Technical Skills

One of the main areas I really grew in throughout e-Comm is technical skills. These technical skills range from having a larger understanding of editing in Premiere Pro to being comfortable behind camera on a DSLR. The majority of the skills I learned were from just trying new things and experimenting. For example, almost everything I learned about DSLRs was from watching Youtube tutorials, going on photoshoots with my sister, or being on the robotics team in the media sub-team. I have always been really passionate about cameras and e-Comm has really helped me develop as a stronger cinematographer and become more comfortable behind camera. Learning technical skills is important because having a larger understanding of using media software sets you apart in the film industry and makes you more prepared for a future career. The main challenges I've faced along the way are just learning and overcoming problems. I have films that are super grainy or really shaky but I have learned from my mistakes and have developed as a stronger cinematographer because of it.

Communication

I've learned a lot of communication skills throughout e-Comm and especially in this past year. As director, I've really had to step up my communication skills to effectively lead my class as well as tell actors about filming days and what they need to know for filming. I've learned communication skills throughout every project and I've learned how to communicate better through projects that don't always work out well. For example, some of the main challenges I've had to face with communication has been with students not knowing call times or not knowing when we were intending to film. Being able to communicate effectively is really important because without good communication skills nothing can get done or nothing gets done on time.

Collaboration

Collaboration has mainly taught me how to work with a diverse group of people and to not always work with the same group of people. During my sophomore year of e-Comm I mainly worked with the same group of people and all of my projects looked the same because of it. However, during my junior and senior year I began working with students in different grade levels which has really helped me grow as a creative person and as a more talented filmmaker. Working with people who have different ideas is really important because it makes your projects more diverse and intricate. If you always work with your best friend you don't learn how to lead better because you just do things the same way you have always done it before. I have faced a variety of challenges with collaboration just because of certain groups I've worked with have had very opinionated people and its hard to collaborate when conflicts arise. However, I've learned that the best way to make it through arguments is just to take a step away for a while and talk about it when you aren't as frustrated.

Leadership

I have learned so much as a leader throughout e-Comm. As an underclassmen I was very shy and uncomfortable leading and managing projects. However, as an upperclassmen the feature film really forced me out of my comfort zone and by being DP I really grew as a leader by working with Brady. I mainly learned how to lead by having to tell actors what to do so that it fit the shot that I was working on. Being DP forced me to communicate more which made me a stronger leader as I moved into my senior year. In senior year especially I became a stronger leader by directing The Ebony Codex. I specifically learned how leadership shouldn't be me bossing people around all day but facilitating the growth of the class as a whole and not micromanaging individual tasks constantly. Having strong leadership skills is really important because without a leader everything falls apart and no one focuses. I've faced a lot of challenges as a leader mainly because it's hard to have respect sometimes. People don't always want to listen and I've learned how important being patient as a leader is.

Project Management

One of the last skills I've really learned is project management. Project management plays an important part in every single video I have worked on in the past 4 years and I have become a lot better at planning and organizing films. This past year, I spent the majority of my time creating call sheets and production schedules that were really important in making sure that the feature film gets done. With this however, I  have had a lot of challenges. Scheduling conflicts always come up and people aren't always willing to commit to a film or a location falls through. In order to be effective at project management I've really had to learn to be a fast problem solver and patient when things go wrong.

Overall I believe my biggest strength has definitely been in technical skills. When I look back on my projects from sophomore year, all of the shots lack depth and aesthetic appeal. But now, I have become a lot stronger behind camera and I understand all of the technical skills that go behind every single shot.  My biggest weakness would definitely be in collaboration. I would say I am very good at working with people, but I have had a lot of conflicts working with people and I'm still learning how to be more calm when issues arise.

As I move onto college next year, I will definitely be taking all of the skills i've learned in e-Comm with me. All of the skills i've learned are important life skills that I will need in a future career and in any film I work on next year. Having these skills will also definitely set me apart as a leader because I've already spent 4 years learning them compared to other students who didn't have the opportunities e-Comm provides available to them.

I don't think there is anything I would change in the ways i've learned the 5 guarantees and i'm so thankful for everything e-Comm has taught me. If it wasn't for all the projects i've worked on I never would've learned how to use a DSLR or collaborate in a diverse amount of settings.


