Junior Year Video Class Final

Entertainment Video Semester 1

       This semester of Entertainment video has been my favorite semester of E-Comm so far throughout high school. So far this semester I've had to step up and take on more challenging roles that I haven't had to in the past, and I've enjoyed every second of it.

Camera Assignment 1

       Camera Assignment 1 was our my first project as a junior, and the first project as a whole for the class. At the beginning of the year most people in this class didn't know each other, so it was fun to meet new people and find other people to work on a short film with. I ended up being in a group with Carson, Seth, and Malik. We created a short film called, The Cola Predicament. This project took us 2-3 weeks to complete. Since this was my first project as a junior, and I was working with seniors, it was hard to find a place to fit in, where I could contribute to the film the best as I could. One thing that I learned from this assignment is that, just because I"m a junior, it doesn't mean I have to give up the bigger production roles to the seniors.

Commercial

       Our next project in class was commercials. For this project I wanted to choose my group before I got put in a group of people who also wanted to be the director. Once that plan fell apart, I ended up in a group of all seniors. The biggest problem for this project, was that our director and the other seniors didn't want to work together, so it ended up being me, the only junior, in between two groups that each wanted to make different films. This lead to really bad scheduling. One group ended up filming a completely different commercial than the original idea, the day before our project was due, and without telling me or the director, so we weren't able to help at all. Then the director has plans to film but nothing ever came of it. The biggest thing I learned from this project, was that teamwork and scheduling are a lot bigger part of a production than it may seem.

Short Film

       The Short Film was the last project we had this semester. For this project I was determined to be in the director role and create my own movie. This process started out with creating our own treatments. I wrote mine about a kid named Carson, who asks a girl out on a date, then ends up getting rejected, but finds love in the end. My treatment ended up getting chosen, and I had the opportunity to direct it. Along with directing and writing, The Date, I was the Cinematographer, Editor, and a major part of Pre-Production. We ended up putting posters throughout the hallways to get actors, and we got one that was the first fit for the role. We had 3 filming days in total, and the project took around 1.5 months in total, from writing to finishing editing. I faced many challenges throughout the whole process, especially with it being my first time directing. There were lots of scenes we had to end up changing, whether it be cause of restaurants responding to emails after the time we asked if it was fine to film, actors having to change dates because of other commitments, such as orchestra and other things, and many other reasons. Another problem I had was the fact that it is winter. We had a few days between filming, and of course it snowed between those days, and I wasn't thinking to have the characters mention it, so there is a little continuity error there. Also it was hard to get all of our outside scenes we needed, since the sun now goes down at 5. I also had a challenge at first with the camera, because this was my first time being the lead cinematographer. I was uneducated on the camera, had to learn by myself, and with the help of Seth of how to properly use it. One thing I learned on the editing side was, how important it is to organize your shots. I went through all my footage and deleted the stuff I didn't need, and renamed the stuff I did, and it still took me awhile to locate shots I needed.I f I were to do this project again, I would try to make the filming days back to back, so there is a lot less likely chance of something like the snow happening again. 

       Overall I'm happy with the work I've produced this semester so far in E-Comm. I did a lot of learning in my first two projects, and applied that new found knowledge to my own short film which I'm especially proud of. I used my time very well in class, especially during my short film, where everyday I was either, looking over the script, creating shot lists, thinking of new and creative shots we could use throughout the film, emails different business about possible locations, or editing the footage we had already of the short film. I also spent hours outside of class working on the edit of the short film, and there is still much I wish I could change, but we had to meet the deadline.

My Strengths and Weaknesses

       I feel like I have a lot of strengths when it comes to E-Comm productions. I feel like I have a big strength in editing, I've been doing it for awhile, before E-Comm and I know the ins and outs of  Premiere-Pro pretty well. I also feel like I did a good job taking lead of this short film projects as the director and making sure we hit our deadline, even though it was my first time doing that sort of thing. One thing I wouldn't call a weakness, but what I want to improve on, is my knowledge of the Camera, and how to take and use different shots and angles to the best of my ability. A lot of work from high schoolers is very static. It's a lot of still camera shots with cuts inbetween. This isn't a bad thing, and my short film is the same way, but I want to work on changing that, and adding different angles and camera movements throughout my work.

Guest Speakers

      Throughout this semester in E-Comm, Mrs. Smith has given us the opportunity to hear from past students, and industry professionals, about their roles in the film industry. My favorite time was when we got to learn from Morgan Cooper. We learned about his life and story. My biggest takeaway from him, was that you don't need to take the traditional route to make it somewhere in the film industry. I also liked learning from Darby, Ryan, and Leah, about different steps in the film process. I also really liked Gordan Lamb, and how he showed the technological advancements that have been made for the Film Industry

Feature Film

       For the feature film, the first role I applied for was Editor. I got the role, and was chosen as the main editor. Editing is VERY important, cause it can make or break the whole film. I feel like editing is one of my strongest suites, and that I can be a major contributor to the outcome of the whole feature film. I'm super excited to start production the the film!

Summary

     Even though it was the biggest challenge I faced this year, Creating the short film was my favorite part of this semester. As mentioned before, if I were to redo this semester, I wouldn't have taken so long to take charge of a project as director. Overall my takeaway was that you can never be to organized when it comes to pre production and shot lists and things. A goal I have for this next semester, is to be the best editor I can, and do good work on the feature film. My final thought is that I'm super happy I'm in E-Comm.