Many high school students spend their time watching movies.  In Haverford Township, several high school students have produced a movie that has been submitted to the International High School Screenwriting competition.  The movie ENGRAM, was written, shot, edited and produced entirely by high school students who also played the main parts in the film.  ENGRAM was written by Katie Youn and Nate Drew and is about the length someone would go to deny the loss of a loved one.  It was first written in January 2021 and produced for nearly the entirety of a year. ENGRAM is a product of Off The Script Films, a student-led organization dedicated to helping aspiring filmmakers get the resources they need to produce their own original projects. Production was partially funded by a grant from non-profit Kelly Music for Life, whose mission is to support local music, arts and community.

“I knew Nate wanted to do a science fiction film, so I tried to look for ways to incorporate science fiction elements with themes that showed the nature of humanity and the dependency on technology,” says Youn. “When we were first brainstorming ideas for a new project, we had just finished up our first short film, titled New Chapters. It was about overcoming grief; Nate and I decided that we wanted to explore the complete opposite theme.”

A debut screening of ENGRAM took place before a packed house at the Kelly Center in Havertown on December 22nd.  “The best way to describe the film is to entirely strip away the feeling of seeing a movie. It felt like visualizing literature,” said Giana Deskevich, one of the many attendees. The culmination of almost a year of work, Engram was created by students as an indirect result of boredom due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Off The Script Productions was first established in April of 2020 by Nate Drew and Katie Youn. Off The Script, since its founding, has worked on many different short films (New Chapters, The Con Artist, and Engram) in addition to offering a platform for filmmakers around the world to submit their own short films. Although not the first finished project by the company, Engram stands as the first film of such a scale by Off the Script Productions.

Joined by aspiring actress and producer Mikayla Pedano and future producer and artist Bella Monzo, the team was able to receive a $900 grant from the Kelly Center topping the film’s budget off at $3000. With a full cast and crew of almost 50 local students, production began in July of 2021 and continued until early September. Locations were extensive, ranging from the Haverford Township Free Library to Hickory Run state park in the Poconos. The students involved spent almost 150 hours shooting the film. 

In addition to this, the team was also able to build a full set inside the Haverford High School Auditorium with the support of the Haverford Filmmakers Club and Mr. Jeffrey Masino, an administrator at Haverford High. “It really was a rollercoaster,” said Drew. “One day we were climbing over giant rocks at Boulder Field and the next we were shooting on a brand new set within our own high school. It was a truly amazing experience and I couldn’t have asked for a more dedicated cast and crew.”

Following the conclusion of production for the film, editing, sound, music, and visual effects remained the only aspects left for the few months of post-production. Besides the obvious efforts made on this front by Youn, Drew, Pedano, and Monzo, other contributors to this process (all of which are students at Haverford High) included Henry Allen, who scored the film, and Owen Leiberman (in collaboration with Drew) who designed visual effects. Post-production was stressful and extensive, with all of those involved spending copious hours working on the film. 

The film is now streaming on YouTube and will be submitted to more film festivals in the new year, with hopes of winning a few awards.

For more information on Off The Script Films, visit http://www.offthescriptfilms.org.
To view ENGRAM, visit https://youtu.be/mIq_0cufHe8.