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New Movie Stamped! Hits Close to Home | Bakersfield Voice

Amber — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:54:32 +0000

Posted by ThisCatsLegit Saturday, February 28, 2009

Stereotype as defined in the dictionary is a person, who is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image, otherwise known as being labeled, termed, or just plain stamped. As a sophomore in high school I know exactly what it’s like to be stamped. It happens everyday, to the best of us, and high school is always the place were stereotypes are born and bred.

New movie Stamped! portrays what every high school student goes through, and I was invited to attend the Sneak Preview of this inspiring and hilarious movie at the Fox Theater.There are so many things that make this movie extra special, the fact that it was filmed right here in Bakersfield, on the campus of Frontier High, the fact that one of Frontier’s very own Bryce Hatch wrote and directed the movie, and the fact that this movie has to be the best independent film I have ever seen.

Stamped! is about five teenage high school students who make-up a Saturday state mandated test, teenage “misfit prankster”, Mitchell (Brian Kubach) annoys and takes apart Tori (Lindze Letherman) a “stuck up cheerleader”, Cody (Matt Thompson) a “dumb jock”, DeShawn (G. Lane Hillman) a “smart homeboy”, and Vanessa (Kaitlynn Lerma) a “quiet Latina”. After giving them a bad time about their roles and so called stereotypes in life they begin to understand they have more in common than they think. Mitchell and his classroom shenanigans and Jim Carey facial expressions really bring the humor front and center.

This movie touches on the racial and social divides at every school. Mitchell says later in the movie, “you may think I’m a freak but you don’t know me.”

As the movie goes on all five teenagers gradually become closer than ever before, you learn Mitchell lives in a foster home, and hides his broken household with loud and obnoxious behavior. Vanessa is in America illegally, and takes shelter in her quiet and shy behavior. Cody is just a “big baby that does what ever daddy tells him” as described by DeShawn who loves comic books and doesn’t express who he truly is to his friends. My favorite quote of the night spoken by Cody to DeShawn, “man your just as white as I am, or maybe I’m just as black as you—it doesn’t matter we’re brothers.”

What people should get from Stamped! is a chaotic journey through the harsh realities of teenage life, and that just because someone is labeled as the skater, nerd, ADHD kid, stuck-up, or jock, that’s not who they are—you don’t know them unless you break down the racial divide.

Read the entire article on the Bakersfield Voice website HERE.

Stamped! Red Carpet Premiere at the FOX Theater

Andrew — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:06:57 +0000

The night was a huge success, about a thousand people showed up for the premiere! It was a lot of fun and I want to thank everyone who made it out, I know I was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off that night, so I didn’t get to talk to a lot of you, but THANKS for supporting the film! Anyway, here are some pictures…

It’s ALMOST HERE!

Andrew — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:15:36 +0000

It’s almost here… I’m ready for it to be over already.

Anyway, the Bakersfield Californian wrote a wicked sweet article on the film today so go grab a paper and check it out!

See ya on Friday!

Now playing: Local film ‘Stamped!’ gets red carpet treatment at Fox | Bakersfield Californian

Amber — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:49:14 +0000

BY LOUIS MEDINA, Californian staff writermailto:lmedina@bakersfield.com

Tuesday, Feb 24 2009 6:12 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Feb 25 2009 7:52 AM

It was shot in two weeks at Frontier High School in the middle of summer 2007, with no air conditioning and security alarms going off from time to time, among other production problems.

“Stamped!” is a feature-length film shot entirely on location at Frontier High School. It involved the work of English and filmmaking teacher Bryce Hatch and about 30 students who volunteered to work on the production. A red-carpet sneak preview will be held Friday at the Fox Theater downtown. Admission is $6 and proceeds go to the Frontier High film department.

“Stamped!” tries to show the difficulty high school kids have in breaking down the social barriers and stereotypes with which they are often labeled or “stamped.”

The filming of “Stamped!” The filmmaker is eager to spread a family-oriented message with his art.

It spent a year in post-production, as cinematographer/producer/film editor Andrew Waite worked alone on getting it down to its final 97-minute length on evenings and weekends — between his bread-and-butter jobs of filming local television commercials. “Going into it, I thought it was going to be a lot easier,” Waite said. “Now that it’s over, I can’t believe the day has finally come that it’s being premiered.”

That day is Friday at the Fox Theater downtown, where, Waite said, “searchlight, paparazzi, press board and red velvet ropes, limos, the whole nine yards,” will be ready for a public sneak preview screening of “Stamped!” a local labor of love written and directed by Frontier High English and filmmaking teacher Bryce Hatch.

In the film, Hatch tries to show the difficulty high school kids have in breaking down the social barriers and stereotypes with which they are often labeled or “stamped.” “I’ve been teaching for 13 years,” the 35-year-old said, “so all the ideas pretty much came from everything I’ve seen.”

Some 30 Frontier students from the school’s film department volunteered as crew members, extras, even caterers — with the help of some of their moms and dads, who brought food to the set. A grateful Hatch called them “home-grown volunteer people who wanted to help make a movie.”

