"Educational films," in other words - but now blessedly free of the pipe-puffing experts, stentorian voice-overs, and clueless lame-i-tude that once characterized the genre.
Outreach's 20-minute dramas present issues such as bullying, drugs, and eating disorders in realistic contexts, enriched by Wilson's interviews with groups of Lindenwold students.
"We want to get viewers to see themselves," says the producer-director, who's 47 and has a daughter in a Berlin middle school. "Our films are as much about art as about social service. They've got to be something people want to watch."
Shooting for Loves Me Not, which focuses on physically abusive relationships, will begin April 2. The actors, including six professionals who will play adults or other characters, recently got the script, and the students are already getting into character.
Before putting the locker scene on its feet, Wilson asks Cisneros, Peak, Ron Thompson (Kyle), and Villeen Wright (Cari, the leading lady) for insights into the people they'll portray.
Like any actors, the students - who were in the school's fall production of the play Stand and Deliver - will draw at least some inspiration from their lives. In this case, the experience of growing up in a working-class White Horse Pike town in Camden County.
Their school is immaculate; their community has its troubles. The actors are brainy and engaging, but when they discuss their characters' struggles, it's clear they've encountered some of the issues.
"Only Marcos' friends get to know him," says Thompson, like his costars an 18-year-old college-bound senior.
Dwayne, something of an average kid, "represents the audience we're trying to reach," says Peak. The actor is also a musician (percussion), as is Thompson (guitar, keyboards, and more).
