On Wednesday, April 4th, a group of Nashoba Journalism and Video students made their way to Millis High School to attend the annual Lights Camera Action conference for the second time. This conference has been held at Millis High School since 2005, and is an almost entirely student-run event and is also affiliated with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Students were immediately greeted by organizers upon arrival. After partaking in complimentary treats, students were escorted to the auditorium where they were briefed on the activities of the day and viewed a number of creative student-made films that set the energetic tone for the day.

After the meeting, students attended a number of workshops, which ranged from improv, to meteorology broadcasting, to independent Indie film making, and a workshop with Boston City TV who produce sports broadcasts and live streams. The students learned about different aspects of the communications, film, and news fields from multiple different speakers from a wide range of backgrounds.

After an hour of engaging workshop activities, students attended an award ceremony.

Nashoba won big in the Long Form Fiction category, for Nashoba Video Students’ film,  Love Struck, created and edited by Will Andronico, Jack Diefenbach, and Ben Myers featuring several other Nashoba students.

Andronico told the Chieftain Press that, “I wasn’t expecting anything, I just thought it would be cool to be nominated because even that, [like the award presenter said], is a high bar to meet”.

Diefenbach followed up by stating, “Once we finished the film, I was just very confident and just how good it was compared to other things we’ve made; I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to competing”.

The first place winners will be automatically entered into the national competition. In regard to Nationals, the group is excited to have accomplished an achievement like this.

Nashoba junior, Nick Markham, also received an honorable mention in the Commercial category. This New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences receives the most entries in the country, making Markham’s achievement one of importance.

After the awards were announced, the conference hosted a FaceTime session with Mike Sale and Tommy Harkey. Mike Sale has worked as a film editor on many well known films, including Central Intelligence, Brides Maids, We Are The Millers. Sale is currently working on Skyscraper, a movie with Dwayne Johnson. Harkey is a Millis High School graduate and was introduced to Sale over a year ago. He is now currently working on Skyscraper with Sale, marking the second time the two have worked on a project together. The duo talked about what it takes to be successful in the film industry and what they did to reach their achievements.

The Lights Camera Action Millis High School conference has already announced that next year’s conference will take place on April 3rd, 2019. Mrs. Carter, the Video Production Teacher, is already gearing up her students to submit films and attend the event.

Congratulations to Will Andronico, Jack Diefenbach, and Nick Markham on their accomplishments. The National awards will be announced in October. The Chieftain Press will stay updated on the National results when they are released.