The glitz and glamor of a red carpet premiere in Hollywood comes to Ypsilanti’s West Middle School Thursday.

Students in the school’s digital filmmaking and photography classes will present their work to friends, parents and teachers at their own film festival.

From left: Sixth-graders Julian Carter, Isaiah Johnson and Donniven Williams work on the soundtrack for their stop-motion film during digital filmmaking class at West Middle School in Ypsilanti.

Angela J. Cesere

“They’re really looking forward to it,” said teacher Allison Crowley, who coordinated the classes.

The filmmaking class began this semester and drew a lot of support from students and administrators.

“I like it because it gives you a chance to be creative, and it’s a way that you can express yourself and have fun doing it with your friends,” said sixth-grader Kelsey Heaton, who is nominated for one of her films.

Her brother, Collin, who idolizes George Lucas, is nominated for his commercial for the “It’s OK” alarm.

“It sounds a deafening foghorn every three seconds you’re fine and the house is not on fire,” Collin said. “It’s supposed to be this comedy commercial.

“I liked that we could be with our friends during the projects and make up the story we want.”

The idea for the class came after the school purchased Apple computers with software suited for creating multimedia projects.

Crowley has a master’s degree in educational media and technology from Eastern Michigan and a background in theater and drama, so the formation of a filmmaking class seemed natural.

“The school has been impressed by both classes, the photography class and the filmmaking class, just to see what the kids are producing,” Crowley said.

“The kids don’t just sit and do typing exercises or word processing exercises, but actually use the creative part of their brain to create something.”

The young filmmakers created four projects this term - an interview clip, a story time clip, a commercial and a multi-clip/stop-motion animation film.

“It’s fun because all the stuff that we’re doing in this class,” said sixth-grader Julian Carter. “We get to play with the video cameras and test them out. It’s fun to do with my friends because we can all communicate in the same way.”

One of the class’ commercial projects has even attracted the attention of a nonprofit environmental group. Students made a public service announcement clip about cleaning up after your dog that Crowley shared with a friend at the Upper White River Watershed Alliance in Indianapolis.

“She looked at it and was really impressed,” Crowley said. “She had me send it to her, and they are putting it on their website.”

With every success, Crowley sees a quiet evolution in many of her students.

“They have a sense of pride in what they do,” Crowley said. “They have a little bit more self esteem when they come in this room. Kids who don’t do well in other classes come in here and are successful.”

Thursday’s film festival may cause a bit of anxiety for one of the students, sixth-grader Isaiah Johnson. The anxiety isn’t because his work will be in front of family and friends, but for wardrobe reasons.

“They said you’ve got to dress formally, and I usually do not get dressed up,” Johnson said. “I’m going to be under pressure.”