On December 21, 2020, the 8th grade English classes held the second annual BEDDS Film Festival in the school auditorium. The BEDDS Film Festival is a way for 8th grade to watch and enjoy the best English PBA from each class. For 8th grade’s English PBA, students joined into groups to adapt a dystopian short story into a movie trailer, which will be counted as their PBA score.

After all the trailers were turned in, each class watched the trailers that their class made. The students voted for two of their favorite trailers, and the winner would then represent their class in the BEDDS Film Festival. There were nine awards for the finalists up for grabs. The awards being: Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. When the winner was announced, the group came on stage to receive a trophy, and their trailer was played for the audience. After that, some students chose to give a brief speech.

The first award was the Best Makeup & Hairstyling award. Makeup refers to any change in the appearance of a performer’s face, head, or body created by the application of cosmetics, three-dimensional materials, prosthetic appliances, or facial hair applied directly to the performer’s head, face, or body. Hairstyling refers to any change in the appearance of a performer through hairstyling, wigs, or hairpieces applied directly to the performer. The award went to “Examination Day” by Jaden, Bryan, Carrie, Ruogu, and Min & “The Lottery” by Tristan, Freya H, Kate, Anna, and Calvin.

The second award given was the Best Costume Design, which refers to the communication of the character’s personality to the audience, and helps actors transform into new and believable people on screen. This award went to “Harrison Bergeron” by Joy Yu, Yiwi, Isabella, Fate, and Kevin Luo for A-Block. The B-Block winner was another “Harrison Bergeron” trailer by Amber, Emily, Joany, Joy, and Vanessa.

The Best Production Design award went to the group that best created an environment with a refined aesthetic enabling the story of the film to be told to the greatest effect. In A-Block, Sophia, Priscilla, Alina, and Sisi won with “Examination Day”. In B-Block, Wynn, Jessica, and Ruth won with “The Lottery”.

The next award was Best Film Editing. This award refers to the configuration of relationships of time and space among scenes in a film that can synthesize, engage in a collision, reconcile, or transgress connections through the complex interplay of the arrangement of scenes. This was awarded to “Harrison Bergeron” by Isa, Kyle, and Daniel & “The Lottery” by Jasmine, Cindy, Chloe, and Jenny.

The Best Sound Mixing refers to the blending of levels and tonality of sounds. These include dialogue, sound effects, and music. Eugene, Nicole, Benjamin, and Lilian won with “The Lottery” while Angelina, Sabrina, Chris, Yuming, and Colin won with “The Lottery”.

The groups that have achieved accuracy and photorealism; pure, artistic expression; success in storytelling received the Best Visual Effects award.” The award went to Cana, Jason Yang, Ethan, and Katherine for their “All Summer in A Day” and James, Tim, Christine, and Angela for their “The Lottery”.

Next, the Best Adapted Screenplay award was presented. This went to “The Lottery” by Edward, Flora, Daniel Zhu, and Rhema. This also went to “Harrison Bergeron” by Yu An, Linda, Tiger, and Shirley. This went to “The Lottery” by Edward, Flora, Daniel Zhu, and Rhema. This also went to “Harrison Bergeron” by Yu An, Linda, Tiger, and Shirley.

The Best Director award was given to the team in the best direction and over-all roundness. This went to Felix, Coco, Angelina, and Rachel for their “Marionettes, Inc.” For A-Block, the award went to Camilla, Carol, Cecilia, and Evelyn for their trailer of “Red Card”.

The Best Picture category winner went to Elaine, Katrina, Amber, and Josh for their trailer “Examination Day”.

In Summary, the BEDDS Film Festival was a great opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of class material, dystopian elements, creativity, teamwork, filming, and acting skills!

Group A

Group B

(Written by 8(12) Lucas Supervised by Mr. Patrick Mu Pictures by Photography Group: 8(7) Coco, Jasmine, Mimi, Rhema, Mr. Key, Mr. Shen)