The biggest expense was paying for the movie’s main actors, most of them Los Angeles-area Screen Actors Guild members.

According to Hatch, when movie executives consider buying a film for distribution, “they don’t really focus on the storyline … or the special effects. They focus on who’s in it. It was smart for us to go with as big of a name as we could find, with the limited funds that we had, to try to be able to make the film sell.”

And Hatch, a Mormon who has written some eight other family-friendly screenplays free of what he calls the “formulaic” sex, nudity and excessive violence common in mainstream Hollywood films, is committed to making “Stamped!” sell.

“The film ‘officially’ goes on the market (after the premiere) to be sold to the highest bidder,” Waite wrote in an e-mail. “It has a good chance of being ‘picked up’ by a distribution company such as Lionsgate, Fox Searchlight, IFC, Castle Rock, etc. Most likely a straight-to-DVD release, but you never know.”

Hatch and Waite also hope that among those attending Friday night’s screening of “Stamped!” will be potential investors of other projects on which the two are teaming. That includes “R&J”, also written by Hatch, which Waite describes as “a modern-day ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set in today’s high school.”

Shooting is set to begin locally in July, Waite said.

To read the full article on the Californian website check it out HERE or http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/699871.html

“Stamped!” Is “Breakfast Club With a Modern Twist | Facenews

Amber — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:53:58 +0000

It’s not the same script as “The Breakfast Club.” But “Stamped!” is a fresh take on the old John Hughes genre and it uses an actor the audience will recognize from such television shows as “Hannah Montana” and “Wizards of Waverly Place.”

(The film premieres at the Fox Theater at a red carpet event Friday, Feb. 27. Actors will be attending!)

Fans of 80s movies like the “The Breakfast Club” (1985) or newer high-school themed TV shows like “Camp Rock” and “Hannah Montana” are going to want to see ”Stamped!” The film appeals to two generations of film and TV lovers, which is nice for those who miss the rawness of 1980s John Hughes flicks. Today’s Disney-made high school themed productions seem too afraid to dig into certain themes and rarely allow an actor like Kubach to literally turn the screen into a series of hilarious comedy routines.

While “Stamped!” doesn’t dig too deeply into teenage angst, it does hint at what teenagers face: tough talk from peers on issues that involve stereotypes and ethnic divides.

The film actually takes a brave stance on race as a black character, Deshawn is confronted by the goofy albeit sarcastic realities coughed up by the film’s white main character, Mitchell. The only uncomfortable scene in the film doesn’t come from Mitchell, but rather another student, played by Matt Thompson, who asks Deshawn race questions.

Mitchell is played by the hilarious up-and-coming actor Brian Kubach. Every class clown who sees the film will want to one-up Kubach who is able to take classroom shenanigans to bizarre levels. His Jim Carey-style facial expressions, slapstick humor and zany off-the-cuff acting carries the film, which uses six Screen Actors Guild actors and lots of Bakersfield extras.

Created by Director Bryce Hatch of Frontier High school, “Stamped!” was shot on location at the school. “As cute as the script is, the actors made the film,” Hatch admits. And he’s right. Kubach’s on-screen improvisations are a hilarity to watch throughout the movie, which begins with the actor in a rather uncomfortable scene involving about a dozen pencils.

Hatch said Kubach originally tried out for the part of the jock Cody in the film. But after Hatch and editor Andrew Waite met the actor, Kubach was asked to read for the part of the main character: the bizarre-humored Mitchell who is out to disrupt class while doing a make-up test.

ABC (not in Bakersfield) lighting equipmet to use during the two-week shoot. Waite said actress Lindze Letherman, who plays Tori, one of the film’s troublesome teens, helped get the equipment donated.

Hatch wrote the screenplay in about two months time in 2006. There was a film crew of about 35 people for a July and August shoot in 2007. Waite has been editing the film ever since.

What people should get from “Stamped!” is a chaotic journey through the harsh realities of teenage life.

The make-up test the students work on and their goofball actions, led by the crazy Mitchell, is a microscopic peek at how order comes out of the chaos of high school life. While the film doesn’t have Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson or Ally Sheedy, what the movie does have is a formula that works and Kubach, who is a delight.

David Peres who plays the student’s dorky teacher giving the test also has some funny scenes in the film.

Hatch said that ”Stamped!” doesn’t get excessive. He leaves those trademarks for the rest of Hollywood as he said he wants people to leave the theater with a happy feeling inside. Anyone who watches the film will not only leave the theater laughing, but trying out some of Kubach’s facial expressions.

The film also stars Matt Thompson, G. Lane Hillman, Kaitlynn Lerma and has a guest appearance by Bakersfield’s George the Giant, who was recently featured on “America’s Got Talent.”

“Stamped!” is premiering on Feb. 27 at the Fox Theater. Any kid obsessed with Disney television should be in attendance.

Tickets: $6; Purchase tickets here or at box office.Where: Fox Theater
When: Friday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m.
Watch Trailer: View
IMDB: More on the film

Read the article on the facenews website at HERE.

Director Bryce Hatch

Editor: Andrew Waite

Goofing around the set of Stamped!