Final Post

I suppose I'm expected to conclude this with some sort of sentiment. As of today the film is finally as complete as it will ever be. That means saying goodbye to this horribly stressful and tremendously rewarding experience. It's been quite the learning experience, I'm not sure if I'll miss the looming due dates, but I think I will miss the constant force pushing me to continue learning in the way I did. Learning aside though, the project served as a nice farewell to all the friends I will no longer see after we've all moved to our respective colleges. I suppose that's all I have to say to conclude this.

Finalizing the Project

Filming is nearing it's end finally, we film the last three scenes these evening and we filmed both Saturday and Sunday of last weekend completing around ten scenes. I am continuing to edit and also write up all my necessary documents for my presentation. Oddly enough the project is finally beginning to make full sense to me as I write my narrative for the project. I don't wish to take a lot away from the narrative, but writing down all thats occurred has helped to understand how much I've really taken away from this project. Also I should mention that last night I, along with all the other WISE students attended the sample presentation done by April Carrol. Although noone really reads this blog so the praise won't go far, I have to commend her on volunteering to present in front of the full crowd, and also I must say that the presentation was nothing short of excellent. It has given me a lot to consider for my own project. I want to write a more substantial post but I am simply to swamped with the rest of the work currently, but I'll make sure to write one tomorrow.

Preparing for the Presentation

My Wise presentation is nearly a week away, this means that my personal narrative, research commentary and bibliography is due very shortly, next wednesday to be exact. On top of that I also have to have the final cut of my film. I've planned a long day of filming tomorrow to get done with all of what I can, leaving me about three days to edit a large portion of the film. I also found out just minutes ago that one of my main actors can not attend most of filming tomorrow despite having planned for this filming two weeks prior. All this is really is an excuse for the absence of post as of late and for the next few days, hopefully I will be able to finish everything that I need to.

Working with Fonts

    Personally I never anticipated that the subject of fonts would be a place of research in my project. I assumed I would just quickly pick a typeface for the necessary titles and be done with it. Oddly enough this was not the case. During the past few days I've been editing non stop in response to the looming deadlines. As a part of the editing I had to decide on typefaces for the typed words used in my film. I started by choosing the typeface for my opening credits. I tested several combinations of typeface and color and found that none of them felt fitting. Generally this would be a minor issue yet in a project where I am almost always without total control due to the collaborative aspect, I feel the need to be very precise with what I do control.
     This issue started with me having no knowledge as to how one goes about picking a font that feels fitting. I was merely trying each and deciding whether or not I liked it in the given context. This was an inefficient method, luckily I happen to know someone who does understand why typefaces do or don't work. My father, Bryan Bates, runs a web design and branding company called AWP. Now he himself does not work as a designer but he often plays a role in the process and interacts often with AWP's designer James McDonough. As a result he had plenty of information to pass onto me.
      He first divided typefaces into the two broad groups of Serif and Sans Serif, the difference being that Serif fonts have small strokes that extend beyond the ends of characters whereas Sans Serif do not. For this reason it's generally considered that Sans Serif fonts should be used when the text is large as the letters are more difficult to read. He also said that it's important to either use only one font or at least choose from the same family of font.
       My father then directed me to an article by Dan Mayer that you can find here. In this article Mayer separates fonts into five groups Geometric Sans, Humanist Sans, Old Style, Transitional and Modern, and Slab Serif. Geometric is both clear and modern yet can be boring as it lacks a lot of character. I decided this wasn't ideal. Humanist fonts are meant to derive from human handwriting. They're more detailed than geometric. The pros are that they are both human and clear, but they also can seem wishy washy and fake. In describing a font the use of fake and wishy washy confuses me yet these fonts also did not seem fitting. I continued to read on but found myself only looking at the font samples provided and not the descriptions that seemed to just be a place in which one can act pretentious. It's also entirely possible that I just don't understand design well enough to benefit from what he's saying.
          Nevertheless I ended up moving on to a different piece that was mentioned by James to my father. What I looked at can be found here. All it is a flow chart designed to help you pick a typeface. This seemed much more straightforward to me so I used it. Although I did not find that any of the fonts shown were the one I was looking for, it did give me a much better idea of how to select the desired typeface. Overall I found this piece more helpful.
         You may be wondering why you've had to just read through the research of fonts on a blog about film making. I will tell you why, when I wrote the script for this film I wrote it with the idea of a very distinct mood and feel being applied to the film. Unfortunately I have found that I am not equipped as a director to coordinate scenes in a way that creates this mood. As a result I've made the decision to give the film what distinction I can through my editing. This means that I am putting a lot of thought into my cuts, angles, pace and in this case font. I only wish to produce the best version of what I have full control over, even if that means spending an absurd amount of time on fonts.

