If Tyler Knell and Eric Louie don’t make it in their chosen field, they can always fall back on live performance. And if they mention they went to Point Loma High School., chances are good they’ll get a foot in the door. The school’s award-winning “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” theater program has garnered international news coverage as what may be the only program of its kind in the country “” students write, direct, design, choreograph and promote the school’s year-end musical. The program is in its 30th year.
But while Knell and Louie note their past participation in the program, their sights are set on professions in theater’s distant relative. And just as “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” has assumed a share of the spotlight, the two seniors hold their own. They recently won a regional student Emmy for “Laura Simon “” Making Her Mark,” their documentary film on a local legend. On May 16, their movie took an Innovative Video Education Award in the Most Inspirational category. And they’re in the running for a national student Emmy, which will be awarded later this month in Washington, D.C.
That’s a serious track record for two guys whose expertise reaches no farther than the school’s front door. Even so, Knell acknowledged the most important element in any successful visual portrayal is the story itself.
“A lot of it depends on your topic and whether your topic is in itself a good story that people will be interested in and something you can really share with an audience,” he said. “Up until this point, I hadn’t really found something that interested me. Then we met Laura Simon and that changed.”
The introductions took place last year on the heels of Simon’s birthday celebration, which performing visual arts teacher Larry Zeiger attended.
“He came back to school the next day and was just raving about her and the event and what an incredible person she is,” Knell said. “That piqued my interest right away. We planned that day to meet her and see if that would lend itself to a short film about her.”
Turns out there was enough material for about 18 documentaries. In the first place, Simon, of University City, is 100-years-old and lives independently. She touts her own formidable credentials in San Diego’s artistic and writing communities. And her feel for the humanities made it all the way to the gene pool “” her son Mayo is an award-winning New York screenwriter and playwright whose credits include “Marooned,” Gregory Peck’s 1969 film about three astronauts stranded in space.
For his part, Louie said that this film is “one of the biggest things I’ve done; it was a lot of work but a lot of fun.” That announcement comes on the heels of his “Lemon-Lime Love,” winning entry in last year’s school film festival amid some fairly innocuous beginnings.
“We had to incorporate the fence around the school somewhere into our film,” Louie said. “I joined together with one of the seniors last year, and we wrote a story together. It wasn’t anything too special.”
It was special enough to get him this far “” and now he’s a big name on campus. The administration has asked him and Knell to produce a film on the school’s advanced student placement program. And he helped create a presidential inauguration skit that’s part of this year’s “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” project. “I. See U. “” The Medical Musical,” which is based on a true story and features area physicians in several cameo roles, runs through June 3. Ticket information is available at (619) 223-3121.
Louie, 17, will major in film at San Francisco State University beginning in the fall. Knell, 18, will do the same at USC’s School of Cinema and Television. Both agreed that college can’t start soon enough “” it’s a big world out there and that translates to a litany of confounding choices.
“There’s so much I haven’t explored that it’s hard for me to determine what genre I’ll go into,” Knell said. “But this documentary excited me, and I consider that to be a good sign.”