Freshman Miles Crist found a deep interest in film at age nine when he and his friend, with the help of his friend’s dad who is a film editor, created a series of stop motion films.

A stop motion film is compiled of a series of photographs that capture an inanimate object.

Each photograph captures the object in a slightly different place thus creating the appearance that this object is in motion.

Miles’ skill and film career have flourished since then.

“At age nine, I started making films, and I haven’t stopped.”

He has made over a dozen  films in genres ranging from suspense to comedy.

Just this past January, Miles participated in the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition, a competition put on by the Santa Barbara Film Festival with the goal of bringing student filmmakers and film professionals together in order to aid and inspire future filmmakers.

In this competition, a student submits a five minute video of their best work; then, five high school students and five college students are selected as finalists.

Each finalist is partnered with a student director, screenwriter or filmmaker.

Together, the student filmmaker and student screenwriter produce a 10-minute film in the 10-day period of the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

However, the 10 days given to complete the 10-10-10 competition overlapped with this year’s mid-term week, posing a challenge to Miles’ completion of his film.

“This competition was a challenge because of the limited amount of time that coincided with finals, so I really had less than 10 days to complete this assignment.”

This rigorous competition not only stresses the need for efficient, concise, and exceptional work but also the need for collaboration.

“Collaborating with a partner was very difficult as my partner was very protective of her script.”

Currently, Miles’ film career is on hold as he is not presently working on a movie; however, this summer Miles is traveling to New York City where he will be making a “city symphony,” a short film that concentrates on New York City.

“It’s a tribute to the city.”

Miles draws his inspiration mainly from other films he has watched and enjoyed.

Miles also finds inspiration in the work of his film industry idol.

“Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite movie director, so he really inspires me.”

In the future, Miles hopes to attend a film school. In fact, while in New York City, Miles is planning to tour Tisch, the film school of NYU, and hopes to, one day, become a movie director.