Filming Today

Today I gathered the majority of the main actors to complete a decent section of the remaining scenes. We we're able to do complete several scenes, one of which was the most complicated one in the script so that was a relief. Today everyone was very cooperative and worked well together which was a relief. With the work we completed today leaves me with a smaller amount of scenes yet it still is a rather substantial amount. I've spoke with everyone to make sure we will have a full day of filiming next week which is necessary as it's my last day to film. It's going to require a lot of work to be done and the editing in the days that will follow will be quite a lot so I'll see how that goes. I'm still working on writing up a research piece, I've just been preoccupied with editing. Anyways here are a few photos from today.

We had a dog on set at one point

mixed some fake blood

Smeared some fake blood

Filming Plans and Presentation Date

     My presentation date has been set for June 10th at 4pm in G111. This means that my materials for the presentation are due the week prior wednesday the 3rd. This gives me two more weeks of filming, and two weeks to complete my narrative and reflection for my project. This puts me in a very tight time frame unfortunately but I'll make it work somehow.
     A small update on filming, I've been trying to edit film all week but have been unable to touch it because for some reason I no longer have access to the footage and this issue has yet to be resolved. I hope to figure it out tomorrow so I can work on it through the weekend. Filming this weekend is a bit complicated, everyone has separate tentative plans that may or may not be able to be moved. I'm shooting to film on Monday so hopefully that will work out and I can get a good chunk of filming done. I hope to have a new research post up by Friday night and have something up this weekend about how I want to orient my presentation.

Collaboration

Today I came upon an article written by a woman named Gwyn Teatro, she worked in a leadership position for a rather large company for 35 years of her life. She took what she learned there and wrote several pieces about how to effectively collaborate with others. She often noted the importance in reinforcing others so that they feel they have something to offer in the project. This results in a better mesh of ideas because people are more comfortable putting their ideas out there. This sort of environment would certainly be beneficial to my film. I think each of my friends involved have their own unique senses of humor and work well with my own. Also this aspect would really add to the collaborative aspect of my project which is what brings me most out of my comfort zone. There are little changes here and there done by others in the project but I’d like to have more, or at least have the process of open discussion. Seeing as I have a very limited amount of time left I thought maybe I’d take advantage of all the free time I have during the school day. I could bring a script into school and talk with the people involved about what they like and what they want to add. I think this will make the filming even easier if everyone feels like they've invested something in the project.

   Another thing Gwyn talked about that I found helpful was the importance in actively seeking self knowledge and learning. Although I spend a lot of time looking at the techniques of famous directors and have no issue with changing my work if I think there’s a better way of doing it. The issue I have is with learning from my friends. Now it’s not as if I refuse any different jokes it’s more of an issue in a noticeable change in a scene. What’s even more difficulty is actively seeking out the advice of some friends regarding the film. This is likely rooted in some light level narcissism. It’s something I think everyone has when working in the field they’re most passionate about. I have no issue recognizing that my friends are more skilled than I in plenty of things but sometimes I get in my way by having difficulty recognizing that with writing. So this particular suggestion has pushed me to remind myself when listening to an idea that I won’t always have the best idea and that everyone will have at least a few good ideas to offer. I have a mindset that I take into critique that allows me to do that but for some reason it’s more difficult when speaking with close friends. So all in all, from Teatro’s article I’ve opted to have a more open dialogue with actors and to strive to be open about each idea regardless of who gives it.

