In his long career as a choreographer and filmmaker, Kenny Ortega has worked with everyone from Gene Kelly and Francis Coppola to Michael Jackson, Cher, Elton John and Madonna.

Yet, he's had his greatest success to date as the director of the phenomenally popular High School Musical films, the third of which, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, arrives in cinemas later this year.

We met with Ortega on the set of the new film and asked him what's in store now that High School Musical is making the jump to the big screen.

Q: What is going on at East High in this third film?

A: We're on a different plane in terms of our story and the stakes that our kids are dealing with. We come in during spring, at the end of the basketball season, so it's this transitional moment and our characters are looking toward the future, to college and their lives beyond school, and wondering what's going to happen to their friendships and their relationships.
There's a line in our movie, "Everybody knows you don't take the girl with you after high school," and that's a big issue for Troy and Gabriella.

Q: You're surely not saying that Troy and Gabriella are going to split up?

A: [Laughs] That's the question: what's going to happen to them next? But in the meantime, we actually get to watch Troy and Gabriella fall in love in this film. In the first film, their relationship was just two weeks old by the end of the movie and they were juniors in high school, so it seemed appropriate to me that we ended with the possibility of a kiss and nothing more. In the second film, we spent time watching them simply enjoying being with each other. In number three we're watching their feelings for each other really blossom and develop, and that's a lot of fun.

Q: High School Musical 3 will be the first of the High School Musical films to debut in cinemas. Is that going to make a difference to what we see on screen?

A: We have more money and a little bit more time, so this film is going to be bigger and more multi-dimensional. You'll see that especially in the dance numbers. We've got a number on the basketball court, up on a rooftop, in a junkyard, in a tree house, and there's a great range of styles, which has been great fun for me. There's a little bit of Broadway in there, a little bit of funk and hip-hop, as well as ballet and ballroom. It's been much more challenging for the whole cast. Just to get the waltz right is way more difficult than people probably think.

Q: Are the cast members all natural dancers?

A: They're up there on screen alongside professional dancers, so they have to be at the top of their game. They come in and sweat and fall on their faces and get up and keep going till they get it right, and they have all improved from one film to the next, especially Zac. When Zac came to us, he wasn't a dancer. He'd done some musical theatre in high school, but he'd had no real training and it's like he's a different person between the first film and High School Musical 3. He's jumping and turning and he's really stretching himself out on the floor, and he's more soulful as well as more technically proficient. It's just been the most exciting experience working with him on the choreography for this film.

Q: How has the huge success of High School Musical impacted the cast? Have they changed?

A: Sure. They've grown as people and as actors and they now have albums and concert tours and other motion pictures in their credits.
Certainly on the second film there was this feeling of, "Whoa! What's happening here?" But in other ways they haven't changed at all. They practice, they rehearse, and they come to set prepared and excited about the work.
They're not out partying and clubbing and honestly, I say this very sincerely, not one of them is in it for the celebrity, not a one of them. I'm so filled with joy just coming to the set to work with them.

Q: Let's go back to the beginning. Tell us about the casting process

01. Now Or Never
Performed by The High School Musical 3: Senior Year Cast

02. Right Here Right Now
Performed by Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens

03. I Want It All
Performed by Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel

04. Can I Have This Dance
Performed by Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens

05. Just Wanna Be With You
Performed by Lucas Grabeel, Olesya Rulin, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens

06. A Night To Remember
Performed by The High School Musical 3: Senior Year Cast

07. The Boys Are Back
Performed by Zac Efron and Corbin Bleu

08. Walk Away
Performed by Vanessa Hudgens

09. Scream
Performed by Zac Efron

10. Senior Year Spring Musical Medley
Performed by The High School Musical 3: Senior Year Cast

11. We’re All In This Together
Performed by The High School Musical 3: Senior Year Cast

12. High School Musical
Performed by The High School Musical 3: Senior Year Cast

13. Just Getting Started
Performed by ABC Reality Winner

14. Last Chance
Performed by The High School Musical 3: Senior Year Cast

SALT LAKE CITY — School's out for summer. Out for good, actually. At least for Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Monique Coleman, Corbin Bleu and Lucas Grabeel — the six principal players in Disney's High School Musical franchise.
Shooting just wrapped for their big-screen grand finale, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, due Oct. 24. While a fourth film is in the works, no one expects the primary players to return.

But for much of the spring and summer, the actors were together again at East High, where the original Disney Channel movie took off in 2006 and became a pop culture sensation, fueled by drama and dance numbers from Efron and Hudgens' sweethearts Troy and Gabriella; their pals Bleu and Coleman; and twin rivals played by Tisdale and Grabeel.

For the third time, set designers have transformed Salt Lake City's East High School into Disney's version of a freshly painted slice of academic Americana. Outside the main entrance, a red banner proclaiming "Congratulations Wildcats: Back to Back Champions!" has been hung. Broadway-grade red curtains hang in the auditorium for the musical numbers. And in the gym, Troy's basketball jersey has been retired, displayed up high next to those of his father and best pal, Chad.

The first HSM was shot for $4.2 million, the second, $7.8 million. Though there's more to work with for Senior Year (no one will say how much), the sets are still kept in the simple style of actual high school musical productions. Even a fantasy sequence features palm trees and flames made of paper.

"We always try to keep a naiveté," explains Kenny Ortega, who has directed all three films. "There is more scale and detail in High School Musical 3, but it's still our world — young people wishing and aspiring."

It has been a struggle to keep filming to its 45-day schedule, necessitating shoots that have lasted up to 18 hours. But the young actors aren't complaining. With summer temperatures on the rise, they have been hanging out in a inflatable kiddie pool outside Efron and Hudgens' trailer or in Tisdale's trailer, where the big draw is Guitar Hero on her Wii — a particular favorite of Efron's.

Efron, 20, was the last to sign on for film No. 3, but he says that had little to do with wanting a movie-star paycheck, which many believed he deserved after his lead role in Hairspray.

"High School Musical has always been a blast to work on since Day 1," he says. "I just didn't know if a third one would work. When the script came in, I thought it was very well done, and it was an easy yes."

Ortega points out that Efron was just 17 when the first installment made its debut. "Then suddenly High School Musical 2 thrust him into this extraordinary light — the cover of Rolling Stone. Any adult with any common sense would (have advised him to) step back and be objective, and make sure that all the steps taken in that special light are the right choices."

Ortega has been sharing his deep love for the American musical with his young cast, whom he calls his "kids." When legendary dancer Cyd Charisse died last month, he dedicated a day's shoot to her memory.

"This has been a 13-year-old boy's dream," says Ortega, seated in his director's chair with a handheld microphone he uses to make announcements. Usually perched on his lap is his teacup terrier, Manly, who plays Sharpay's dog, Boi, in the films. At one point, Ortega compliments the cast for nailing a scene, and Manly, too, barks approvingly.

The finale of the film is, of course, a graduation scene. It's a big song-and-dance number shot on the football field, inspired by Ortega's work on Super Bowl halftime shows and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Atlanta and Salt Lake City.

The film also includes sequences with a bit less flash but plenty of humor. Sharpay (Tisdale) gets an over-the-top I Want It All dream sequence, in which she envisions herself and twin brother Ryan (Grabeel) as