Way to Go! Student places in international film festival
Ben Rosen, center, a sophomore at Smithtown High School West, took third place in the International Ocean Film Festival. He is pictured with Smithtown West film teacher Tim Needles, left, librarian Cathy Masrour, guidance counselor Dorothy Caputo and Assistant Principal Annemarie Freund. Credit: Smithtown Central School District
A Smithtown High School West student has taken third place — and was the highest-placing high schooler in the United States — in an environmentally themed international film festival.
Ben Rosen, a sophomore, finished third in the International Ocean Film Festival, which strives to use film as a medium to increase public awareness of the environmental, social and cultural importance of marine ecosystems.
Rosen's three-minute film, "Clean Water," was created using a drone to follow a water bottle as it made its way through waterways across Long Island — including Heckscher State Park in East Islip and beaches in the Town of Smithtown.
"It tracked the storyline of a water bottle and how it affects the environment," said Rosen, who said he tied a "thin string" to the bottle to retrieve it after filming. Of the finished film, he said: "I was very pleased with it; it took me a while and I perfected it a little bit at a time."
Rosen, who said he has been interested in drones for several years, estimates that he worked on the film for more than five months with help from Smithtown West librarian Cathy Masrour and technology integration specialist Tim Needles.
To create the film, Rosen used programs including the video-editing application iMovie and Adobe software.
Rosen, 15, is also a member of his school's golf team and Investment Bankers Club, and he plays deck hockey at The Sports Arena in St. James.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
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