Give Me Lilies And Broadneck’s Finest

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As a last hurrah for their senior year, Broadneck High School’s finest filmmakers, musicians and actors have come together to create one final short film.

Now a Broadneck High School alumnus, Paul Cosby was one of the videographers along with seniors Garrett and Gavin Middleton. Last March, Paul recruited the Middletons to aid in shooting his last high school motion picture. Paul experimented with the concept of a breakup-horror.

“To Kill A Lily” features a character named Gavin, a dazed college student struggling with a close friend’s death as his budding romantic relationship appears to tremble. Lily’s passing takes a toll on his sanity and mental health. Gavin’s growing guilt deteriorates his ability to deal with the effects of her untimely departure.

With the use of a Sony A7 III and automated dialogue replacement, the student-made picture exceeded expectations and has been nominated as a semifinalist at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards.

Paul claims the production had been “mostly for fun” and “very experimental” in using new auditory techniques and bringing in several students to act as camera operators. Thanks to a determined crew of talented students, the film was completed despite stormy days and quarantined weeks.

Musician Ezra Geissler and vocalist Layla Frank collaborated to bring Paul’s original composition to life. In the film, the music echoes as Gavin’s story develops. Both seniors plan to continue pursuing the arts industry in college. Layla will major in the recording arts at Full Sail University in Florida, while Ezra is moving onto production and performance at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

The main cast consists of three students: Paul Cosby as Gavin, Layla Frank as Lily, and Katherine Dreiss as Kate. Katherine will attend Towson University in the fall.

These soon-to-be undergrads hid beneath seemingly mature college students in this 14-minute flick. The production took six camera operators including the Middleton twins, who have committed to Towson University.

Shooting wrapped up in May, and Paul concluded the editing process in June. He entered the world of cinematography to tell a story. All his films are meant to reminisce about high school, though he says “To Kill A Lily” has supernatural elements that he’s unfortunately never experienced firsthand.

“Recently my films have been kind of a landmark and each one represents, in a sense, a stage of my life, whether it’s significant or not,” Paul shared. “I can definitely tell a lot about who I was from watching them over again.”

The developing filmmaker plans to major in film and digital content at Hussian College in Los Angeles.

He hopes his films have inspired other young aspiring filmmakers to experiment with video as he did in seventh grade. Paul feels not many aspiring vloggers or editors are aware that cinematography is a path students are able to take, even beyond 12th grade.

The seniors of Broadneck High School have endured piles of homework, bruises on the turf and a virus. Yet they have witnessed four years of countless football wins, uncontrollable laughter at Bruin Blocks and a graduating class unlike any other.

There’s no doubt the public will see more of the Broadneck Bruins class of ‘20. To them, this is only the beginning to a life full of accomplished films, big league games, original compositions and whatever they come up with next.

Watch “To Kill A Lily” with the link www.filmfreeway.com/tokillalily. To gain access, ask for the password from Paul Cosby at paulcosbyfilms@gmail.com.

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