1973 Sammamish High School Graduation Film

1973 Sammamish High School Graduation Film

– Color, 3 minutes, 16mm, Silent - 1973

<- Click image to see a crude VHS transfer of the film - In Real Player Format

In 1971, I started working with a local filmmaker who was producing short clay animated films. During my senior year at Sammamish High School, I was asked by the graduation committee how much it would cost to make a short film showing all of the 300+ students. I quoted them $200 which I think shocked them at the time. I told them that I would use the then trendy film craze of showing rapid flashing pictures that stayed on the screen for ź of a second of each student and then use time-lapse photography to show 2 hours in the lunchroom at lunchtime, in 30 seconds. I also suggested that I could do similar time-lapse of other aspects of school (buses arriving in the morning and dropping off the students, all day at the main hallway corridor, buses loading with kids at the end of the day) and inter cut these time-lapse shots with the flashing student head shots. They liked the idea and gave me a budget of $150 which would just cover the film and processing. When the film was completed, it was projected before the start of the graduation ceremony at the Seattle Opera House to a standing room only crowd. There was an original musical accompaniment composed and played on a synthesizer by one of the other graduation students (After almost 30 years, I cannot seem to remember his name….)