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.
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.
