Ferris Bueller's Day Off

I remember my orientation for grade nine at my high school, Sir Winston Churchill. I went into the room of Mr. Nickel, the business/tech/English teacher, and was told about the classes he offered. In his introduction, he mentioned the infamous "film club" that he ran, and how the students produced their own version of a feature film. I was immediately enthralled, knowing I had to be a part of something like that. When I came into school for my first day in grade nine, I had Mr. Nickel as my teacher for English, which was the start of my love for film. I had taken part of Film Club that year after talking to him in class every week, asking when they were going to start the remake of "Mean Girls". When the COVID-19 lockdown hit, the production had to halt reluctantly, and I was so disappointed. Being on a set, even for something seemingly small, was my dream. I held the camera, set up props, and held scripts for actors; it was amazing. During COVID, I had done small projects for various classes, one being Mr. Nickel's Media Studies class, where we learned about the basics of media theory. When grade 11 rolled around, I was ready to be in film club again, and this year was the remake of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind". Filming started, but quickly stopped due to feasibility, reluctant directors, and continuous Covid restrictions. Those few weeks I got to see production back in action were amazing, and solidified my reason to do this forever. At the end of grade 11, Mr. Nickel came up to me and mylong-timee friend Ryan and asked us both, "Hey, you guys should co-direct next year's movie. Start thinking of ideas." I remember feeling like I had made it, and thus started the planning. Ryan, Mr. Nickel had worked all summer coming up with ideas, settling on "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" at the end of July. We were thrilled to be doing a fun, retro movie with characters we could imagine casting. Coming into the school year, we recruited the rest of our main team: Ben, Misbah, Maya, Abi, and Gage. The plan was in place, and now starts all of our pre-production work. Casting, Scheduling, Storyboarding, More Casting, More Scheduling. The amount of planning that went into this movie was intense, fighting every logistical nightmare. By October, we were ready to start filming our first scenes. The way the film club ran was every Friday after school is it, we had all night to do everything we needed, and we picked up again next Friday. We were pedal to the metal every week, beating the daylight as winter started, fighting snow in shots that are supposed to look like summer, and working with actors who had never acted before. It was the most stressful I had ever felt, but also the most rewarding.

My role in the movie was Director, but that title was very loose, as we all did everything. Some days I did show running, some days were directing, some days was editor. Since our team was small, about 25 students, we had to work with what we had, which was not often very much. We had basically no budget, no real studios, and a few Canon T7i cameras with fluffy mics. The sky was not our limit, but we knew we could do exactly what we wanted with our limited resources.s, Some shots were modified, such as the float at the end of the movie and the convertible. I remember so many memorable scenes filming with the crew; filming in the middle of intersections, speeding the car down a back road, and walking around Clifton Hill.

I learned a lot of first-hand experience of the true dedication it takes to create something special. Our film took a total of 9 months and was completed at the beginning of June 2023, right before our 15 seniors graduated. Our team came from different friend groups, ethnicities, and economic statuses, but we worked together better than any group I have ever seen.

The scene I included in the movie was one that I was really proud of at the time. I was directing this scene while also playing the taxi driver for the trio. This shoot day was one of the most stressful; it started to rain, we had to get out at an intersection to get the shot, and above all else, our camera could not stay charged. Even though this scene is nowhere near perfect, I still think it shows the essence of the dynamic of our amazing actors, Charlie Engel, Athen Toth, and Anthony Samokin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OqFc1ZLh8

Photo Credits go to the amazing film club team, including myself, Ryan Keyes, and Ben Julian.