Third time’s a charm for filmmaker SLIDESHOW

Eighth-grader Nicholas D’Amico has this filmmaking thing down … almost.

After winning the School Spirit Award in 2014 and Best Actor honors in 2015, D’Amico’s third entry in as many years into the Sequim Education Foundation Student Film Festival was selected Best Picture by a panel of judges and from a field of nine films on Friday, April 22.

D’Amico didn’t have to go far to get the idea for his 2016 film, “Knock, Knock, Knock.”

“We get knocks (at my house) and my mom asked me (once) to go answer the door,” D’Amico recalled. “I said, ‘I don’t want to answer the door — it could be anyone!’”

That planted a seed and a year later D’Amico was in production, laying out storyboards and writing a script. The Sequim Middle School student said things went fairly smoothly in production and filming only took about three days.

D’Amico credits Woody French, who helped advise young filmmakers at a student film workshop in Sequim and technical advisor for the film festival. D’Amico said French helped him with tips such as using obscure equipment in lieu of expensive filmmaking gear such as a using wheelchair (instead of pricey rail tracks) for tracking shots.

D’Amico hit a snag, however, when he found the music accompanying “Knock, Knock, Knock” was under copyright. It took him a month to find a track suitable for this year’s top film.

D’Amico wasn’t the only winner Friday, as a bevy of student films were lauded by school staff, classmates and the community at large. Earning second place was “Ways to Celebrate a Three-Pointer” by Kalli Wiker, McKenna Hastings and Chloe Clemons.

For the second consecutive year, Wiker took home Best Actress (she won in 2015 for the music video “Seahawks Super Bowl Heartbreak”).

Taking third place was “Once Upon a Death” by Maddy Dietzman and Amanda Weller. The film also earned the festival’s Best Special Effects honor.

“Soroptimist,” by Kelly Anders and Hannah Patterson, won the Community Service Film Award sponsored by Sequim Sunrise Rotary and a multi-filmmaker production called “Spanish at SHS” took home the School Spirit Award.

In all, seven middle school students and 15 high school students were involved in producing films for this year’s festival, creating 5-minute (or less) videos for academic scholarships and cash prizes.

D’Amico, who was bestowed a $1,000 scholarship for first place this year, impressed judges in 2014 with “Mrs. Morrison’s 1st Period Science Class” and “Facts and Info About CenturyLink” in 2015.

This time around, D’Amico set about putting to film his imagination, as a series of characters — policeman, homicidal maniac, middle school-sized hot dog — came a-knocking. He played all the roles himself.

The hardest part of production, the aforementioned music issue, was, “going back and changing.”

As for coming years, D’Amico expects to be right back at the Sequim High auditorium with film after film.

“I’ll be here ’til my senior year,” he said.

Sequim Education Foundation FIlm Festival Art Festival Winners

• SEF Film Festival

Best Picture (first place) — “Knock, Knock, Knock” (Nicholas D’Amico)

Second place — “Ways to Celebrate a Three-Pointer” (Kalli Wiker, McKenna Hastings, Chloe Clemons)

Third place — “Once Upon a Death” (Maddy Dietzman, Amanda Weller)

People’s Choice (Elkie) — “Ways to Celebrate a Three-Pointer” (Wiker, Hastings, Clemons)

Community Service Film — “Soroptimist” (Kelly Anders, Hannah Patterson)

School Spirit — “Spanish at SHS” (Jonathan Ellison, Taylor Bullock, Madison Morris, Kyia Rigg, Megan O’Mera, Alee Holland, Stone Diggs)

Best Special Effects — “Once Upon a Death” (Dietzman, Weller)