We're Halfway Done with Senior Year

Wow, I can't believe we're already done with first semester. It's weird to think about how much time has passed since the first day of school. Anway, we got a lot done in e-Comm.

Semester One Projects

     We did three groups projects this semester. A basic camera assignment, a commercial, and a short film. 

     The basic camera assignment kicked off the year and gave each of us a chance to review the functions of our class cameras. My group decided to make a music video to a song a friend of ours had made. The plot was that a man finds himself in a house he doesn't recognize and has to figure out how he got there and why he's there, then when things don't go exactly to plan, he is knocked unconscious and the day starts over again. The friend in question ended up not letting us use her song, so we had to switch it to a short. I feel like the strange and hard to follow plot would have worked better as a music video where you can pay more attention to the song and visuals than the actual plot and ideas presented to you, but that's okay. 

     We only had two or so weeks to do this project, so we were in crunch time mode. We filmed it in two days and edited it quick. Our location made it hard to get the feel we wanted and I think even we didn't truly understand the look we were going for. But we tried our best and worked it out. 

     I was on camera for this project and that is definitely not my strong suit. I had to push my limited knowledge as a cameraman and get a lot of help from others so I could learn more about the camera and shot composition and making sure the important things are where they need to be. 

     The feedback we were given was that we had to make the plot more evident and the audio was shoddy. Both of which are definitely true. I think we ended up stripping it of the original sound and using other audio and noises in its place. I don't really like this project and honestly wouldn't redo it if given the chance. I would rather take a different approach to the whole assignment and start from scratch.

     Our next project was a commercial, and my last team parted ways, trying to shake The Watcher off our backs. I also decided it was my time step out of the DP chair and back into my usual place as editor. It was a time to try something else. After watching a bunch of commercials, we decided to take the direction of that one pizza commercial with Joe Keery from Stranger Things. Our commercial was for Levis. We took the weird dance scene from Spider-man 3 and re-shot it downtown.
     We had longer to do this next project, so we were a bit more comfortable. We had some problems with continuity because of the way we directed our extras. That made editing a bit of a challenge, and I definitely kept that in mind when it came to future projects. We had a composer in our group and he put together some original music in the same style as the movie scene, and that's one fly favorite parts of the project.

     We also hadn't checked out a dolly or anything, so moving shots were by far the hardest part of the shoot. That became our main piece of feedback as well. Too shaky. If we re-shot it with a dolly it would have made the whole thing nicer, but our actor and extras became wholly unavailable right after we turned the project in. I do like this project more than The Watcher, but I still have my things I wish I could go back and do differently on set and on the chopping board.

     Then came the moment of truth: short films. We each had to write up a treatment and pitch it to the class. Mine was about an Elvis impersonator who gets kidnapped by a cult. Weird, but somehow it got picked by a group and we were off. I had to do a bulk of the job. Scheduling, finding actors, gathering props and costumes, fell onto my shoulders even though I was post-production. This project became  stressful really fast. But I really wanted it to turn out the best it could, so I kept marching on.

     Since this project is relatively the hardest, we had the most time. I planned everything out so we would be done filming by the time I needed to start editing, but somehow we ran over and all the way through the set post-production week. I had to re-wrangle my cast and crew to get it finished and pulled some long nights to get it edited and colored. Da Vinci gave me a hard time when it came to getting back into premiere and the audio was pretty bad.
     We haven't watched them in class yet so I don't have any feedback. But, I just now had it pointed out to me that there's one shot that needs to be flipped and some people I forgot to put in the credits, so I will definitely be going back and fixing those things. This is probably one of the projects I'm most proud of this far, just because of how much work and time I poured into it.

Time in Class

     A bulk of my time in class is spent editing. On the first project I did most of the pre-production so that took up my time. The second project I helped with storyboarding and I came up with the idea and then I edited it. The third project fell heavily on my shoulders so I did it all in class. If I thought I was done- I wasn't. I need to double check my work and touch up on little details I had missed in everything I worked on. Outside of class I was on set a lot and edited at home some. I also did all of the coloring for Suspicious Minds at home. 

