In Conversation With: Alex Emerson

Alex Emerson is a 16 year-old sophomore at Phillips Andover Academy. He has a passion for producing films, many of which have received multiple awards, and one that has been recognized and commended by the President! Read below to see how Alex has channeled his passion of filmmaking and created projects that can change the world.

1. Please describe some of your achievements and projects you’ve been involved with regarding filmmaking.

I’ve recently produced a few films that have received national recognition. Most notable of these is Tomorrow’s Classroom, a film I produced during the summer before 8th grade. The three-minute film focuses on a project at Brookwood School that connected students there with students around the world in Rwanda, Uganda, and Brazil. The students were all working on designing an efficient cookstove for use in developing countries. I had spent much of the prior school year taking footage during classes and after school projects relating to the stove project. It ended up becoming an official selection at five different international film festivals, most notably the 2013 National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) in Seattle and last year’s White House Student Film Festival in Washington, DC. As one of just 16 films screened at the White House Film Festival out of a pool of over 2500 entries, both my film and the project it discussed were recognized by President Barack Obama in his opening remarks and is still online at the White House website. Also at the festival were Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and Neil deGrasse Tyson, both of whom watched all 16 videos screened at the festival. Suddenly, a little 8th grade science project was the subject of a lot of national press.

I think the best takeaway I’ve gained from these experiences is the power that films have to share stories. Tomorrow’s Classroom shared the story of Mr. Lehrer, the teacher who designed the program, and his ideal globalized classroom. To this extent, the film almost provides an argument for why schools should implement similar projects. It’s kinda like an argumentative essay. You’ve got to make your claims, then support them. But I think video has a bit of an advantage over essays (including the fact that they’re way more interesting). By compressing several weeks of a project and hundreds of hours of video into three concise minutes, the audience can feel connected to the story but at the same time want to know more.

2. What inspired you to begin filmmaking? How do feel your skills have developed over the years?

My cousins and I have always been avid movie fans, so over a weekend one summer we decided to try making one of our own. It ended up becoming a trilogy of films (all super embarrassing and sickening to watch because they were so shaky) but we were motivated to keep going. After the first few films, I was inspired by the medium’s power to share stories, so I just kept working on it until my skills improved. Like anything, it takes a lot of practice, but my skills have been constantly improving since then. I’ve gotten better at everything involved, as my camera skills improved, I upgraded to more advanced cameras and likewise, as my editing improved I upgraded to more professional editing software. There’s more to it than just that, obviously, but basically it’s not even close when you compare the films I’ve made over the past term with the films from 6th and 7th grade.

3. What advice can you give to high-school students about pursuing their passions?

The main suggestion I have for anyone pursuing their passion is just to keep going. You aren’t going to get anywhere if you get discouraged after a few failures. For every acceptance letter I get from a film festival, I have dozens more rejection letters. I don’t show anybody the films I made in elementary and middle school anymore because they’re pretty awful. But I used them to improve my skills and now I’m not embarrassed to screen my work. Also, it’s important to challenge yourself in order to improve, because otherwise you’ll stagnate and keep doing the same thing. But don’t push it too far either. If you’re getting stressed out about pursuing your passion, then something’s wrong. It’s not a passion if you don’t like to do it!

4. What are you hoping to produce in the future?

I’ve been keeping myself busy making films around Andover. I recently completed the “welcome” video that’s been sent out to the newly admitted students, and clubs around campus ask me and my friends to make them videos. So I have several more of those to do.

Aside from that, my main focus at the moment is on two things. The first is a short film I’m making for fun with one of my dorm mates which we’ll finish this spring. I’m also planning a trip to Uganda in summer 2016 to make a documentary about children’s education, which would focus on many of the schools I partnered with through Tomorrow’s Classroom. At this point, the project is still in the planning stages, so I’m trying to get support and raise money in order to make the film a success.

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