Projects

The Ebony Codex Short Film



One of my favorite projects I got to work on this past year was The Ebony Codex short film. This video was probably my favorite just because it established the style of film I wanted to work on for the feature film and I was able to be DP for it. This project took around a month to complete because we spent around 2 weeks writing the script, a week filming, and another week editing. My group faced a lot of challenges in the production of this film just because of actor availability. We had a different cast for this film but after they had to leave early on set we had to recast and reshoot on a different day. Because of this, we were super crammed on editing and had to do it the day before the project was due. This video really made me a stronger cinematographer and helped me figure out the aesthetic of the feature film. This was one of the main projects I got to DP this past year and I got to experiment with lighting and camera movement which I enjoyed a lot. The feedback my group received for this video was mainly that the cinematography looked good but that we could have worked harder to make the film more spooky or show more shadows. We didn't really change anything after feedback, but if I were to do this project again, I would definitely spend more time on lighting and adding different colors to establish the mood more. Overall, I really love this film and although it is kind of slow I think the shots look lovely and that my sister did a really good job acting in it.


Music and Making of a Song Mini Documentary



My second favorite project I got to work on was the mini documentary. I mainly liked this project just because of the group of people I got to work with. Jack, Dom, Mario, and Mason are such talented filmmakers and musicians and making this documentary was really enjoyable and always fun. This video took around a month to create and we had around 5 filming days. One of the main challenges we faced was mainly in just finding time to film and actually getting the song done. My group was always really busy and we were having to fight for time between editing the feature film and filming our documentary. The documentary also relied on Rosehill finishing their song in order for us to finish the doc. Because of that, the band was having to focus on finding time to film and find time to finish the song. Throughout this film I really learned how to make a documentary in general. I haven't filmed a documentary before and it was really fun to make a video of a different style. The main feedback we received was that the iPhone footage really just didn't fit the video. However, my group couldn't really do much to change that now, but if we were less busy we would have definitely spent more time getting professional footage. Overall, even though some of the shots weren't as pretty, this documentary was easily the most fun i've had on set in a while and I loved having the opportunity to work with the juniors in my class one last time.


Cinematography Film Reel



My third favorite project was the film reel. I really enjoyed getting to edit together a bunch of cinematic clips to music and I found it quite enjoyable. I'm not usually an editor but his project gave me the opportunity to actually work in Premiere. This project took around a week to complete because it took a while to find shots that I liked as well as music that fit the overall mood. One of the main challenges I faced was just in figuring out what shots I wanted to use. I have a lot of shots i'm proud of but I didn't want my film reel to be really long. Because of that, I spent a lot of time narrowing down the shots that I liked and choosing only the ones that reflected my style of cinematography. Along the process of this project, I learned that I really enjoy editing upbeat videos. I don't usually get the opportunity to edit my class projects just because i'm usually DP and this project gave me the chance to actually do something different. The feedback I received was in the way the shots from the glide floss commercial doesn't fit the overall dark mood of the video. I haven't had the opportunity to remove them yet, but I intend to replace them with different shots either from The Hidden or my documentary. Making my film reel was really enjoyable and i'm proud of the final video I was able to produce and I feel like it showcases my artistic style really well.


In Class Time
I used my time in e-Comm mainly as an opportunity to collaborate with people in their production roles and prepare for on set time. Classes were normally spent working with the DP getting shot lists ready or with my assistant directors making sure all call sheets and schedules were correct for filming. Outside of class I spend a lot of time working on individual projects. I've learned a lot of technical skills by being a part of the robotics media team as well as going on a variety of photoshoots and working on client work. All of the projects I've worked on outside of class have allowed me to learn different skills such as photography which e-Comm doesn't specifically teach me, but is something in a media career that i'm still interested in.

Strengths/Weaknesses
I think one of my strengths as a video student is my creativity and ability to problem solve. I have worked on a diverse amount of projects and I haven't limited my creativity to only working on documentaries or only music videos. I am able to do anything from weddings to senior portraits to feature films and I think that really sets me ahead as a potential employee. Similarly, I'm also really good at problem solving and by being on sets where everything has fallen apart has really taught me how to fix issues quickly and efficiently. Being able to work fast is really important in the film industry and its a skill i've become a lot more comfortable at the past years.

I think I can still work to improve making my work look as professional as it can be. In some of my projects, the lighting is too dark or the shot is really shaky. I need to spend more time learning how to shoot better in lowlight and use stabilizing equipment to make my work the best quality it can be.


