From endless car commercials to Pixar classics to Khan Academy videos, film is everywhere.

“Film is a multi-billion dollar industry,” said Film Crew adviser and former Piedmont parent Michael Heller. “We look at it very much on the professional side.”

Film Crew, which is a venture crew loosely affiliated with Boy Scouts, started two years ago when middle school teachers Anne Smith and Stella Kennedy approached Heller to lead a film club or class of some type.

“They had students who were really interested in film and had taken Anne’s [film] class, but there was nothing in PHS to follow up on it,” he said.

Heller, who has spent most of his career in the arts, runs a production company called Produce 2 Broadcast out of his home studio, where Film Crew meets on Tuesday nights.

“Michael usually has a few clips and videos that he watches with us, and then we discuss them,” said Film Crew member sophomore Andrew Hansen.

During the meetings, Heller often brings in professionals so that the group can interview them.

Meetings are fun and there is always food, freshman Jane Simonetti said.

“Because there’s no film class at the high school, it’s an opportunity to still do film with people around my own age,” she said.

Through projects that Heller assigns, the group covers all areas of film, including audio, visual, photo and even animation.

“Our approach is ‘film is a language,’” Heller said. “You learn a vocabulary and you basically express yourself through film.”

Hansen likes film for its storytelling aspect, choosing to focus on fictional narratives and documentaries. He recently made a documentary for Piedmont Community Service Crew in which he interviewed the occupants of the house that PCSC remodeled for its annual Rebuilding Together Oakland project.

“Film is really about storytelling,” Heller said. “We look to evoke emotion in film.”

As far as he knows, having a film crew under the Boy Scout umbrella is unique to Piedmont, Heller said.

“It definitely operates on its own, but we do events with venturing crews sometimes,” said Film Crew president sophomore Anna Campbell.

One of her favorite projects was the documentary clip she and Hansen made of the Piedmont High Adventure Crew backpacking trip.

“Besides honing our skills, we want to help spread messages,” Hansen said. “We don’t particularly have a message, but we want to be able to inspire people through film.”

Through Film Crew, Campbell has learned different ways of approaching film as well as how to use high-tech equipment and software.

“Film is pretty personal, it has a profound effect on everybody in our culture,” Heller said.

In the year-and-a-half the club has been operating, he has enjoyed seeing the club members become less inhibited.

“It’s good to join no matter what your interest is because we are not just film kids,” Hansen said. “We’re just creative people, and it’s a supportive community.”