Progress

    For once I feel like shooting went very well. I assembled everyone together to film this Saturday. We changed the location of filming to my house and things went very smoothly. We had to backtrack as I stated before but we got through almost all of what we had completed in the previous setting. There's still quite a bit left to do obviously but we are moving at a much faster pace and the scenes are a lot more similar to my vision than they had been previously. I've found the big change of switching actors and setting has been the right one. On top of being a lot more productive, the set has been much more relaxed and enjoyable which was one of my main goals going into this project.
   There's been a bit of issue with the upload of the footage but once I have access to all of it I will have plenty to do and will finally be happy with a finished scene. The workload has not changed much but I feel much less anxious about the project now and enjoying all that's happening with it. Anyways, I don't have much more to speak on today but I'll hopefully have another research piece up by either Monday or Tuesday. I also hope to maybe upload a scene by next week.

Working with Actors

    I've come to realize that the most challenging part of my project has been having to direct. I've never been the type to rely on others and I've never found myself in a situation where I feel comfortable giving orders to my friends. I've had to learn to do both of these things in great abundance. Now a lot of my progress in this area has been through self discovery, coming to a point where I know I need to complete things and being set on how I want them done. With that said, frustrating myself and providing myself with hair pulling stress only gets myself so far as a director. So as a solution I've looked to expereinced individuals to see how they deal with directing.
    One of the sources I looked at was an article by Randolph Sellers. Sellers has worked for some time in film, fulfilling many duties such as boom operator, camera operator, and director. His article addresses my biggest fault, in his words " feeling a little uncomfortable or inadequate as a director." Now a lot of what he speaks pertains to a situation with experienced actors but there was one particular sentiment that I took away from the article. Sellers says that when it comes down to it you're working with either artists or friends who one would assume care about you. The best tip for working with actors is to be honest with them about your vision for the project and the importance of it to you. If they've relied on others before and care at all about you or your project they'll listen.
     The second piece I looked at was a set of six filmmaking tips given by Wes Anderson. The first tip was possibly the most helpful for me. This particular tip suggested you plan ahead and plan to throw out your plans. This is very pertinent to my project as I've been forced to change plans several times despite my initial planning. It feels better to know this amount of change is not uncommon in film. The other piece that stood out to me was suggesting that you should not be deterred when other people don't understand what you're doing. This is not to say that my humor or film style is above others, far from, just that my particular humor is somewhat niche. For others to not fully get it shouldn't force me to entirely change my idea.
    In my next research oriented post I'd like to look further into help with interaction on the set but I am currently in a rush to get somewhere so I'll leave it at that for now.

Big Changes

    As the obviously large number of readers of this blog may know, the filming part of this project has been very slow. One of the primary causes of the pace of the project is one actor in particular who fights me on each point. I've simply decided to recast the actor and film in a house other than his own. This will require some backtracking, refilming and such, but overall I think it's the best and possibly only way to complete the project on time. I'm going to be asking quite a bit of the rest of the people involved so hopefully they are on board.
         So for plans this week, most importantly I need to find a new actor and set up filming for this Saturday. I also finally need to get around to updating my bibliography and writing a full length research centered piece. Unfortunately due to the necessary change in actor I'll have to throw out much of the previous editing and start over meaning over the course of the remaining weeks my workload will likely be tremendous. I hope to finish a scene or two by mid next week to share on this blog and maybe I'll post a some pieces of the script. I would never have guessed the last quarter of high school would be this stressful, hopefully something good comes out of the proccess.
   

Unsurprisngly More Issues With Filming

When I attempted to film this Saturday, not unlike past filming dates, problems arose. This time the issue was that one actor was too sick to come, another had to leave at 2 instead of the agreed upon five and the person providing the equipment showed up two hours late with an SD card that did not work. All in all we filmed from maybe 12:30 to 1:15 opposed to the planned 10 to 5. In addittion to those problems one of my other actors thought it necessary to argue with me on every point in the process and frequently chose to inform me that he was bored and/or that the movie would be terrible so why film it. So all in all, bad day. Project continues to move at glacial pace.  That is all for now.