Feature Film

For the feature film I was the director. As the director, I did a wide variety of things to make sure the film got done. At the end of 1st semester, I was mainly facilitating the script writing process and making sure all ideas made sense and that our script would be strong and well developed. After we had a script, I played an important role in the casting process. I ran the casting call and selecting actors with my assistant directors to use in our film. As second semester began, I spent a lot of time teaching everyone how to do their production role. Whether that be making sure Lauryn knew the correct camera settings or that the editors had a plan for labeling files. I then organized the table read and began creating schedules and call sheets for filming. Before every filming day, I made a detailed schedule that would guarantee every scene would get done in the time we had available to us. On set, I worked with actors and the crew to film everything. I told actors how to read certain lines, helped the camera department get the best shots possible, and made sure the entire crew was focused and serious. After filming ended, I facilitated the editing process and provided feedback along the way. I had to approve of every scenes edit and make sure it looked the way I wanted it to. I think I contributed to the films success by my ability to take my past skills into other departments and help other people learn what I had learned last year. Specifically, I was able to teach Lauryn and Sophia how to be better cinematographers. I made sure they understood all the camera settings, helped them with framing shots, and helped them with lighting on set. Everyday in class I had to use my production role just by being able to facilitate the classes progress in finishing the feature film and i'm so happy I was able to be director this past year.

Summary

Overall, I absolutely loved entertainment video because of the people I got to work with. The majority of the class was juniors and they continually went above and beyond my expectations on set every single day. They were all so talented at the beginning of the year and I think they have all learned a lot at the end of the feature film as well. I think the only thing I would change about this year would be encouraging people to engage in their production role more. A lot of students just didn't come to set or try to do their production role and I feel like I could have done a better job at encouraging everyone to participate. One of my biggest learning experiences of this year would simply be in just being the director of a feature film. I am usually behind camera and I was kind of nervous to take on the role of director. However, both Sarah and Darby were so helpful and encouraging throughout the process and I'm so grateful I got to learn how to direct a lot better this year. As I move onto film school, my main goal is to not doubt myself and to not limit myself to certain production roles. Being confident next year is really going to help me get the most out of film school and I want to be somebody people enjoy working with. I also don't want to limit myself to just being a DP. Being director this year made me realize how much I truly enjoyed trying something different and I want to continue to do that into the future. Overall, this year has probably been one of my favorites in e-Comm and i'm going to miss this program so much next year and I can't wait to take the skills and experiences i've gained into my future film career.

Music and Making of a Song Mini Documentary Reflection

For this project, Mason, Jack, Dom, Mario, and me all collaborated to make the concept of the film. For the script, we just created a list of questions we wanted to ask all of the band members consistently then use it as the voiceover throughout the film. The concept of the film was to interview all the band members and ask them why they enjoy making music and then interview them on the process they individually go through to create a song. In pre-production we created interview questions and figured out the overall theme of the video. During production, I was the DP so I worked on filming all of the band members playing their instruments and answering questions. Post production was mainly just Mario working on editing the film and my group provided feedback along the way.

Throughout this film I was mainly just responsible for doing all of the camera work. My role was mainly important on set since all of the guys in my group were a part of the band and had to be interviewed for the project. Along the way I learned how to film a different style of video. I have never filmed a documentary and it required a different style of cinematography then I am used too. I had to spend more time collecting b-roll and framing interviews then I normally do and it was fun to experiment with lighting and location. The technical skills I learned from this film were mainly just in ways to frame interviews differently and uniquely as well as how to use colored lights to convey a mood. I haven't gotten to work with the light kit a lot when i'm behind camera and this project allowed me to learn how to use them more.

Professionally, I was able to learn project management and leadership skills throughout this film. My group had a lot of conflicting schedules and we had to have around 5 filming days in order to get all the footage we needed. This video took a lot of planning and organization which was a lot different then making a short film.

If I were to do this project again, I would want to film more professional footage of them actually composing the song. The song got done really late at night so I wasn't able to film it so it was mainly shot on an iPhone. I think our video would've looked a lot more professional if all of the footage was filmed by me and with consistent lighting.

If I were to do this project again I would definitely keep the group of guys I worked with. My group was so fun to collaborate with and everyone was able to use their strengths to make the whole film look good. No one in the group was having to carry the production of the film and we all worked equally which made the filming process a lot more fun.

I would take the collaborative environment into my next project. Choosing a group of people to work with that all have different talents is really important in filmmaking and it's something I should always remember when beginning a project.

Overall I had a lot of fun filming this documentary and I'm proud of the work my group put in even though we weren't able to get all the footage we needed near the end.

