Meet Sunset Film | Sunset High School

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sunset Film and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sunset Film, what matters most to you?

The experiences. The moments. The memories.

Sunset Film was first opened in August 2018. Our motto is to keep the memories, savor the moments, and strive for the experiences. In life, what makes our life rich and full, are the memories from the moments we meet and interact with each other. People come and go, people meet and people part. But what remains are the memories that we once shared. That is why we do what we do. We attend many events at our Sunset High School, volunteer with our local community events such as the Water Lantern Festival, Dash for the beads, Challenge Air, Dia de los Muertos, etc… to record and edit the events highlights, one after another.

We want to promote our school spirit, our Bison pride, and to give back to our community. We hope our videos spark joys, that speak to many great things happening at our school, to encourage students to get involved and enjoy the high school experiences in any way possible. Years from now, we get older, but those highlights will always remain forever young, as once upon a time in high school.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Each year, Sunset Film has a new group of students. Things start all over again, but with different audiences; the instructions therefore are different to adapt to different personalities, different perspectives; which result in different projects as well. We get excited when we try new ideas, learn new skills, or attempt new projects. It is exciting, thrilling but also challenging. The challenge has always been constantly finding new ideas, challenging the newness, fighting the motivations, utilizing the resources and technologies, you name it. We are always going to have problems everywhere we go, whatever we do, that is just life, but it does not mean that it is not doable. Because, isn’t it when things are difficult, it is also memorable?  We work around what we have, do the best we can to make things work.

The best feeling is to see my students’ growth, and that they take pride in their works. We often screen students’ work in class. I wish you could have seen their faces beaming with joy and a subtle smile, when they feel proud of their works. It feels very good when my students are feeling good about themselves. It is a good feeling!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

We would like to dedicate our shoutout to our principal Ms. Vega. It all started from a media contest that she shared about, and we quickly gathered a group of students interested in the opportunity. It was around Homecoming time, and we made a video to promote school extracurricular activities. We started everything from scratch, organizing a quick workshop to go over how to use the camera, and how to edit. The students picked it up and dived right in. We made some good memories, lots of pictures and poses, and having had fun running around the school, meeting new people, interviewing, recording, and editing. Later on, I proposed the idea to open an elective film class and Ms. Vega has been very supportive of the proposal. It means so much, because it is the first Film class to open at Sunset. The first experience is always thrilling, exciting and nervous. Just like first love indeed. I was so cheesy and told the first Sunset Film class, school year 2018-2019 that “you are my first love in film.

Sunset Film would not be Sunset Film without my students. The dedication, the commitment, the hardworks, some good days and some bad days, they make Sunset Film memorable. The time we woke up extra early to volunteer at Challenge Air; our first short film in a staff restroom. The Made with love documentary series; when our first family and friends come to our showcase night, some joy, some tears. The freezing cold morning at Dash for the Beads, and we were singing on top of a fire truck, or riding in the back of a van around Oak Cliff. That one time we got to get on the helicopter to record and the battery just died. Our first Christmas music video, the student-led musical project, that fall festival fundraising that we barely made any profit. The first music video on Zoom during the pandemic, first time for some of us to come out of our comfort zone and sing in front of others, our Halloween video transition makeup, the camera tricks using merely just our phones, so many memories you name it.

Some good days, some bad days. Some joys, some frustrations. Simply little things as our edit matched the beat of the music, the transition was right on, or the frustration when we kept losing our flash drive, the late night of Christmas music video, definitely starving till the pizza came to save the night. Or days we completely do not feel like doing anything at all. Not everyday is good, but there is something good in every day. Our Sunset Film crew has made Sunset Film special for who they are, and for what they do in this class. For both good and bad memories, I cherish those memories made and shared through the time.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunset_film/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/sunsetfilm

Image Credits
Sunset Film Crew