Weekly Agenda

   With the end of the year looming and lots of work left to do, these next two weeks will be incredibly busy. I've made plans to film a full day this Saturday and am making sure to remain in contact with everyone to ensure the plan does not fall through again. It's looking more and more likely that weekday shootings will have to happen in order to complete the project in the given time frame.

This weekend I hope to complete a large portion of the film  remaining, filming from 9-5. I also intend to have some weekday filming next week either Wednesday or Thursday.Unfortunately I can'y quite address the question I posed to myself last week, I will post on that tomorrow. So what I'll leave you with to make up for lack of content is my class sample I've meant to post for some time. The music used is by a band called porches, it's the song "Airport Terminal" off of their album "Summer of Ten". you can check out more of their music here https://porchesmusic.bandcamp.com/album/slow-dance-in-the-cosmos

"Out of the Rut" part 1

Yesterday in class we were given a journal activity entitled "Out of the Rut." The activity consists of two parts, the first part was to address one of three lists of questions. I'm choosing to deal with the questions regarding the reflection aspect of the project.

  One suggestion was to create a list of three problems you have faced thus far, this was one that seemed a bit too easy so I'll chose to ignore that prompt. One of the more thought provoking ones for me was the list of three things I have learned about others while working on my project. The first thing I learned about others is that many of my friends are very cooperative and helpful in completing my project. My friends acting in the film have gone out of their way to help me produce my film. The second thing I have learned is that other friends of mine have been incredibly difficult to work with, I suppose you can't expect everyone to want to help out. The third thing I have learned about others is that a lot of my friends actually enjoy acting and seeing the film come together. With no means of payment I started by having to explain it to my friends as requesting a favor yet now after some completed filming I've found many people getting actively involved and enjoying the process. 

   With all the anxiety surrounding this project I thought it may be helpful to think about the things I enjoy about my project. After thinking on it, it seems that I enjoy just about all the hands on work in my project. I like acting, writing, filming, directing, and editing. I assumed somewhere along the way I'd be tasked with something I'd dislike yet so far that has not been the case. The things I find troubling in the project are not related to what I'm required to do, it all comes from being in place where I can't progress with my project. I hate not being able to do the work that I know is ahead of me. The other largest thing that I dislike in the project is the deadline. Now obviously it has to exist but for me, when doing creative work, the best product comes from the situation where my only motivator is a desire to work on the project. When I add a deadline or an expected outcome it becomes a different experience for me.

   I suppose the most important piece to reflect on is what I have learned about myself in this project. I don't know that I have a list. What I have learned about myself is, that when doing work in a field I thoroughly enjoy my work ethic entirely changes from the norm. Much of high school my academic performance has been sub par. This was often because I would grow overwhelmed and simply stop completing work as to avoid facing the workload. With this project I am almost always tasked with a large workload yet to this point I have continued to do what is expected of me and continue to enjoy it. It's a comforting sign as I attempt to go into the field of writing. I suppose that's enough reflection for the time being. 

More Unfortunate Setbacks

The filming intended to be done this past Saturday was cancelled due to a miscommunication regarding equipment. Saturday morning I was informed we were without equipment and thus had to cancel filming. This poses an even more difficult task for me as the school year nears its end. I am now left with a little over a month to film much of the film and edit together a final product. This means I will likely need to do weekday shootings on top of long weekend shootings. If need be I will streamline the process by having people just read straight through the lines and edit them together with the lines of who they'd be speaking with. This is opposed to just running through the entire scene which often requires several takes. This also makes it possible for me to film two sets of dialogue at once if I am able to acquire two cameras. These next few weeks will be incredibly work intensive but hopefully they will produce the final product I have been working towards. I forgot to mention also that the clip I had said I would share is not up currently because we ended up not sharing our pieces in class, I will likely post it tomorrow afternoon.

