Industrial has a Cobra who snaked his way into a two-time state champion in UIL film. Junior Isaiah Reyes won last year in traditional animation division III as a sophomore, and did it again this year in the same category with his new film, Fade to Black.
His film is a stop-motion, with everything made by hand or 3D printed materials. Fade to Black is about a kid who overcomes his fear of the dark, and figures out new ways to overcome it.
“What he sees isn’t scary, it’s just random figures in the house, because his fear of the dark is his fear of imagination. Since you can’t see anything in the dark, it’s just an illusion of the mind,” he explained. “As a kid I was always afraid of the dark, so I just base my projects off of whatever I’ve feared in the past. I try to tell stories about situations we all can relate to.”
Reyes said he made small, short stop-motion projects as a kid, and got back into it again five years ago, which pushed him to enter his work into UIL competition while in high school. Last year his film was about a character who overcomes his fear of anxiety by asking out a girl.
“So he fights his anxiety in his mind as a character,” he said.
Fade to Black is three minutes long, and Reyes said it took two to three months of work with the help of several other people in his class who helped him build sets and edit the script, not to mention he sacrificed his Christmas break to begin working on the film.
Senior Celestia Taylor served as a secondary manager for Reyes’ film, and UIL film sponsor Alicia Miller said she was like an assistant to keep others doing what they needed to do so Reyes could continue focusing on what he was working on.
“When I wasn’t there, if he needed something, Celestia made sure it was taken care of,” Miller said. “Isaiah needed the help of others and their resources because it was a bigger
see UIL FILM STATE CHAMP on page A11 project.”
Reyes said she was really good at knitting. “Not only that, she helped with the writing and costume design, and always had good points,” he said.
“She came with us to the film competition for state.”
Miller said she was there to facilitate the progress, and to make sure he always found his storyline. She found she was more like a supervisor rather than an influence.
Last year Reyes learned skills from a previous teacher about shooting a stop-motion film smoothly, so Miller noticed this year he really ran with the skills he collected. He also was able to use a new editing program and camera which takes pictures in the right fashion within the correct increments of time.
“This year, a lot of his stuff he did at home, the prep work was in the building but the shooting was off-campus,” she said. “It was all impressive to see. Isaiah branched out this year and engaged with others while making plans, and at state he talked to different groups who were participating.
Once we knew who was in the top six, he introduced himself to all of them.
“I could see he was not only inspiring people at this school and in this community, but at other schools too, inspiring kids across the state,” Miller said.
Reyes said this win could be the start of a whole new age of film at Industrial, because if he can do it, others can as well.
“It’s an inspiration to be an inspiration to others,” he said humbly. “I learned from last year to this year that I have to focus super-duper hard and not let up, because it’s going to get done eventually but you have to keep pushing it. So for the other people who want to do this, encourage and help other people with it.”
Reyes said next year he’d like to do another stop-motion, and keep ramping up his knowledge to maybe make himself a three-time champ. As for the future, he’s hoping to attend college with a good film program, and is already researching schools. The ultimate goal is to start an independent studio so he can make his own films and help others do the same. He wants to be able to branch out with live-action narratives as well.
Reyes has his own YouTube channel, Mrbartmcfergin, where others can watch what he’s produced so far.
