“And cut,” the director said to the cameraman in the process of making their short film about two serial killers that fall in love. Seniors Nick Smetzer, Andrew Gonzales and Sarah Leiby competed in the North Texas Film Festival and won student choice awards for their film “Heart Stopper.”

Smetzer, Gonzales and Leiby hired professional actors. Smetzer was director and writer, Leiby was producer and Gonzales was the cameraman.

“[The apartment owners] said they were going to let us use [a model apartment], but on our way there we had about an hour before the actors showed up, and they said, actually no we can’t let you use this place,” Smetzer said. “I had to go in there and talk to them for 30 minutes to convince them. The entire time I was [thinking] there will not be a movie.”

Leiby said shooting with real actors brought out their best as far as scheduling, especially with working with professionals (ages 34 and 26) on time frames.

“It is typical because a lot of time we would find ourselves behind schedule, but because we had scheduled two shoot dates and were working with professional actors, we were like, we should probably stay on schedule to get things done,” Leiby said. “We actually managed to get it done on time.”

The students said they recalled a toddler interrupting the film several times, as well as Christmas music blasting at the restaurant that they had to work their way around. At the awards ceremony their names were not announced for the film category. Instead they were announced in a different category altogether and were the last to be announced.

“We were all pretty nervous. The way [the award announcers] do it is they have the student choice award as the very last thing, and the film section right before that,” Gonzales said. “We were expecting to be in the film category, but they didn’t call us for the nominations. We were freaking out because were we not even good enough to get that.”

Smetzer said he got his start in writing stories and he got the idea for his film from thinking of the serial killer’s perspective. He said people liking his work is a step out from his comfort zone and hopes to pursue writing in college.

“I have always been more inclined to storytelling in general,” Smetzer said. “I always wanted to entertain with stories that I have in mundane everyday life. So any chance I have something to do in that vein I just enjoy doing and it doesn’t feel like work. I feel [too, that] college is a gateway to experiences rather than just studies in this modern information age.”

Leiby said she hopes to go into making soundtracks for movies in order to pursue both her film and music interests.

“Back to when I was really young, maybe 12 years old, I have always been into making movies with my camera and making my friends act for me,” Leiby said. “But it wasn’t until high school that I thought of pursuing it as an actual career. It is just one of those things that I am interested in.”

Andrew got his start in editing YouTube videos and said taking classes at the high school has inspired his interest in film

“I used to edit a bunch of videos, so I would find YouTube videos and put them to angsty music,” Gonzales said. “It was really fun and I just wanted to learn more about that, so that is what started me in classes, but then I learned that hey, I actually like filming as well.”

The three student choice award winners are now in the finals for the UIL film category.

A helper on their soundtrack, senior Olivia Nevels, won first place for her movie trailer “For the First Time.”

“It took a lot of hard work,” Nevels said. “We started the production phase which is where we [found] locations and actors and a script. [When] we decided to make a film, we got a bunch of people from all over Texas to help us and made new connections.”

Her own story was about a guy remembering his previous experiences, and she commented  on how she feels like what the main character experiences in the film have become her own experiences in many ways.

“I know I could never do them in real life because I would get in trouble, but in film, that is the way I am able to do that and still be a part of that experience even if I didn’t get to do it when I was a teenager,” Nevels said.

Heart Stopper- North Texas Film Festival

For the First Time-North Texas Film Festival