Client Work

     I have two major client work projects this year that will carry me through the end of next year. 

     Last year, Abby Goss and I did some client work for the Johnson County Mental Health office and they asked us to come back again this year. They write there own script and find their own actors, so all we have to do is shoot it and edit it. We have already had one meeting with them to read through the script and soon me and Abby will start working out filming date and storyboarding so we can get filming in January. I'm not sure if Abby or I will edit it, but we are usually both on set. They asked us to bring on a sophomore or junior so they can take on the reins next year. The group is fun and we really enjoyed working with them last year, so I 'm looking forward to entering production.

     Every year, our marching band has e-Comm film them a documentary of the season, so I took on the job. I came to band camp over the summer and filmed it and many event throughout first semester. I wasn't able to make it out to many competitions so it's going to make editing pretty hard. I'm planning to start editing over break and a friend of mine said he'd help me. The goal is to have it done before spring. 

Areas of Strength and Improvement

     In e-Comm, my main thing is post-production. I love editing and it is always something I can fall back on. I love watching the final project come together and making those little touch ups as I go. Last year, Brett taught me how to color in Da Vinci and I worked on that for the feature film. I've been using it in my projects, but it's kind of hard to improve when you don't know what you need to learn. I'm all hoping to teach someone else this year so we can divide up the work and they'll have someone who knows the program next year. I never thought I would know anything about color, but here we are. I want to get better in the production side of it all. I'm not great behind a camera and cinematography isn't my thing. But, I would like to get to know it better so I can understand all aspects of the world, which will in turn help me even more when it comes to editing. 

Guest Speakers

     We had a lot of really cool guest speakers come in this year who were able to teach us a bunch about the industry and their personal views on filmmaking and production.

     We were super lucky to have Morgan Cooper, a director from KC, come talk to us about his experience being an up and coming director. He answered every single question we threw at him and he was genuinely curious about us and our program. He was very insightful about how he wanted to bring more women and people of color into higher positions in film and how he wanted to do that. He even told us that when we're ready to hit him up for help branching out into the industry. It was by far my favorite.

     Every year we get to have a KC local in the industry come talk to us, Gordon Lamb. He taught us about the equipment he has and how to best utilize the things we have. His presentation is always interesting and is something to look forward to every year.

     A couple of alumni came back and talked to us, too. Our director from last year, Darby Christensen, came back and talked to us about what working on a feature film set would actually look like and the process break down. She also told us about the film school she goes to now and its similarities and differences to what we're doing now. 

     Leah Wellman came back and talked to us about the cameras we use. I really liked her presentation because it played a bunch of stuff out for me that I didn't entirely understand or only briefly got after working on different projects. Hers really helped when it came time for the commercial project. 

     Ryan Burnett came and talked about post-production and making are everything was kept organized. He talked about how important it is, especially with the feature film coming around.

Upcoming Feature Film

Our biggest project will take us all the way through the end of the year. We will have a big premiere at Cinetopia for the whole community to come see. This year, I get to be the script supervisor and colorist. I learned a lot from last year's script supervisor on set and in class, so I'm really excited to do it for myself. I am also excited to be the colorist and pass down what I know to a junior for next year. I get to watch the entire movie be created from script to screen. 

In Conclusion

Looking back, I accomplished a lot in e-Comm this semester. I got the roles I wanted for the feature, I made a short film I am proud of, and I worked with a lot of new people. The thing I loved most about this semester was honestly turning in the short film and being done with it. Then, reflecting on the whole process and the work put into a 5 minute video. If I could do anything differently I wish I could have branched out and worked with even more of the people I still haven't had a chance to work with. Also, I would redo all of project one. I'm proud fo the work I've done this semester and I'm ready to enter my final semester of high school with my head held high. One goal for next year is to stay on top of everything and even ahead of the curve. I don't want to fall behind and drown in work. I am super excited to see how the rest of the year plays out and how my class works as a whole team. It's gonna be a good one.

I'm Not an Underclassmen!!

