The UIL Documentary team won the division 1 state championship at the UIL Filmmakers Festival in Austin, TX on Feb. 18. The video “Rubber Band Reminders” focused on the story of Robert Hirschhorn, a nationally ranked jury consultant, and his humble upbringings that have contributed to his success today.

The project was headed by director Annabel Thorpe and producer / technical editor Matt Garnett, as well as research and interview help from Micki Hirschhorn and Heather Lindermann and videography by Caleb Miles, all of whom are in Stacy Short’s UIL group.

“Mrs. Short came into our Independent Studies class one day and said, ‘Alright you guys, I need these two teams to have at least three ideas before you walk out the door’,” Thorpe said. “Micki Hirschhorn said that her father had a cool story; she shared a couple stories with us, but that’s really all we knew. That night, I got home from school and in a two hour period interviewed her dad. We didn’t know his story, so I had to come up with a bunch of different questions trying to figure out what his story was.”

Despite having next to nothing to work with, Thorpe went at her task blindly, eventually picking out the details of an award-winning story.

“It’s what I love to do, finding out why people are why they are, so that’s what I did,” Thorpe said. “I asked basic questions and then, through different nuances in his face, you can kind of pick up certain areas. That’s how I found out multiple things about him, from his wife dying, to his brother having cancer, to his jury consulting job, and how that’s expanded.”

Hirschhorn’s story ended up focusing on the rubber band he always wears on his wrist, a memento of the trials he has overcome to become successful. Matt Garnett, who directed “Destiny: A Game for the Ages” in last year’s UIL documentary competition, knew what to expect from the ceremony, but was surprised at the outcome.

“I don’t think any of us really expected to get first place,” Garnett said. “I think we were all kind of just hoping for top three. It was a lot different than last year when I was basically getting ready to walk up there and accept the award. This year my goal was just to make state, so I was already pretty happy just to be there. Having our name called for the first place film was kind of redemption for last year. It was a good feeling, indicating everything that we’ve done.”

Thorpe and Garnett have already won multiple other awards in various competitions, but winning the UIL state competition was especially prestigious.

“It’s a state championship; that’s generally not a title a lot of people get,” Thorpe said. “It’s pretty difficult to do. So, I’d say having that official title really made this stand out. It’s something you can show. It’s something you can be proud of. It’s on a new platform compared to other things I’ve done through UIL and other photography competitions.”

Winning this year’s state award was particularly distinguished when compared to the level of competition “Rubber Band Reminders” went against.

“The quality of the other films this year was a lot better,” Garnett said. “Last year, I was not terribly impressed by the other documentaries. This year, I honestly thought there were a couple documentaries that could definitely give us a run for our money, and they did not place as well as I thought. I was worried after watching a couple of them because they were pretty impressive, so having this film this year be able to take the top spot was pretty cool.”

Overall, the team put in about 30 hours of work over a six day period to finish in time for their deadline.

“I got a little overwhelmed, because you want to tell a person’s story as accurately as possible, but in a shorter format,” Thorpe said. “There was so much more to this man that I couldn’t share because of the time limit. Trying to find what defines someone in seven minutes, who affected them, what they did, where they’ve been, the trials they’ve gone through, it’s almost impossible to fit that into seven minutes. The stress of it for me was trying to find what defined him.”

The process may have been difficult, but it can also be credited with pushing the film to its limit, as Thorpe and Garnett ironed out a story worthy of state accolades.

“I think that the stress involved is a very important part to making the film, because if you don’t have the stress, you’re just going about it and won’t be fully focused,” Garnett said. “Personally, I perform better when I’m under pressure, so I think it helped us that we waited that long. Would I do it again? Probably not. But, it definitely played in our favor this time.”