By Alan Johnson, Nick Hamburger, MS Staff Writers

The Middle School video production class has been making movies all year.

Corbin Doyle, Middle School and Upper School visual arts teacher, uses the Middle School class to strengthen the video production course.

"This is where the film program began. The film program in the Upper School is better because of these classes. It is a special, sacred class with a great energy," Mr. Doyle said.                                                                                                          photos by alexa kutler

In making the films, difficulty arises between organization and artistic freedom.

"The hardest thing is to have a cohesive merit and creative unit but at the same time have a tight reign on things," said Mr. Doyle. "If you’re not in the class the movies sometimes don’t make sense. One of the hardest things to do is to write then produce a strong narrative that tells a story with good pacing. That is always our goal."

Students have the independence to choose their own topics.

"Our class movie is about a guy that loses his bouncy ball and forms a riot to find it." eighth grader Ryan Klein said.

With freedom for topics, there are guidelines for subject matter. There is no cussing, violence, or R-rated material.

"When you get into Upper School, you push [the limit]," Mr. Doyle said. "Everything you see is going to be made by the class. The story, the directing, the editing, the music is all student done. I just lead them."

Many students take the class primarily to work with Mr. Doyle.

"Mr. Doyle is laid back and cool, and he lets us control the class," eighth grader Scott Byrne said.

Mr. Doyle became interested in movies during his teen years.

"At Jesuit, I wanted to make a movie instead of writing a paper about the Ten Commandments creation stories.

"Everyone liked it, so I’m pretty sure I didn’t write many papers in high school," Mr. Doyle said.

It was not until recently, that movies took precedence over his paintings.

"I kind of resisted it [movie making] for a long time, though. But about three years ago I decided to concentrate solely on movies," he said.

Mr. Doyle has a long list of favorite movies.

"It varies from time to time, but if I was on a desert island, right now, I would pick The Long Goodbye," Mr. Doyle said.