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
Throughout the semester, I used in class time to work on planning projects and collaborating with students in my groups. Having two hours of class time allowed for me to plan the majority of our videos during the school day. I was also able to use class time for working on client work. In class, there were some days when I finished early and didn't have much to work on. When this happened, I worked on individual projects such as improving my website and adding new footage to my film reel. I also used my extra time to make my projects better by doing re-edits and receiving feedback from fellow students and making those changes to my work during class. Outside of class, I spent a lot of time working on client work and researching ways to make my projects better. The majority of the first semester was spent filming client work and I did that almost completely outside of the class time. I also used my free time to learn more about video production by studying films and watching tutorials to learn more filmmaking techniques that I can take into my projects.
Strengths and Weaknesses
As a student, my strengths are being hardworking and good at collaborating. Throughout the first semester, there was a lot of projects and client work I was a part of. I was constantly busy and almost always shooting something on the weekend. But because the work I was producing was something I loved doing, I had a lot of fun creating it which made me want to work hard on every video I produced and I made sure every project was made to the best quality possible. Another strength I have is collaboration. In the first semester, I had to meet a lot of new Juniors in my class. I had to learn how to work with a completely new group of people to create a variety of films. But because I am comfortable working with new people, every project was able to run smoothly and I've gotten close with almost all the students in my class.
An area I need to work on improving is trust. When on set, it can be hard for me to stick to one production role and I constantly want to help others and make sure their work is always good. However, my job shouldn't be in micromanaging every crew member, but on being a more influential leader who encourages others to complete their roles the best they can without my help. Throughout the semester, I took a step back on set and focused on my production role and not others as much. Of course, I helped others and gave them positive feedback, but I didn't try to take over another role just because I didn't trust they could handle it.
Guest Speakers
From our guest speakers, I was able to learn a lot of tips that can help benefit our film. First, Gordon Lamb gave a lot of helpful advice in scriptwriting. A lot of the time in the Hidden, we had scenes that weren't absolutely necessary. And because of this, the film wasn't as strong as it could've been. He advised us to only keep scenes that we know moved the story along. And while we were writing the Ebony Codex script, we constantly kept this idea in mind. The other speaker, Brandon Priest, gave a really interesting presentation about marketing and how you don't necessarily have to have a degree from a university to do what you love. I now have an internship under him, and I've learned a lot about how important marketing is and having a strategy for promoting a product is. And lastly, Drew Conners gave a lot of helpful tips for writing in characters. Drew taught us how to make characters likable whether they are the lead or the villain. These tips were really helpful when we made personalities for all of the Ebony Codex's characters and we made sure we spent an entire day designing the variety of personality traits.
Production Role
For the upcoming feature film, I will be the director. Going into this role, I have a lot of knowledge that I have gained from working closely with Brady during the Hidden. I learned a lot from working with him and I hope to continue to lead like he did and teach the juniors how producing a feature film works. Throughout production, I will use my experiences to guarantee the feature film is produced successfully and that everyone has an enjoyable experience in the process.
Summary
Overall, this semester I've greatly enjoyed getting to know the new students in my class and working with a variety of people. The projects we worked on this semester were all really fun and I produced a variety of work I'm really proud of. If I could change anything about this semester it would be in the planning of individual films. In most of the projects I worked on, my group was always stressed on finding time to produce our films and I wish I spent more time organizing production schedules. This semester really taught me how excited I am to produce another feature film and how confident I am that this class will work hard to make the Ebony Codex an amazing film. As we make our way through the second semester, I want our class to focus on being respectful to other feature films and being supportive of the other hours. Last year it felt like a competition between hours as we produced our feature films and I want that to stop. This year I want students to know they can help the other hours film when they need it and that we should support their creative process just as much as we want them to support us.
