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Alexander Boston, of Weston, experienced bullying first-hand when one of his classmates said to him, "I'll pound your head to the ground."
"I'm not sure why... it was because I was bothering him in some way. You're supposed to say, 'can you please leave us alone,'" said Alexander, a second grader at Rogers International School in Stamford. "I didn't know I was annoying him."
Alexander didn't like when he saw his two friends left out from a talent show that a girl in his class said they couldn't be a part of.
"Even if you don't like somebody you should at least include them," said Alexander.
Alexander wrote a five page script, got his friends together and filmed a movie all day Sunday in hopes to show people that bullying "is not right and everyone deserves respect."
The film follows a girl that trips other students and doesn't let them play ball with her. It was filmed at Weston High School and Weston Intermediate School with the help of Ricky Rivera, a senior at the high school, and Alexander's father, who is the president and CEO of Raw Media in New York. There were more than four scenes filmed with more than 25 kids involved. The next process is for Alexander to edit the footage to create a three to seven minute film.
"Bullying is not a recent problem but it's definitely a problem," said Johnny Boston, Alexander's father. "Alexander did a good job making it real. He let the kids improvise a bit."
The kids working on the film participated in a workshop with Melissa Chessman, a screenwriter, and learned about cameras from Paul Dolzall, the director of photography.
In between takes, the kids were asked if they had been bullied and most of them had, said Christine Fulton, Alexander's mom. The family plans to put together a video composition of those responses as well.
Fulton said the actors were surprised about the amount of waiting they had to do between takes and the patience involved with the process.
"We got a lot of people out in the community. It gave people a different perspective about what it takes to make a film," said Boston. "It takes a lot of people to make a film. People pulling together to do something it's a great thing and everybody pulled their weight."
Have you been the target of bullying? Have you ever been a bully? Send your story to shenry@thedailyweston.com.
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