Major Seven

Here at CAPA, every major is given resources and creative liberty so the students can make the most of their time here. These students took it upon themselves to create their horror short film with other students!

Adedoyin Badmus is an 11th-grade MDTV major and Wyatt Wynne and Estella Salera-Okdeh are 10th-grade MDTV majors making the horror short film “Major Seven”. It is a slasher horror film filled with twists and passionate actors!

I was allowed to go in to take pictures of their recording process and I was mesmerized by everyone’s dedication and also how calm it was on set. The directors talked about what scene to shoot that day while the actors mingled among themselves before getting started. I had never actually been in the MDTV room before so I had the chance to admire the scenery and also all the equipment I didn’t know was open for the students to use. I was surrounded by cameras, microphones, and even movie props. I felt like I was on the set of an actual movie with how serious everything was when the recording started. The next day I sat down to interview all the directors about Major Seven.

“So, what started this film? What made you all wanna, y’know work together to make a short film?” I asked and Doyin was the first to answer

“I had a pre-college program that I was applying to and I know that Wyatt is a really good filmmaker so I DM’d him asking if he had any ideas” Wyatt then came in to talk about how Estella and him got involved.

“Me and Estella were already planning on making a film so Doyin asking me just added on to it and made it possible” 

“Was your plan always a slasher film or was that the idea you all came up with together?” I asked.

“A slasher film was always mine and Estella’s plan and Doyin was on board with it so we just decided that’s what was best.” Wyatt clarified before Doyin came in 

“I just knew I wanted someone from every major to participate in it and one of them would be the killer” This then led me to ask what made them pick the actors that they did.

“Well you said you wanted someone from every major so how did you narrow it down?”

“Well all the actors are friends of ours so we knew how well they could act and if they would dedicate themselves to our project,” Wyatt said and began to list the actors who were Asha Lipman, Maxwell Henderson, Niema Anderson, Juniper Curtius, and Caia Farrell. Wyatt said that his goal was to have unique characters with intriguing personalities and these were the actors who they believed would best convey that. 

This piqued my interest so I asked what kinds of media were their inspiration which is when Estella came in to say her part.

“When Wyatt told me to develop character traits I definitely took a lot of inspiration from Clue” and went on to talk about how other murder mysteries and slasher films were their main inspiration for certain scenes and characters.

 I also asked specific questions about their roles in the film, as Wyatt and Doyin are both directors and actors while Estella does the camera work.

“Estella mainly films and me and him are going to be the ones to edit it. But when Estella isn’t here on set we take over with the recording”

The whole interview was very inspiring and educational a topic I didn’t know much about. All the directors went into detail about their roles, the process of developing characters, creating a friendly atmosphere, and also what this film means to them and everyone involved.

“This film is to help everyone involved, so people have things to put in their portfolio if they want to be like, a director, an actress, or a scriptwriter, we again just want people in every major to be involved”

In the end, I asked the final question of what they want to say to students who want to do something similar to this but don't know where to begin.

“If people want a space where they can make short films or just collaborate with other CAPA students I want to be able to make that space for them” Doyin went on to explain how he wishes people would step out of their comfort zone at school and just collab with other students.

“It's ok if a project fails because then you know what to do for your next one” Wyatt finished the interview off with this line and it really set the tone of how much work and time they put into making this film something unique of their own.