2022 Mosaic Mobile Winners Learn Valuable Lessons While Creating Their Short Film
Innovation Central High School students Laylah Addison and Ja’Mira Roberts-Butler found inspiration in a ravioli commercial as they set out to create their winning Mosaic Mobile short film, “A little GREATNESS goes a long way.”The 2-minute film, shot and edited completely on mobile devices, shows the passing of a string that grows longer with each hand-off. The string represents how each person is connected and that by working together, people can make an impact.
“We wanted to show people coming together and spreading kind words,” said Laylah. “After seeing the competition requirements, we then thought of the ravioli commercial that featured a can rolling through town, but for our film, we used a ball of string.”Laylah and Ja’Mira spoke to nearly 400 West Michigan students as they accepted their $1,000 first-place prize at the 2022 Mosaic Film Experience Event on November 3, 2022. The event was held at Celebration Cinema Studio Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.The Innovation Central seniors shared how the process of planning and producing their short film has helped them grow as storytellers and encouraged them to learn and apply real-world digital media skills.
“We enjoyed the whole process of recording the film,” said Ja’Mira. “It was fun to get some of our classmates involved and see how our initial idea turned out.”When Laylah and Ja’Mira found out they had won first place, they were surprised but very proud, saying it almost didn’t feel real. Both students agree that participating in the Mosaic Mobile film competition helped them grow as storytellers.“It was hard to see the vision at first, but once it was all together, we knew we had a good film,” said Ja’Mira.Despite the challenges, the process of creating a short film on a mobile device taught Laylah and Ja’Mira that even with little supplies and a simple iPhone camera, they could share their unique stories.
“The most challenging part was picking an idea and sticking with it,” said Laylah. “However, our film turned out even better than we planned. This experience will encourage us to create other short films or just try at everything we do for the rest of our lives because we never know how good something could turn out.”