It's the end of junior year, and I am no longer by anyone's standards an underclassman. Which is very cool and a little nerve-racking. But, the nerve-racking stuff won't really start until after summer so I have some time. Let's reflect, why don't we? Junior year.

I always forget I didn't start the year in entertainment. I started with animation and I did a project and a half. By the time I got to entertainment, I had missed the first two projects. I think my favorite two projects from this year were the short film and the feature film.

The short film was my first full project in that class. I worked with my friends and directed my script. I picked it as one of my favorites because it was my first one and I was proud of the way it turned out. It took us a couple weeks to make start to finish; it was hard to find days we could all make it on set. That was the most difficult challenge, finding time to squeeze in filming in our's and our lead's busy schedules. This project helped me learn a lot about directing and taking the lead in projects. The story didn't have a very strong ending and that's honestly because we couldn't figure out how to end it. I've always struggled with the fact that stories can be anything you want them to be. That just seems like so much pressure to choose the right ending. We also could have been more creative with our lighting choices.  I'm still proud of the fact that we finished this piece on time and the way we wanted it to be. We fit filming into any time we could and it was usually a couple hours after school until as late as everyone could stay and long Saturdays. Abby and I work pretty well as a team and we bounce ideas off of each other really well, so filming was mostly a breeze. I need to improve my script writing because I am not great at creating characters. Well, here it is.

My other favorite project from this year was the feature film we made called Get Real. I was on the post-production team as an editor and colorist. I liked this project because I got to become friends with a lot of the seniors and I learned a new program. I loved getting to work with my class and my friends every day, even if it did get super stressful at the end. I started as an editor and then graduated to a colorist as it became time. This project took all of second semester to make. It was challenging right at the end because we got a little in over our heads as I was coloring the whole thing by myself. Luckily the other colorist finished his other project and could take some weight off my shoulders. We had editing parties where we would all stay at the school late and then we would go to someone else's house and keep editing. I need to work on coloring faster, each grade and recolor took me a lot of time because I was so worried about it looking bad. I also could have made the colors pop more than I did. I was pretty critical of myself when it came to watching the finished project on the big screen, but I was still really proud of what I accomplished. The finished movie was really good and I almost cried in the theater at the climax. They haven't uploaded the movies to Youtube yet, but when they do it will be under ONWStudios.

The thing I loved the most this year was getting to work with my friends and see the things they create. If I could change one thing, I would have gone straight into entertainment so I could do the commercial and music video.  My main take away from this year and my goal is how hard I want to work next year to make each project the best it can be. (Here's my direct address to Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith, I really want to step up my production value next year and make you, my class, last year's seniors, and most importantly myself, proud.) Next year will be the year I jump head first into the arts.

I'm really hoping that next year I stay in sixth and seventh hour because I love having e-Comm at the end of the day. I really don't like the idea of having it at the beginning or middle of the day and having classes afterward. Next year, I don't mind doing coloring since I'm the only person to get taught Da Vinci, but I really want to be the script supervisor. In our theater department, I am an assistant director and the closest comparing role in e-Comm is a script supervisor. I have already gotten to assistant direct couple shows and I got to learn from this year's script sup Piper. She was a really hard worker and really good at her job and I would love to fill her shoes.  I also got to fill her for her a couple times on set and I loved it. Whatever I end up doing, I cannot wait for next year.

Where's Ray?

     For our last project in e-Comm of the year (besides the Get Real), we were tasked with creating a mini documentary.  We were to choose a subject or topic we found interesting, and, well, document it. We had to have interviews and a plot. With that, our team got to work.

     While brainstorming for topics, my friend Abby came up with a bit of a nonconventional idea. What if we, took to social media and it's influential abilities?

     We took that idea and ran with it.

     I wish I had a copy to show, but team has had some personal problems come up and we do not have it exported yet.

