a story,” Conflenti said. “You’re gonna feel connected if it’s a good movie, and you’re gonna remember that movie. That’s why so many people who are in film tell stories. It’s a great responsibility and power that comes with that, and it should be used seriously.”

Senior Soleiman Barrera-Kelly, an aspiring filmmaker, believes that as a storyteller he has a responsibility to choose what kind of story he wants to convey because of how the stories he tells impact viewers. He made his first short film in 2022, “El Aguila,” about two best friends who are high school seniors working hard on a project that could win them a scholarship to their dream university. However, a new girl comes to the school and becomes a distraction. The short film was later shown at a small film festival, Los Oscarsitos.

Los Oscarsitos branched out from a filmmaking workshop for young people given at Barrera-Kelly’s church by filmmaker Julius Bent who wanted to give back to his hometown. The festival took place in their church in June 2022, hosted by TV host and actress Salua Jackson.

“It was one of the most exciting moments of my life,” Barrera-Kelly said. “It felt like I was at the real Oscars; I didn’t believe I was there, even though it was so small.”

Since his first film in 2022, Barrera-Kelly has made two other films. He desires to make movies that blend genres, as he finds himself getting inspired by a broad variety of sources, he would like to express that through his art.

“I want my films to give people an experience of escape, and allow them to re-enter the world with a new perspective,” Barrera-Kelly said.

One movie in particular that Barrera-Kelly watched for his birthday in 2018 was “Black Panther,” which became his favorite movie because it portrayed Black culture in a way that is “rarely” shown in mainstream movies. According to Barrera-Kelly, it put Black people in the spotlight, allowing kids of color who watch the movie to feel represented and believe they can also be cool, creative heroes.

“I [have] always loved [movies], but I didn’t always want to make them,” Barrera-Kelly said. “I [thought] that was probably for really rich people that had a bunch of money. I didn’t realize how it worked. Eventually, after Los Oscarsitos, I realized I may go to college for this and study how to make movies.”

Barrera-Kelly wants to focus on directing, and after participating in four of his friend’s short films, he also wants to keep acting. He is a 3-year member of the theatre company Red Bird Productions, and his acting experience has shaped his understanding of how crucial it is for the actor and director to work together. As an actor, one of his favorite parts of the process is talking to the director while working on his characters as he can fuse his interpretation of the script with the director’s.

“I don’t want to sound corny,” Barrera-Kelly said. “But [movies are] basically life, because that’s my passion, and to me, they’re a way that I can understand myself and understand other people.”

In a poll of 400 students in Bellaire, around 73% of them feel deeply impacted by films, for a variety of reasons such as having meaningful messages, showing different perspectives and exploring new ideas.

“I guess in the context of people watching them and then being able to make people feel things,” Guzman said. “[Movies] can change minds. They can change generations.”

This story was originally published on Three Penny Press on January 29, 2025.