On May 15, the second annual Verdugo Creative Technologies Consurtium (VCTC) Expo took place at Glendale Community College’s auditorium. The VCTC is a partner of Burbank and Glendale Unified School Districts and prepares high school students for careers in digital media and digital manufacturing.

In 2014, the Verdugo Creative Technologies Consortium kicked off a partnership with Clark Magnet High School as they were announced a grantee of $6 million. Over five years, the VCTC will form partnerships in order to help fund digital media programs in high schools and community colleges.

The auditorium doors opened at 5 p.m. to the public. As guests walked in, they were offered a brochure listing the schools who participated and all the films they were going to showcase. Inside the lobby, guests were also offered sandwiches and water.

Around 6:30, after the welcome was over, the film reel began to play. Seven different area schools participated in the expo on Sunday by sending their student works to be showcased at the event. A total of 17 films were shown by Clark Magnet High School, Glendale High School, Crescenta Valley High School, Burbank High School, Hoover High School, John Burroughs High School and Glendale Community College.

With the help of cinematography teacher Matt Stroup, Clark’s Cinematography 5-6 students worked on a capstone project in which students utilized their skills obtained throughout three years to produce a short film. This year, Suffer, the capstone movie, was about a schizophrenic and paranoid man who felt a murderer was following him.

]“It took a lot of effort to plan this event, effort not just from me, but from [senior] Argeen [Ghazarian], Mr. Stroup, and other GUSD officials who spent time on it,” said senior Monika Petrosyan, an event coordinator of the VCTC Film Expo. “The main goal of the expo, other than to have students showcase the films that they dedicated so much time and effort on, is to have students connect with some of our industry guests. These connections are what help students become successful in the film industry, which is something that I’m really glad I could be a part of.”

After an hour and a half of watching the film reel of different student works, industry guests talked to students and gave them feedback. These industry guests consisted of people working in the movie, film and TV industry. When guests came out of the auditorium, they had a chance to take pictures on the red carpet.

“Overall, I think the expo went very smoothly as it was very well-organized,” said Dianna Khudoyan, director of Suffer. “It’s really nice how these resources are provided to us at a young age. Talking to big industry guests helped me figure out my path.”