    So, we had our idea. But how were we to actually apply it, and how were we going to document it while we ran around praying that it actually worked? We were lucky that Abby had already had some experience growing an account fast, so we stuck her with posting and growing duties. Most of my work was in pre-production, getting logistics figured out, planning posts. The idea behind the account was that someone had "kidnapped" our school's mascot, Ray the Raven. Players had to decipher clues and codes to figure out where and how to get him back.

    We had one major filming day. We are all friends with the girl who plays our mascots we borrowed the suit for a day. In an old video my friends made, they used this cool trick to get a silhouette on a colored background fast. We staged our friend Mario as the kidnapper and had another friend wear the head and crouch next to him. Then, we went outside and filmed a little video of the raven actually getting kidnapped. The whole time, Abby and I filmed behind the scenes. We also did a little photoshoot in the basement so we had some more content for the page.

     Most of our class time earlier on went to figuring out posts and clues. The idea was there, but we didn't know how to accomplish it. I came up with the idea to hide the main clue throughout the entire project, so we took each letter of our final clue and had the capital letters spell it out. We also did a little clue at the end where A=1. One post would go up daily over the span of two weeks with all the clues leading to real life.

     Abby really took the leadership role with this project since she was in charge of the account itself, but we all worked together to make sure the whole thing ran smoothly. Project management was extremely important to the success of our documentary. If we missed a day or two of posting and weren't always checking up on the account's stats. If we were lacking anywhere it was technical skills. Our documentary itself was pretty simple since the majority of our work went into pulling it off.

     Our last day came as a bit of a surprise. We posted our final clue and could only hope some people would show up. Lucky for us and the success of our project, they did. People participated! We had a large group show up all at once. One student followed it very closely and another had found a program to try and take off the voice changer we put on our original video. The account at its peak probably had about 145 followers.

     If I could go back, I would have been a bit more diligent about making sure all the posts got out on time and tried to get more footage during class of posts and updates along the way, making the whole thing a bit more cinematic.  I really liked our idea for the project, though. It felt different than what is normally expected and we stepped out of our comfort zones with the uncertainty of the fate of our project. I wouldn't change that. When it comes to the next project, I want to focus more on cinematography and making sure the visual aspect is there.
 
     I really enjoyed watching this project unfold from beginning to end and I'm really glad we stuck with this idea in the first place. Our school tends to be a little lazy when it comes to things like this so the odds were stacked a bit against us, but I'm glad our worked paid off the way it did.


   

The Dangers of Go Zones

Aside from the feature film, we were given another project- a PSA. My team started out with a PSA about hitchhiking. A little girl comes in and hitches a ride with a strange man. The end twist was that the man ends up getting robbed by the little girl. We had the whole thing storyboarded and planned and ready to film but our two big film days were cancelled because of snow and snow days. They made it so when the days came, we had no equipment.

So, it was back to the drawing board.  We took a day and brainstormed new ideas that would only take a day or two to film. We ended up taking this thing at our school called Go Zones, the area in the hallways reserved for people walking, and making a short about the dangers of blocking them with your feet. The concept of Go Zones, while I guess fundamentally important, was always a little funny to us, so we made it a comedy. We were lucky enough to keep our actor from our original video and film during the lunch hour.

We filmed the voice over one day, and visuals the next. Sadly, we couldn't get all the equipment we needed so the shots are shaky. I think if we had too a bit more time and had everything we needed, it good have been pretty good. Not saying what we have no isn't funny, it definitely is. Editing full on Sarah's shoulders so I only saw the final product. I was proud of her for taking a short day of work and making a real video out of it.

I learned a lot about being prepared and having back up plans on this project. Communication was also really important in the process. Communicating with actors to get availability took a good chunk of time because one of our main actors could only be reached in person. Almost no one was ever available on the same day. But, we got it planned and prepped and we were set to check everything out. But then snow day after snow day came and blocked our filming days so we had to communicate within our group to figure everything out and then get the plan to our actors.

If I could go back and do anything differently I would have prepared for filming days even earlier and checked out equipment ahead of time in the even of snow days. I was really proud of the way my groups worked together when those snow days through a wrench in our plans.

I am definitely looking forward to this project next year so I can step up my game and show off what I can really do.