Stay in School PSA

For this video, my group wanted to use the Direct TV-style commercial structure and transform it into a PSA about staying in school. The video would be a slippery slope that showed one girl dropping out of school and it escalating to her waking up in a random place.

In pre-production, my group worked on writing the script for the PSA and began figuring out locations to film each part at. Once we had a script finalized, I began creating storyboards and figuring out the props needed for each scene. After we finished planning the film, we were ready to begin production. My group filmed the video at several locations which made the production of the video take a lot longer than expected. But once we got all the footage from all the locations, we were able to begin editing. Editing was quite simple for this video except we had to add in whip pan transitions to make the flow of the video work. Once the clips were all sequenced, we added a color grade and music and we were finished.

I was the DP for this film. As the DP, I didn't really learn anything new, but I got to spend more time working in the art direction department. For this film, I chose all the costumes and most of the locations and helped figure out all of the props. I am usually only behind the camera or directing for a film so it was fun to do something different.

Through this project, I became more comfortable behind the camera. I haven't been behind the camera on a project in a while since we started working on the feature film and it was enjoyable to get to film something again.

I also became better at project management through this film. My groups PSA required several locations which took a lot of planning to organize. Because of this, my group had to thoroughly create an efficient way to film all these scenes in one day so that we could have the video turned in on time.

If I were to do this project again, I would edit it with different music and work on creating a more similar style pan in all the shots. I believe the music we used was too upbeat and this was because we didn't have a lot of time with editing to carefully select music that would fit. I also wished the pans flowed better together which is something I would want to work on if we did the project again.

I would use all the locations and actors again if I was to recreate this project. I believe all the locations were very different and aesthetically fit the mood of the video. I also believed my dad's voiceover fit the deep voice style we needed very well.

The experiences from this video that I will take into my next project would definitely be wanting to try out other production roles. I'm usually involved in very similar roles on set and trying new things like being an art director or costuming was very enjoyable.

Overall, this project was kind of stressful to work on at the same time as the feature, but I believe my group was able to pull together a good PSA at the same time as working on the feature film.

1st Semester Projects

Commercial

The first project we created this semester was a commercial. In our commercial, we had to advertise a specific product in an interesting way. My group chose to advertise Glide Floss Picks because it is a unique item to advertise and we wanted to do a product you don't normally see commercials on. This project took around 2 weeks to complete. We spent one week in pre-production planning the film and another week filming and editing the video. My group faced challenges in finding time to film the video. Because my group had a lot of members that were really busy, making all of our schedules work together was really difficult. Throughout the production of this film, I learned how to work with a different group of people. This was the first project in a new video class, and I got to work with a new group of Juniors and Seniors. It was really fun to work with a different group of people and learn the strengths of students I haven't worked with before. Overall, my group received pretty positive feedback about the cinematography and acting in the video. However, if I could change anything about this video, I would want to spend more time developing the ending. I feel like the ending was kind of rushed and I wish my group spent more time brainstorming how to make it flow better. Altogether, I'm really proud of the video my group created and I think it was a great project to start the year with.





Music Video

This project was the second video we worked on this year and it was a music video to a song we chose. This project took around 3 weeks to create and we spent the first week in pre-production, the next in production, and the last week in editing. One of the main challenges my group faced was selecting a song. All of the members in my group had very different music tastes and we had a really hard time limiting it down to one song. Through the production of this film, I also learned how to work with a new group of people and different artistic styles. This group had 3 members I've never worked with before and everyone had very distinctive production roles. Because of this, I had to become familiar with everyone's strengths and learn how to collaborate together. The feedback my group received was mainly on making the shots more stable and better lit. We tried filming at night and the shots came out super grainy because we didn't have the correct lenses and lighting equipment. We also received feedback to try to get more varied shots, but my group didn't have the time to add more which is something I would change if I were to do this project again. I would also want to add in new locations and shorten the opening shot. Overall, I really liked the editing in this video and the song my group chose. Music videos have always been my favorite videos to produce and I really enjoyed creating this video during the first semester.




