STATE QUALIFIERS PICTURED ABOVE: On the far left, is the Best Mayor” Documentary Production Team: Joseph Garcia, Alexa Leal, Miriam Armas, Madison Prather, Romana Perez, Caleb Morton, Jeffrey Vargas and Giovanni Mosqueda. NOT PICTURED: Aylin Casas and Aryana Reyes
Snakes animation video Ashley Trevino (middle)
“He Will Continue to Serve” Production Team (right): Alexa Leal, Miriam Armas, Alieha Rodriguez, Kaelyn Vega, Isaiah Leven, Joseph Garcia, NOT PICTURED: Valentina Ayala. Photoa by L Migura. FULL STORY INSIDE!
It’s official: Lytle High School is an AWARD-WINNING video production program. With hundreds of films to compete against each year, students have had ten documentaries place in the TOP SIX in the State UIL Young Filmmakers competition, since its inception in 2014. And, in February 2023 and 2024, Lytle won back-to-back UIL State Championship honors. Lytle filmmakers will compete at the UIL Young Filmmakers State Competition again on February 26 in Austin.
“On behalf of our Skull Studios Student Club and Digital Design Pathway, I am proud to share that three of our five film entries are going to the UIL Young Filmmakers State competition,” Andrew Oser said. “Lytle competes in the 1-3A Division, and from a pool of around 100 films per category, 2-3 rounds of judges have to score your film high enough to rank in the top six in Texas.”
The UIL Young Filmmakers State Film Festival is open to the public and FREE admission! Doors open 12:30pm, February 26, 2025 at Hogg Auditorium on the UT Austin campus, 2300 Whitis Avenue, Austin, Texas 78705.
Session 1: 1 PM – 3:15 PM Digital Animation & Documentary
Session 2: 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM Narrative & Traditional Animation
(Awards immediately follow.)
“Wish us luck in finishing on top again in 2025! We would love a three-peat!” Oser adds. “Thank you to everyone who assisted us with these projects, our campus and district administrators, and our high school teachers for working with students who needed time out of class to video and edit their projects. Creating these videos is very time consuming and having your support helps immensely.”
After state contest on February 26, the school will release the links to all of their videos so you can watch for yourselves and see the wonderful work students have produced. As Oser states, the judges’ comments below “will fill you with Pirate Pride to hear their praise for the films as well as for the subjects of our documentary films who are well-loved pillars in our Lytle, Texas community.”
Here is a little about the films and what the judges have said so far:
Best Mayor-A Documentary group film by Giovanni Mosqueda, Caleb Morton, Aylin Casas, Aryana Reyes, Joseph Garcia, Alexa Leal, Jeffrey Vargas, Romana Perez, Madison Prather, and Miriam Armas.
Excerpts from the judges’ comments:
Judge 1: What an inspiring story! Thank you for using your time and energy to tell us the story of Mayor Gonzalez. I find him a true inspiration…I even had to look up where exactly Lytle, Texas is so I could hope to visit one day. He is obviously a major part of the community and inspiring those around him. Thank you again for telling this story and I encourage you to keep telling more stories!
Judge 2: Congratulations on a great film at semifinals! The audio as well as framing of the Mayors interview was well done. Wonderful use of cutaway footage during the mayor’s interview. Wonderful messages he is conveying. Wonderful final words. What a great man. Wonderful documentary!
Judge 3: This video was very well done. The story line was well structured from beginning to end. I really like the camera angles changing positions as the main interview took place and the audio. The camera was steady and consistent throughout. You had enough B-roll to go with the video and the additional interviews. It really showed a heartfelt story. Well done!
He will Continue to Serve- A Documentary group film by Kaelyn Vega, Alieha Rodriguez, Aliana Cardenas, Joseph Garcia, Isaiah Leven, Valentina Ayala, Alexa Leal, and Miriam Armas. He Will Continue to Serve is a film about Mr. Ricardo B. Cortez, Sr. and his family’s military service.
Excerpts from the judges’ comments:
Judge 1: First, I had to look up Lytle, Texas and your high school. I’m a long time Texan and I was not familiar with Lytle. Nice school and some nice-looking sports teams too. Now I know where you are. What a very good story. Mr. Cortez was well spoken. And it looks like the family had plenty of pictures showing Cortez and family involvement in the war effort. Very good use of pictures. I highly congratulate you on the use of multi-camera angles when shooting the family – well done! The audio was clear, and the background music was well selected and handled and the lighting was perfect. The pictures were well selected and certainly critical to good story telling.
Judge 2: Good job on recording audio for the interviews. This is often overlooked by young filmmakers. Thank you! Also, good utilization of multiple camera angles. Very heartfelt documentary, good job. Congrats on making it to the semifinals. Hope you continue to create content.
Judge 3: The script is well laid out to deliver the message of the piece. The message is understood by the viewer. Very poignant film. Very moving stories. The film flows at an appropriate pace. The music is appropriate to deliver the correct emotional response to the scene. Shots are all in focus. Creativity is used in shot list, angles, and scenes. There is perfect continuity for the film. Nice editing and incorporation of the family photos.
Snakes- A solo Animation project by Vanessa Trevino.
Excerpts from the judges’ comments:
Judge 1: You have a great animation style. Something that is not seen as often in these film competitions. Your animation is definitely what elevates your film to one of the top films. I really love your animation and I was definitely drawn into the story.
Judge 2: I love the opening! The television screen with the infomercial was a great concept! The color and music choices were fine choices. The expression in the eye close up was good. The writing font enriched the theme of your film. The subject is very relatable to real world pharmaceutical research, as well. Even without verbal dialogue, the story flows easily. The desperation to avenge is felt with anticipation of the coming actions. That entire scene had some of the action from movies like Mission Impossible! You created it well, despite all of the animation challenges. Great work! Keep creating and telling your stories!
Judge 3: I really enjoyed the style and pacing of this piece. The dramatic and subtle moments of character animation stood out. I liked the choice to visually show the words instead of through character dialogue audio. I liked that the overall darkness of the story was balanced out by injecting some humor in the middle. Great shot choices and I enjoyed the color palette, and how creative sound design helped tell the story. Fantastic work, would love to see more from the creator!
Semifinalist:
The Thing Under the Bridge- A group film Animation by Bailey Breshears, Joey Sanchez-Wertz, Sistina Zapata, and Itzel Delgadillo.
This film did not qualify for State, but made it to Semi-finals, which is the top 12!
Excepts from the judges’ comments:
Judge 1: Wow, that is one super cool, scary, exciting movie! The design is great-the palette is fantastic and supports the overall atmosphere you’re establishing; I liked the spare look of the human characters compared to the very detailed look of the thing under the bridge. The story was very clear, and the conflict easy to understand. The use of sound effects to indicate the presence of the entity really effectively raised tension. I was also interested in the dénouement. However, the resolution that this girl still walks by that bridge sort of promises a continuation of the story. I’ll be watching for that. Keep up the good work! I really enjoyed it.
Judge 2: Thank you for your hard work on your animation! This was a spooky story. Creative use of a traditional group of characters but with a unique and creative twist. Spend more time on your voice overs. They could all be slowed down and a little work could be added to the narrative. I enjoyed your animation style, but scenes became repetitive and sometimes didn’t add to the narrative. Great Job and congratulations on advancing to semi-finals.
Judge 3: Excellent artwork and animation. The timing is perfect, and your story is both interesting and intriguing. The artwork on your demonic creature is so impressive-and scary! My biggest suggestion is to make the narrative more conversational because it is very obvious it is being read. The story is great but you need to tell it with much more emotion and inflection.