Miss Hall's School

Alexa Green ’09 has finished her first year of college, but she’s still receiving accolades for work during her days at MHS.

Alexa recently won a national trade award for a video she produced during her Horizons internship at Pittsfield Community Television (PCTV). The four-minute video highlights the Berkshire Museum and was among those recognized by the Alliance for Community Media, a trade organization to which PCTV belongs.

“I got involved with the project through Horizons,” explained Alexa, who recently completed her freshman year at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she is majoring in Film & Television. “Shawn Serre, my site supervisor, suggested that I talk to the museum about a promotional video, because they did not have one.” The video was entered in the ACM’s Hometown Video Awards in the “Short Subject — Youth Under 18” category, and Alexa was recognized at the ACM’s International Conference and Exhibition this month in Pittsburgh.

It was not the first time her work has gained notice. Alexa collaborated with Missy Mattoon ’09 on a film that took second place in the Berkshire International Film Festival’s 2009 Berkshire Student Film Festival. She received a first-place award at the 2008 Berkshire Blossom Film Festival for a collaboration with Missy, Charlotte Crane ’09, Eliza Chase ’08, and Caroline Barry ’09. “I really like the collaborative quality of film,” Alexa explained. “You're always working with someone who's bringing new ideas to the table and working with you to make it the best it can be. I also love the sense of completion as you show the finished product, with the knowledge that you were there with it from the start, when it was just an idea floating around in a bunch of other ideas, and that you helped to bring it into being. The fact that that finished product can then stand alone and mean so many different things to different people is really amazing.”

Alexa also credits her Horizons work with helping to further her creative ventures. “Horizons not only taught me valuable lessons about working with other professionals in my chosen field, but also the responsibility that you have in getting a job done, and getting it done to the best of your abilities,” she said. “It gave me the freedom to work on my own projects, make mistakes, and see the consequences of those mistakes, while at the same time allowing me to achieve and learn on my own and feel the accomplishment that completing a job brings.”

Alexa looks forward to returning to NYU in the fall and would like to make a career out of film. “I want to continue making movies on my own while also working with companies, organizations, and, of course, other artists,” she said. “I want to come in contact with as many people as I can so I can learn new things and keep honing my craft. And if anyone needs some film work done, please e-mail! I'm always happy for freelance jobs too!” See some of Alexa’s work at www.greenscreenfilm.com.