One may be surprised by the level of depth directors entwine into their movies, much of which goes unnoticed most of the time. Through its insightful yet relaxed discussions of such productions, film club welcomes students of all expertise who share an interest in watching and producing films. 

Film club was started by film and language arts teacher Brian Mahoney and meets every Thursday. Mahoney and his film students created the new club as a comfortable environment for students to watch and critique film techniques and themes alongside peers. Mahoney states that the club first began as a small idea by students in his film class and gained more interest as students from more grade levels expressed interest.

“I wanted to experience analyzing films in order to gauge my interest,” film student and club member Claire Song said. 

Students who are willing to try something new are ideal members of the club, according to co-president Lea Mezzanotte. 

“We hope to expand our horizons on the types of film we watch, and learn new ways to look at films by listening to the different perspectives of everyone else in the club,” Mezzanotte said. 

Co-president Meghna Vasiraju hopes that the process of analyzing film will be careful and inculcated gradually, in which members will focus on a single film or clip every couple weeks. Each month will have a theme so students can learn to appreciate and analyze the different methods of delivery used in each genre of film. For the next couple months, students will watch Halloween-themed films. 

After watching the films, the club spends time creating discussion questions unique to each film in order to bring attention to aspects such as cinematography, lighting, colors, dialogue, and editing among other things, which help to explore the message of each scene and the film overall.

“We want to engage in thoughtful discussions while keeping it light-hearted and enjoyable. For each discussion we have, we will create a list of guiding questions to help facilitate the analysis of certain scenes and introduce topics for discussion. These questions will be general so that the group is able to come up with their own ideas and discussion topics based on things that they noticed during the film,” Vasiraju said. 

The club is also a place for young directors to display any of their own film work on a relaxed yet constructive platform, which Mahoney hopes will help students build their confidence and overall skill levels, traits students can implement in their day to day lives. 

“One thing we would like to do is showcase some student-made films. This would be a good opportunity for our club members to receive feedback on their work and see how others perceive and notice the more subtle things they add. Also, having the maker of the film there can allow us to explore and learn more about the process of filmmaking and what exactly goes into making and editing a movie. It would be a fun way to acknowledge the hard work that our peers put into making their own films,” Vasiraju said. 

With more students, Mahoney hopes that the club will eventually be able to attend the Boston Film Festival and film conventions at NYU. 

“I want students to kind of be watching with an awareness when we’re in the club that the film might be saying something about society, or that the techniques involved are complex, appreciate it as an art form, and also take away something useful at the end of the day,” Mahoney said.