The Virtual Classroom: Filming the Waiting Game

Many of Scott’s students worked on a remote film assignment called “The Waiting Game” when the spring term turned virtual. This assignment was designed to be completed within the limited access to cast, crew, and equipment imposed by socially distanced learning. The assignment itself was to create a short film that featured three inanimate objects that are waiting for something.

Scott said that “the scenarios were left completely up to the students based on their interests and what objects they had access to. The project was to emphasize screenwriting, storyboarding, and camera blocking.” As a result of this creative freedom, the films that the students completed varied both in style and subject matter.

When George School teachers made a quick pivot to online instruction at the beginning of the spring term, film teacher Scott Seraydarian ’90 kicked off the term with a short video made for his class. In that video, Scott mentioned the inevitability of a learning curve, but also spoke with confidence about his students’ success during the term.

“Our project this term meditates on the concept of ‘waiting,’ something sharply relevant as we are all doing our part in waiting in our homes to flatten the curve,” said Scott. “I appreciate how each of the students approached the assignment and made the project their own.”

The individual student films were edited into a feature titled The Waiting Game. Students included Sophia Bediako-Maier ’22, Jaxon Burden ’22, Owen Buxton ’20, Will Buxton ’21, Nadia Crawford ’23, Angel Gomez ’22, Julia Franklin ’23, Natalie Howlette ’22, John Hutchins ’21, CJ Jaikaria ’22, Silas Kennedy ’22, Kalden Lama ’22, Gavin Leidich ’23, Carol Lu ’21, Jasmine Lyte ’22, Maddox Malave ’23, Matt McMullen ’20, Sam Mottershead ’22, Hassan Murtaza ’23, Ben O’Neill ’22, Lauren Scott ’20, Zach Spangler ’22, Hyatt Sparks-Woodford ’22, Gavin Steiner ’22, Matt Swain ’23, Luke Weber ’20, and Jess Zwall ’22.