Are you ready for the best short film you’ll see this year?

Melanie Valdivieso’s theater class began working on Charlotte’s Web in January of 2020. Soon thereafter, COVID-19 halted production and rehearsals. Fast forward to March of this year, Melanie and her class was able to resume rehearsals! Even after more than a year of not rehearsing, the theater class was able to pick up right where they left off. This time though, the idea of turning it into a short film was born.

Filming began in May for two consecutive days at the SHS equestrian barn. Shout out to Betsy and Abby for allowing production to utilize the barn and arena! The days were long, but the students did a fantastic job acting out their parts over and over again for different camera angles. I can’t began to tell you how many times the word “cut” or “action” was used! After a couple days filming, the task of editing over seven hours of footage began!

Following the completion of the post production, the date of June 16th was picked to premiere the film schoolwide. Why June 16th? Because that was prom and the theme happened to be “A Night on the Red Carpet.” The stage was set! Students, staff, and friends piled into the decorated gym to watch the cast walk down the red carpet and view the film!

It was a hit and so much fun! We laughed, cried, cheered, and finished the film with a standing ovation. Everyone even received a custom playbill. The cast stayed around after the film for a bit and signed autographs for their hundreds of fans. Dr. Stewart even lined up to get his playbill signed for his office!

After 16 months of rehearsing, halting production, resuming production, filming, and editing, we’re so proud of our students and staff that made this special production happen. Enjoy the movie below!