Research Question of the Week and Filming Plans

     I meant to address the research question yesterday but it slipped my mind so I shall write it today. Last week I posed the question of how to effectively use the camera to improve scenes. The research I have done to answer this was a mix of examining my own footage and taking a look at some renowned short films. What I found immediately while editing together my own footage was the fault of making scenes so static. Regardless of dialogue it seems that without very well trained actors, a static shot lasting more than 30 seconds or so grows stale. The solution would be to record lines individually with the camera facing different characters, this is if you're like myself and are without a large number of cameras.
     Another thing that I picked up was that you can use certain camera angles to aid in expressing a mood present in the scene. Now often it's not all too obvious but looking at a film like Christopher Nolan's Doodlebug, the camera angles are used to reflect the very odd nature of the film. The film itself is only three minutes long, it is about a man attempting to crush a bug in his apartment only to find the bug is himself. The camera shots included are at very odd angles, they're very dark and often have the character come into frame from an unexpected place. This very chaotic set of shots is used to add to the intended mood of the piece, a tool I could possibly use later on in my own film.
     I also read through an article of of the website "The Elements of Cinema" that talked a lot about the effect of the height of shots relative to the character in question. Such as that a high angled shot can work to make the character in frame appear weak or submissive and quite the opposite in the event a low angled shot.
     I will be filming this coming Saturday for most of the day and intend to read through the script beforehand and see when I may be able to use any of the techniques above. As I've watched through all of my footage, I've decided that it's important that I actually re-shoot parts of quite a few scenes making for a very busy day.
       As for the question I hope to answer this week I would like to look somewhat into acting which is something I have yet to really touch on. I want nothing more than to have the script performed well and much of that relies on myself. I don't have a very focused question to this point but I''l be sure to include one in my next post. All I know is that it will have something to do with emphasizing emotion when delivering lines. That's all for today.

Happiness Revisited - Class 4/27

      Today in class we read through an article entitled Happiness Revisited, after reading through the passage of writing we were prompted with a set of five questions. The first question posed was the following, When do you feel most happy? This particular question is something I have attempted to answer before, it holds a place in most of your life decisions, I have yet to produce a complete answer, at best my response is an educated guess. To respond in a somewhat concise manner I would say this, I am most happy when I am making decisions based solely on what I find interesting. As soon as a deadline is introduced an expected standard of quality I lose much of the passion I began with. Often I find this happiness in writing in my own time for my own reasons. This is the thought process that led me to pick the project that I did. Certainly there is a deadline and there are things that I can and cannot do but the project is loose enough to keep me interested and passionate.

    The second question addressed to us was a request to respond to the article before this. There are points with which I agree. The parts suggesting that you need to truly push yourself to progress and ultimately find greater happiness. I agree that we've progressed very little in understanding happiness. What I found issue with was this core piece of what's being called "flow." It's this theory that they've adapted to a chart. This chart has skills and challenges on it's two axis and details where you can find your happiness and where you will face boredom or anxiety. It just seems odd to speak on how we've learned little about happiness and then to go on to create a simple chart to depict happiness, it seems like a cheap answer to a complex question. Happiness is not attained the same way by everyone. 

    We were asked to say where we would be on the chart, I am not so sure that I am in fact on the chart. I would say I am suffering some anxiety from the project but it's not due to the amount of challenge exceeding the amount of skills I possess. The anxiety is simply due to tight time constraints, something that I have little control over which feeds into a piece in the article that speaks on how much of what effects your mood is beyond your control. Throughout my project I would say the amount of anxiety has increased, currently I am at the stage with the most work and a good amount of work left to do which depends on the reliability of others. It may decline if the next filming session goes well.
      The final question asked of us was, how can you achieve flow? In short complete filming, maybe the entire film then I will feel happy having reached a final product. 

