2017 was the last time a theater student submitted a short film for Thespians competition, at least before senior Mia Morneault changed that last year. Now this year, she has tested her skills once again. For the theater department, Texas Thespians Convention at Grapevine is a yearly tradition for workshops and competitions. Once again, they went before Thanksgiving break, and once again, Morneault was the only contestant from Cedar Park participating in the short film event, despite the competition allowing an unlimited number of contestants per school, unlike most of the other competitions. 

The score from the returning judges went up, with both judges giving Morneault a perfect score, but the addition of a new judge this year, who gave her a 12/20, lowered her average from last year from 38/40 to 52/60.

“I know I can’t please everyone, and maybe judge three didn’t get my style of comedy or simply didn’t enjoy it as much as the others, which is fine,” Morneault said. “I’d rather focus on how I got two perfect scores from two separate judges who loved it.”

Despite not having the score she had hoped for, Morneault believes there was still a lot of value in participating in the event.

“I am really satisfied with the whole thing,” Morneault said. “Of course, there were things I could have done better, like I would spend more time in the editing room and more time on visual effects shots, just to make it more polished, but it gave me a lot of filming experience about how to film in a short time frame.”

Morneault said her film would not have been possible without actors, but for awards, the director is the only one qualified to win. Compared to last year, the days spent filming shrunk from two days to one condensed day. Senior and actor Darius Normandi said he found value in filming even with how exhausting it was.

“I want to be a film actor one day, so her short film served as valuable practice,” Normandi said. “Also, I got to help a friend out with something they love doing. Plus, it was a fun experience. I got to spend time with friends, and there were some funny moments we got to share.”

All the current actors in this year’s film were also involved with Morneault’s film last year, but there were changes among the crew. Last year, it was a one man team crew with only Morneault, but this year, sophomore Colton Alderman was added to help.

“I know Colton was thinking about [competing] next year, so I said ‘well, let me just take you under my wing,’” Morneault said. “And he was super helpful. I do not think I could have done it without him. He helped with so many straws that could’ve broken the camel’s back. He helped with sound and helped with lighting and continuity errors, all so I could focus on my part with acting and the directing work.”

Alderman also benefited by getting experience and learning about the competition process.

“It helped me understand the severity and the level that the Thespians film competition is at,” Alderman said. “I wasn’t sure if it was a relaxed or strict competition, but doing this, I saw it was somewhere in the middle. It’s less strict than some of the other competition pieces, which made me more interested in doing it next year.”