Wydown students excel in documentary films

Eighth-grader Nate Townsend didn't place first in the Missouri State History Day documentary film competition last month. But, he did win a competition of sorts within his own family.

And Nate and other Wydown Middle School students added to

Nate Townsend

their developing reputation for quality documentary filmmaking in the statewide History Day event.

In the state documentary competition, Nate and 8th grade classmates Ellie Bullard, Aaron Praiss and William Behrend all earned spots in the national History Day competition. The nationals will be held June 12-16 at the University of Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

Nate won 2nd in the junior individual documentary classification in the state History Day finals in Jefferson City. His film was entitled, "The Internet and the World Wide Web."

Ellie Bullard

Ellie finished 3rd in the junior individual documentary field in state. Her documentary film was entitled, "The War of the Worlds." That film was about the 1938 radio drama by famed actor Orson Wells.

The broadcast caused panic across the country because its realistic, newscast style made it seem as if the Earth was being invaded by aliens from outer space.

Aaron and William won 2nd in the state in the junior group documentary category. Their film was entitled, "The Modern Day Olympics." Their film focused on the controversial 1936 Olympics in Berlin and the 1968 meet in Mexico City.

William Behrend (left) and Aaron Praiss

Thirteen-year-old William said they picked those two Olympics because "they were controversial but ended peacefully." He added, "That's why we didn't include the 1972 Olympics in Munich." Those games were marred by the terrorist killings by Arabs of several members of the team from Israel.

The 1936 Olympics had plenty of tension because Germany's dictator Adolph Hitler tried to make the games a test of superiority of the Aryan or white race. But, American Jesse Owens, an African-American, was the star of the games.

The 1968 games in Mexico City are remembered in part because of the Black Power salute by two American sprinters. In their film, Aaron and William included an interview with sprinter John Carlos, one of the two runners who raised their black-gloved fists on the medal stand.

The Townsend family filmmaking competition centered around Nate and his older brother, Alex. When Alex was a Wydown student several years ago, he entered a documentary film in History Day competitions but didn't earn a state award.

However, Alex did enlarge and refine his documentary so that it was shown in the 2003 St. Louis International Film Festival. That documentary centered around interviews with Missouri veterans who survived the World War II invasion of Normandy.

(YSL.com earlier included an article about Alex and his film. You can read it by clicking on Past Stories and going to the January, 2004, edition.)

Although Nate and Alex are competitive, Nate said, "My brother was the inspiration for my History Day entry." However, he said the two films are "very different."

In entering a documentary, students have to pick a subject that has an impact on history.

Nate's conclusion: "The Internet has become a world-wide key to understanding."

He said he picked the Internet as a subject because he didn't want to deal with a historical subject from years ago.

However, Ellie picked the Orson Welle's radio broadcast because it was old but still has a message for people today. She said she didn't believe Americans today would be panicked by such an "alien" broadcast.

But, she added, "People are being fooled by the media every day."

In researching her subject, Ellie obtained two DVD recordings of the original 1938 radio broadcast. Included in her research were conversations with both of her grandfathers who were alive when the broadcast was done more than 60 years ago.

Aaron and William said they had a hard time picking a topic. But, they were encouraged by teacher Janet Baldwin to focus on something that interested them.

Aaron said, "We lost in the first round of the history competition last year. Our topic wasn't much fun. We wanted to do something that wouldn't bore us while we were doing the research."

Their selection of interview subjects also helped keep their interest. In addition to having a phone interview with sprinter Carlos, they also included a talk with broadcaster Bob Costas and with Olympic historian June Wuest-Becht, who was at the 1936 Olympics.

Aaron said his experience with the historical documentary has given him another possible career idea. He originally expected to be an architect "but I'm now thinking of movie-making."

Nate said he expects to major in filmmaking at UCLA when he goes to college. He said, "I make films at home all the time. I'm doing one about Wydown School now."

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