   

A Full Week of Editing

Throughout this past week I have been hard at work editing all the footage shot this past Saturday. As of now I have edited most of the first four scenes of the film, unfortunately there are some re-shoots I have to do before I will be able to fully complete the scenes. In addition to the actual film I completed the sample of my project that is expected of us by next Monday. Due to the fact that I am without a full scene I opted to make a short explanation as to why the project takes so long. The sample is about a minute and a half long and it is a collection of clips in which scenes are messed up for whatever reason or certain things that just delay the process. I want to show it in class before I post it here so I will likely have it on the blog by Monday afternoon. Aside from that not all too much has happened, I hope to write the last scenes in the script this weekend.

Weekly Research Question

I have come to notice that my project tends to be somewhat lacking in the area of research. To combat by tendency of failing to mention what research I have done, my teacher, Alexis Lord, suggested that I start doing a weekly research question. Now I'm not so sure how I will write this in the future but this I am both answering a question and posing a new one.
   Now the one I have been responding for the past week is the question of how to both use and properly utilize the program Adobe Premier Pro. As I wrote that sentence I also had to research how to write program titles, whether to italicize or not. I found no answer in my short search so I hope italics are not required. Anyways I have spent the past week editing my first bits of footage and am now editing the larger pieces from Saturday. This has forced me to spend much of my time working to understand Adobe Premier Pro. For those that don't know this particular program is one of the better video editing programs and currently runs for over two-hundred dollars. Fortunately they offer a month by month plan for thirty dollars a month. Due to it being a very comprehensive program it takes a bit of time to take advantage of what it offers. This is what you see upon opening the program.

    The first step in using it effectively was to read through the shortcuts for certain necessary tools, such as the tool to cut slips, and then modify them to my liking. Due to the quality of the program it's built with the idea that most people using the program will have had some experience in editing, this resulted in my own difficulty to figure out how to do things as simple as fade in and out. So for the more basic aspects of editing I kind of just learned as I went, learning functions as I needed them. I am now capable of efficiently editing clips length and sound, making a more fluid piece.
    In terms of the more complex aspects to the program though, I have had a bit more struggle. For example I was working with a clip of a car driving by a large hill that was covered in bright yellow grass. The scene worked well because of the color, so when I went to edit it and found the colors to be much more dull than they were in reality, I attempted to use color correction. Now I could have just brightened the shot but it washed everything out the contrast was lacking. I could have increased the contrast but that resulted in it looking very artificial and poorly edited. So I went with the difficult method of having to navigate the color correction tools. What I ended up using was a mask which is simply a tool where you modify a shape to cover what area of the image you want to modify. You then alter the color with a standard rgb color model and brightness/contrast scale. It took me some time to reach the color I wanted but in the end I had something much closer to what I originally imagined. I will likely post a before and after of the image tomorrow. There are many more specifics I could go into but this post is already moderately long and I will likely address those aspects later on.
    My question to answer this week is, how to use camera work to improve a scene and keep an audience interested.
   On top of adding a weekly question I also want to post my weekly goals each Monday and the state of the goals of the week prior. So this is what I would like to accomplish between now and next Monday.

Goals
- Edit together the first two scenes involving dialogue.
- Set up a second full film day within the next two weeks.
- Complete a small section of film to share with the class next Monday.
- Complete rewrites and write the last of the scenes.
- Fix and add to bibliography.

Class Questions

Today in class we listened to a piece by one Brian Grazer who spoke on his belief in the importance of leaving your comfort zone. Grazer says that he often pairs himself with difficult people in situations that are at that time beyond his skill set.  This he says is the key to growth, and that without growth you may as well be dead. Grazer repeatedly questions himself as to why he subjects himself to these difficulties even though he is capable of retiring instead. He goes back to this idea that even as a competent adult, growth is integral to human life.
   This led me to question my own tendencies and if I myself frequently exit my comfort zone in the course of my own project. As I've mentioned before the field in which my project resides is not one I am competent but beyond that have I really extended myself to a significant degree? I think thus far what has been most nerve racking, furthest beyond my comfort  zone, is simply the task of acting, and having others have to recite my lines. In the past I have been rather private with my writing and rarely chose to share. So to have people read my writing in front of me and attempt to make it work is new and provides anxiousness. It's to a lesser degree with acting yet still performing arts have always made me uncomfortable and to have to do it in front of friends somehow makes it worse.
     The next step in exiting my comfort zone and developing further would be to share pieces of my film with those working professionally in the field. Sharing my writing isn't easy but I have a decent degree of confidence in that, whereas in film I haven't the slightest. I am fully aware that feedback on my film would be incredibly beneficial but to put it out there is difficult. As I write this though I am seeing it as an integral part of the process and will likely force myself to do it.

