Eastview
student wins national media award
By Heather J. Carlson
Sun Newspapers
(Created 11/14/02 9:08:53 AM)
By age 7, Jake Kindberg had already directed his first film:
a staging of Romeo and Juliet starring himself
and his sister.
If we came up with an idea, we
would make a movie of it and show our parents, he said.
Nine years later, the Eastview High School
junior is still making movies. His audience, however, has
grown considerably.
Jakes short film, Inside
Us All, recently won the Excellence in Media Production
award from the Association for Educational Communications
and Technology (AECT). More than 400 students from around
the world submitted entries to the film competition.
Jake traveled to AECTs International
Student Media Festival in Dallas, Texas Nov. 14 to accept
his award.
Whats more, Inside Us All
made its national debut at the festival.
Tyler Krebs, Jakes multimedia teacher,
said Jake has a talent for video production.
You get a lot of students that
come through the class that may have an idea of what they
want to do, but they are not able to do it with the camera
and editing, Krebs said. Jake is pretty talented
at his age, being able to set up shots with the camera and
edit.
This budding director, Krebs added, also
has a very mature understanding at his age of how to
create characters and how to develop the story.
Although Jake said he strives to make
his films entertaining, that isnt the main goal of his
work. Rather, it is to create Christian movies that appeal
to secular audiences.
Every film I make I want to bring
glory to God, he said. I want to make movies for
non-Christians to bring people to Christ.
For instance, Inside Us All
is based off a friends real-life struggle with depression.
At a Christian retreat, Jake said his friend shared that he
had decided to commit suicide after battling depression and
drug addiction for two years. But at the last moment, his
friend found God and decided to live.
Jakes 13-minute film features a
teenage boy writing a suicide note to his mother explaining
why he has given up hope. But as the boy prepares to kill
himself, a friend who recently became a Christian shares his
story with the boy, convincing him not to commit suicide.
Jake has already written the script for
his second short film.
The story centers on a convicted murderer
seeking parole who is confronted by the brother of the victim.
Jake said the film grapples with the
moral complexities surrounding revenge and forgiveness.
One day, Jake said, he hopes to become
an innovative Christian filmmaker who produces quality, entertaining
films that reach people from a variety of backgrounds.
I think that the film industry
has the biggest influence on people, he said.
His favorite directors include M. Night
Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg
Jake plans to spend his final two years
of high school making more films He hopes to write and direct
his first feature-length film this summer.
He is also a member of Lakevilles
Valley Lutheran Church.
After graduation, Jake wants to attend
Abilene Christian University in Texas just to start
off right and make my faith as strong as it can be before
heading to Hollywood.
He adds, There will always be a
Christian message behind all my movies.
|