Student Spotlight: Western Springs LT Senior Creates Movie Magic

Back in February, Lyons Township senior and Western Springs resident Rebecca Kuntz got to take part in a film student’s dream. Along with 11 other Chicago-area and Midwest students, she got to shoot a Hollywood-budget short film starring international celebrity singer Alexis Jordan.

Kuntz’s opportunity came courtesy of Dreaming Tree Productions and Sprite Refreshing Films (from the soft-drink manufacturer,) who say they are “giving the country’s next generation of filmmakers a chance to shine.” Selected from over 5,000 applicants, Kuntz and her fellow students spent six days at Dreaming Tree’s Chicago studios, casting, selecting costumes, shooting, editing and taking part in the full gamut of the filmmaking experience.

Their final product will premiere on spriterefreshingfilms.com on April 1 in competition against entries from five other major cities for a chance to be entered in the Los Angeles Film Festival later this year. Community members can help by voting—see the bottom of this article for how!

We met up with Kuntz in the LTHS TV studio:

Patch: How did you come across this opportunity?

Rebecca Kuntz: “LTTV has a gaining reputation in the suburbs and Chicago for being one of the top high school and television programs. So they sent us some things saying if you’re interested, apply online… I just applied and didn’t really think about it much, and then I had a phone interview, and they said, we picked you, congratulations!”

So what’s the movie about?

“Our film is called Justice. It’s set in two realms, a comic book world and the regular world. There’s a comic-book writer who’s really fed up with his job, and his boss, and he gets really mad at him—He drawing a comic with this hero, “Justice.” And he’s also got this good friend named Lauren who he’s kind of basing Justice off of, so he has interactions with Lauren… and we see what’s happening with Justice as he’s drawing it, as Justice fights bad guys.”

How long is it?

“About ten minutes right now. [In] six days, we shot the film, but we didn’t have much time for editing, so they sent it to the editors at Dreaming Tree and right now it’s in post production… We haven’t seen any of the film yet—only what we shot and a little bit of what we edited. So we’ll see it when everybody else sees it. And there’ll also be a documentary about the filmmakers on the site, too. So you can see the behind the scenes as well as the final cut.”

What was your favorite part of the experience?

“I really loved shoot day, because we actually worked an 18-hour day, which was really unique. We really took it to the next level with props and costumes and the locations where we shot. We shot in an alley in Chicago, a comic-book store, on top of a building—we had our superhero running under the L… But it was also really stressful, because most of our movie takes place outside, so we were outside for nine hours in sub-zero weather, which was really stressful, but it was really fun working with such talented people.”

How was it working with Alexis Jordan (who plays Justice and Lauren)?

“It was kind of difficult. They’re two very different characters, yet we had to make the connection that hey were the same person. But she did a really great job and I think she played both of the roles pretty well, and she had a lot of fun, which was what Dreaming Tree and Sprite really wanted for us.”

What’s next for you? Are you staying in film?

“I'm gong to the Savannah College of Art and Design next year in Georgia, majoring in film and television, and I’m also going to Africa for three months this summer to make a documentary and teach English and volunteer.”

Where in Africa?

“[Kumasi,] Ghana. [Filmmaking] is a very big part of my life. I spend a lot of my time here, so I’m looking to continuing it.”

Here in the studio?

“Yeah. I’ve calculated the hours I’ve spent between home and TV, and TV is almost four times the amount at home over the past four years.”

Not counting sleep, I hope!

“Well, actually, I don’t get a lot of sleep. Sometimes we’ve had overnight stuff here—I don’t really go home that often!”

But you must absolutely love it.

“I do absolutely love it. I want to go into documentaries, and so going to Africa is going to be a lot of fun.”

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To vote daily, after the film is released on April 1, text “CHI” to 77483—but for a whopping 25 votes at once, include the codes from under Sprite and Sprite Zero bottle caps. Texts are limited to 500 per day, including 10 cap codes, so maximizing votes would be 490 regular texts plus 10 Sprite cap codes for 740 votes per day.

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Want to nominate a Western Springs kid for the Whiz Kid Student Spotlight? E-mail us or leave a comment!