Short Film

The final video we worked on during first semester was a short film. For this project, my group chose to create a prequel to the concept we hoped to develop in our feature film. This project took around 2 weeks to create and we had a week of pre-production and then another week of production and editing. The main challenge we had was that we didn't have any time to actually film the video. My group only had 2 days available and it was the weekend before the edit was due. Because of this, my group had to film the entire video in one day and then Ryan edited all night before it was due. Through the production of this film, I learned more about lighting a scene and cinematography. This was my first attempt at a more horror style film and because of this, my group had to spend more time working on lighting and making sure the shots were well established. My group received positive feedback on our film and people mainly gave feedback on the audio and music that needed to be worked on more. If I were to change anything about this video, it would be the ending of the film. We rushed the ending shots and I wished we spent more time getting different shots and lighting the scene better. Altogether, this is probably one of my favorite projects I got to work on this semester and it's the project I'm using for my college portfolio.

In Class Time 

Strengths and Weaknesses

Guest Speakers 

Production Role

Summary 

Studio History:
The studio was formed October 1928, when the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Theater chain and the Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America combined.



Major Stars: 
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Mitchum



Famous Movies:
King Kong, Citizen Kane, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.



Studio Today: 
RKO studios ceased production in 1957 after years of failure under Howard Hughes. The company revived itself into a small independent film company in 1989 named RKO Pictures LLC. 



Recent Work: 
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - September 11th, 2009
A Late Quartet - November 2nd, 2012
Barely Lethal - April 30th, 2015

Seventeen Music Video

For this music video, my group chose the song Seventeen by Peach Pit. In this song, it talks about a seventeen year olds perspective on growing up. After listening to the song several times, we chose to focus on the life of a teen who feels separated from their friends. For the video, we wanted to show a full day of a teen hanging out with his friends and slowing feeling more excluded throughout the day. We also wanted to switch between band scenes throughout the video to show more contrast in the artistic style.

After we had a concept for our video, we began storyboarding and creating a beat sheet. Since we were producing a music video, it was important to create a beat sheet that allowed us to plan what shots we wanted to use to line up with specific phrases throughout the song. We also storyboarded the video by drawing both the band scenes as well as the friend scenes. Before we began producing the video, we also researched similar music videos and selected an image that fit the aesthetic we hoped to achieve with our video. Overall we wanted our video to have a vintage aesthetic that had bright primary colors similar to an old MTV commercial. After we had finished all pre-production planning, we began filming our video. We had 3 filming days for this video that all were around golden hour and night. Our actors were all friends of the juniors in my group and we were easily able to select a crew that were comfortable acting as friends around each other because they already were. Filming was done at a park, in a basement, and along a street. These locations were all fairly close to each other which made filming run a lot smoother. As we shot the video, we focused on first filming all the friends scenes and then finishing with the band scenes. After we finished filming, Mario worked on editing our video. Mario edited throughout the weekend and we gave feedback one day and he revised the edit. The editing process went really smoothly and I believe the editing made the video look a lot more professional.

After filming this video, I learned a variety of new skills. This video mainly helped me get to know new students in my entertainment video classroom. For this project, I worked with a group of all juniors who hadn't had the experiences to create a feature film already like I have. Since I had more experience, I had the opportunity to give more of my feedback to the ways set needed to be run and how we could make our video look more professional.

I mainly used communication, collaboration, and project management in the production of this music video. Since I worked with a new group of people, I had to get used to working with different people by using collaboration skills. I also had to use communication a lot because my group had to communicate with a cast of around 5 people and make sure they were on set every day we needed them.

If I were to do this video again I would want to film more scenes with the friends and not shoot at night at all. I really liked the band scenes in our video, I just wish we had more friend scenes to alternate between throughout the video. I also didn't like the idea of filming at night. My group really wanted to get the night aesthetic types of shots, however, achieving this look is really difficult as student filmmakers. I believe our whole video would've looked way more professional if we didn't shoot at night so that we didn't have any unnecessary grain.

However, I believe our group did a good job with casting and the editing of our video. The group of teens we casted were able to interact together really well and were all different. Having a cast that works comfortably around each other is really important and something that I want to continue in all of my videos. Our videos editing was also a super important part of the process and continuing to give the editor enough time to complete a video helps make the final product look a lot better.

After completing this project, I feel a lot more comfortable making music videos. I haven't done a music video since sophomore year and having the opportunity to create another one as a senior has helped me see how much I have learned throughout the past few years and has taught me skills I can take into my college application videos. Music videos are really similar to short films and by making 2 now, I believe I have learned a lot in storytelling and how to develop a storyline without dialogue in only 3 minutes.

Overall, having the opportunity to make another music video was really enjoyable for me and I hope to make more throughout the next year. Music videos have always been one of my favorite parts of the entertainment industry and I enjoyed the experience to work with a new group of students.