BLOCKBUSTERS: NHS students debut film in hometown movie theater

Inside the Capitol II Theatre on Wednesday evening, operations appeared to be business as usual. Staff distributed tickets to Newton customers and filled their jumbo buckets with fresh-popped popcorn. The only difference was the movie that eventually appeared on screen.

It wasn’t a Hollywood-produced blockbuster or even a digitalized classic, it was an independently made film created by local high schoolers.

Directors Brady Comer and Leo Friedman, both sophomores of Newton High School, greeted their audience before the premiere of “Unjustified,” which they described as a dystopian mystery about a detective who is in way over his head. It was created by 18 students participating in the NHS Filmmaking Club.

To be able to debut the club’s first film in their hometown movie theater was “exhilarating,” Friedman said.

“We never really thought it would get to this point,” Comer added.

According to the young filmmakers, “Unjustified” took all semester to produce from start to finish. Comer served as both cinematographer and editor. He spent the weekend before the premiere completing the final edit of the film. Altogether he estimated it took three days of work to piece the scenes together.

But another real challenge was assembling a crew. The amount of time and planning behind the film was surprising to the student group, which required them to meet weekly to schedule and work out details. Communication was the biggest obstacle to overcome, Friedman said.

“High schoolers aren’t the easiest people to reach,” Friedman said with a laugh. “It got harder and harder each week because people couldn’t show up. The last week we filmed every single day.”

The 45-minute film is supposed to make moviegoers think. Friedman, who also wrote the screenplay, said after a character is murdered, the detectives charged with finding the perp are launched into action. But as the mystery unravels, the plot develops into something greater and the stakes are raised.

“Some of the dialogue came from real world context,” Friedman said.

Sophomore Owen Muhs, who plays the lead character, a private investigator named Daryl White, said “Unjustified” was largely filmed in Newton and surrounding locales. For Muhs, whose acting chops have mostly developed in stage plays, said it was exciting to perform in a different style.

“It was just fun seeing it all come together and seeing all our hardwork culminate into this,” Muhs said of the premiere, noting he had not seen the final cut of the movie until then. “I’m excited but I’m also nervous just to see what other people will think.”

Comer, Friedman and Muhs founded the filmmaking club. They anticipate the club will continue to grow and make movies in the next few years. By next year, Friedman hopes the group can start planning in the first semester of school and make a full-length film clocking in close to two hours.

That may require more than a weekend of editing work for Comer.

“I’ll definitely edit along the way for that,” Comer said.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com