Full Filming Day

This past Saturday the first large filming session was completed, I was able to get together the five main actors and an extra friend to operate the boom and camera. On that day we filmed from around 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. In that time we , managed to get through about five or six larger scenes.
    There were several things throughout the day that surprised me, the first mild surprise being how long one scene takes to film even in the case of scene that is only a little over a minute long. Often we'd be interrupted by a dramatic change in the natural lighting, boom in the shot, a dog barking, or of course a mistake in a line. Although I expected some difficulty completing shots I did not expect it to this degree. my bigger surprise though was the ability of the actors involved. I had one friend in particular who I expected to be less than enthused with having to act. Surprisingly though he was entirely cooperative and quite possibly the best actor among us.
   All in all the day was a success and incredibly exhausting. Everyone left tired, filled with splinters and hopefully feeling accomplished. Below is a photo captured in the latter half of the day not really sure what was being filmed if it was anything at all.

Some Information Regarding the Film

I was recently given feedback on the content of my blog by a local community member. There was a lot to the evaluation but what stood out most to me was his comment about how I had not shared anything regarding the plot of the film. This was partly on purpose and partly accidental. I wanted to have it be sort of unknown as to what it was as someone went to view it but I realized it may be important that I at least include a vague description to add some context to my work.

  The film follows a teen named Adam who is directing a short film with his friends, I know, sort of cliche at face value. Adam is attempting to create a film that he thinks to be a masterpiece with his equally diluted friends who he has recruited to help with the project. As I would prefer to not divulge much of the story I will instead lightly detail some of the characters. Adam has his right hand man in his friend Doug who is endlessly loyal to Adam. Doug is somewhat brash but easily malleable in the hands of Adam. Next is Dave, Dave is pragmatic, realistic and intelligent. Consequently he is often the butt of the joke and considered to be a nerd which is said negatively. Dave is really the only one who is fully aware of the true quality of the film. Darius is the most passive and as a result is often used for the more dangerous scenes in the film. Lastly is Tom, Tom is a pretentious and conceited young man. He holds himself to high standards and prides himself on his palette. Tom is often a pain but his supposed acting ability keeps him around. Other than that I don’t have much more I’d like to divulge at this moment.

Project Reflection

Today in class we were asked to read two articles and use their content to address our progress. One of these passages was entitled "Practicing." The central idea of this piece was the importance of leaving your comfort zone frequently in order to improve in your skills. After reading this piece we were prompted to reflect on our on practicing done throughout this project. I would say that I have left my comfort zone for a large majority of this project, although I am familiar with writing, film scripts are very foreign. I have made efforts to be working every single day even if through frustration. Although I think my tendency to practice skills required for this project is good, there is certainly room for improvement. Where I think I could improve most is the area of being conscientious in my research. Thus far I have rarely researched beyond my current knowledge. Certainly I watch films and draw from them but there are plenty of things I could know more about that I have yet to research. Things such as the effects of lighting or the purpose of certain shots or framing. So in short, primarily I would say I tend to leave the areas in which I am competent and work in these areas often yet in the areas of research I could be more ambitious.
     The second article we read was about the idea of motivation in your work and the importance of deadlines. It talked a lot about the benefits to putting your name on the line when you need to complete your work in order to motivate you to do so. Although I'm not in the situation mentioned in the article, by way of this blog I am attaching my name to this project, pushing me to produce something of quality to have my name on. On top of that though, my own self derived motivation comes from two things. The first being that I don't like to put out work that I feel could have been improved upon. This has continually pushed me to work harder and frequently than I could be in such a loosely structured project. The second thing that pushes me in this process is I genuinely enjoy the work I am doing. Certainly there are times of frustration but being able to bring my thoughts to film is enough of a reward to keep me going.
        We were asked to select a passage from the article on motivation, a passage that included a method to complete work that we would consider doing ourselves. The recommendation I found to be most practical is as follows, "First divide the work into smaller tasks and set deadlines for every one of them. Then find a tough and reliable person to hold you accountable for meeting each one. Make meeting the deadline - not achieving perfection - the ultimate goal." This is something I could find helpful and am already doing a somewhat diluted version of this practice. I agree that with such a large project it doesn't help to attempt to tackle it as one big task, it is best to break it down to what you can complete week by week.

