Vampire Film Created by Roeper, Groves Students to Premiere at Main Art Theatre

It began on Facebook: That's where senior Aaron Keteyian and senion Ryan Stratton met in 2009, connected over their love for cinema and began to collaborate on a film project involving high school, friendship and lots of vampires.

Now, three years later, the pair's final film — Blood Angel — will premiere Thursday at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak.

When Keteyian and Stratton met, they agreed that the quality of most teenage productions was lacking. The goal behind Blood Angel then became, according to the pair, to make the highest quality film possible.

That included a strict filming schedule in and around Royal Oak, Livonia, Farmington and Birmingham, including the Roeper Upper School off Adams Road.

Stratton, 17, is listed as the writer, director and composer for Blood Angel – composing an original score to accompany the film — while Keteyian, 17, served as producer. Many of their friends from Roeper and Groves also served as part of the large cast and crew.

Blood Angel follows the underground and dying world of vampires as they seek to co-exist with humans. However, when a vampire shows up dead to school one morning, one of the last vampires, Selenam must enlist the help of a human boy, Jack, to investigate the death — a path that will take them onto the battlegrounds of the great Vampiric War.

For Stratton, this isn't his first foray into music, composing and film. Stratton is the son of Lon Stratton, a Metro Detroit-based cinematographer and for several years, performed with the band Live The Dash. He's composed music for Dark Night of the Pumpkinman and was the second assistant camera for the Detroit unit of The Owner, a collaborative film written and directed across five continents.

At Groves, Stratton is the center snare and drum line section leader with the Groves marching band.

Keteyian, meanwhile, has been a part of 22 Stagecrafters productions at the Baldwin Theatre in Royal Oak, serving as the stage manager for nine of those shows.

The film will premiere at 8 p.m. Thursday, with a red carpet show at 7 p.m. Tickets are free though attendees must RSVP at www.BloodAngelFilm.com.