The Test

Joshua Smyth and Tim Christensen, two Ingraham High School students, used that truism to create their film, "The Test," the grand-prize winner of The Seattle Times third annual "Three-Minute Masterpiece" digital movie contest.

They take home VIP passes to next year's Seattle International Film Festival.

Other winners were silent and silly, provocative and political, dark and darkly funny. Chosen by judges from The Seattle Times, seattletimes.com and The Seattle International Film Festival, they win passes to SIFF's Filmmakers' Forum events.

You be the judge! Which of the 10 winners is your favorite? Cast your vote.

Judges called the winning film — a mad caper about beating the dour-faced teacher and her test — "fun," and complimented its editing, camera work and original music.

Christensen, 18, who wrote and directed the film, will go to Washington State University next winter. A couple years ago Christensen started watching movies seriously. "I discovered the miracle of the library card and watched hundreds of films," he said.

He counts Wes Anderson, maker of the droll comedies "Bottle Rocket" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," as an influence.

As for that dour-faced teacher, "She's about like that in real life," Christensen said.

	Attack of the Killer Potatoes

J. MICHAEL AWARD WINNER
 
Tara Frieszell, "Attack of the Killer Potatoes."
As the winner of the J. Michael Award for filmmakers 14 and under showed, the movies can make even something as seemingly benign as a potato scary.

Tara, an eighth grader who lives in Federal Way, has been making movies for about a year and a half. The director doubles as the lead actress, playing the scary girl in the red dress. Her motivation for filmmaking: after-school fun with friends, she said.

She'll take home a special prize donated by the family of Justin Michael Rima, a previous winner who passed away last year.

OTHER WINNERS

	Repeat

Justin Hanson and Cyrus Kazemi, "Repeat"
Hanson,15, of Maple Valley, was inspired by "Requiem for a Dream," "A Clockwork Orange" and "Fight Club" in making "Repeat," which uses repetition, sped-up images and inventive musical decisions to show viewers they are living in what he calls "The United States of Stagnation."

Hanson family: What did you put in the boy's Froot Loops?

"I was probably in a depressed mood when I thought of it. But I'm not usually like that," he said.

	The Suitcase

Freddie Wong, "The Suitcase"
"The Suitcase" is a comedy-action film involving a chase scene between two Segways, which are the stand-up scooter contraptions, allegedly the next transportation fad. Wong, soon to graduate from Lakeside High School, wrote and directed. He'll go to the University of Southern California to study film in the fall.

"We didn't think anyone would have done a Segway action scene, because it was so stupid," he said. They rented the two Segways from a store in the Green Lake area of Seattle.

	The Paper Bag Bandit

Tony Leder, "The Paper Bag Bandit"
"The Paper Bag Bandit" captures the aesthetic of the silent-film era well, a judge said.

The comedy is part farce, part political satire, and has everyone moving at twice the speed of normal motion, as you've seen in silent films. A governor tries to use a lame plan to claim credit for catching the so-called "Paper Bag Bandit."

Leder, a 27-year old network engineer, said his team checked out plenty of $5 DVD bins for old Laurel and Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. "We studied those and were on our way," he said.

	Bella Bella

Brendan Broman, "Bella Bella"
"Bella Bella," directed by Evergreen College student Broman, is about a sad and enraged clown.

"A little seedy, a little weird, but really well put together," said one judge. The music, Broman said, inspired the psycho clown.

	Badminton

James DeJoie, "Badminton"
DeJoie, of the Seattle-based James DeJoie Quartet jazz band, said he was walking through a department store when he came upon an aisle full of badminton equipment. He hit upon a film idea: a fictitious history of badminton. "It just seemed so funny. Plus, there's the word shuttlecock," he said.

	Oosingchay

Cathy Christiansen, "Oosingchay"
A cruise to Alaska and Pig Latin inspired "Oosingchay," directed by Christiansen, a Medina author. The dark comedy involves two sisters, one of whom ends up dead.

	Elimination

Scott Perry, "Elimination"
Perry, who wrote and directed "Elimination," is a 17-year-old student at Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup. When he was 10, Perry spent $400 on a VHS camcorder and has been making films ever since.

"Elimination" finds two guys getting sucked into a computer game world, á la "Tron."

	The Singing Kitty

Lucy and Dale Davis, "The Singing Kitty"
And finally, the father-daughter team of Lucy and Dale Davis made the gloriously unpretentious "The Singing Kitty," an animated film about a singing kitty and a flying frog.

Lucy, 9, drew the pictures and came up with the song. Dale Davis then took the drawings, scanned them into the computer and used software to animate the scenes.