First Day of Filming

Finally footage has been recorded, albeit only the opening shots but it is something. There's about ten minutes of footage that will need to be cut down to about half that. I intend to have it all edited to my liking by tomorrow evening and then I will be set to have a large filming day on Saturday. I've made sure all of the actors playing main characters will be free all of Saturday. Noa, my friend in the digital media department will put in a sign out request for equipment tomorrow to ensure we have what we need for Saturday. If all goes as planned I will hopefully have a large chunk of the filming completed. I may also complete very little, who knows, that's the nature of first time film making.

Further Issue and Future Plans

Once again filming has been pushed back. The plan was to film yesterday afternoon, my friend Noa had collected all the necessary equipment from the schools digital media department. Noa and I went to my house to film the first scenes but when we attempted to film we were met with an error message on the camera that Noa was unable to fix. As a result filming has been delayed. Due to Noa's busy schedule the soonest possible date for filming is Sunday evening. This brings a bit of anxiety because I am still without anything to edit, on the upside though it's looking as if I will be able to lock down Saturday of next weekend for a full day of filming with all the key actors present. It's frustrating to be without work to do for so long but hopefully I will soon have plenty to do.
    With the lack of work I have spent much of my week researching for my project. This has involved reading through The Screenwriters Bible and viewing films. The first film I watched this week was a film directed by Shane Carruth, Primer. It's about a group of four guys who in their spare time work on science projects in  on of their garages. In one of their experiments they invent a machine that allows them to travel in time. Two of the men go back in time to cut the other two men out of the discovery and quickly use the machine for their own gain. What impressed me most about the film was Calluth's ability to produce an intriguing story that at the same time left you unable to understand a large majority of what was going on on screen. It was very important to watch very intently. It pushed me to think about the inclusion of subtleties to draw a viewer in. I will modify the script throughout the week to possibly make things less predictable or obvious. Also the film was made on the minuscule budget of seven thousand dollars which makes it clear that you don't necessarily need excessive money to produce something of quality.
     The second film I viewed was in a much different vein. The film was Hot Rod, directed by Akiva Schaffer. Hot Rod is a comedic film that follows a stuntman named Rod Kimble who wants to save his step fathers life by raising money through stunts on his motor bike. Kimble works to pay for his stepfathers surgery so that they can fight one more time because he feels that he must beat him in physical combat in order to gain his respect. This is a film I have seen many times before and may have subconsciously drawn from in my script. It's helpful in my project because much like my own film it revolves around a group of friends with unique personalities and it thrives off of their conversations with one another. I may just use this an example of creating comedy through these basic interactions while still pushing a story along and achieving some sort of conclusion.

Finally a Film Date is Set

After far too long I have finally nailed down a time to film the first shots of my film. Unfortunately it coincides with my contraction of what seems to be the flu, less than ideal but it's something. This Wednesday I will be filming the opening sequence of the film on top of possibly some small shots throughout the film. It'll be good to alleviate the anxiousness surrounding the lack of filming thus far and also it'll serve as my first chance at working with the equipment. This will give me time to figure out what produces my idea of what the film should look like. I am hoping that after this first session things will pick up and I will be able to complete the rest of the filming much more efficiently. At least the small section will give me something to edit so I don't feel as if I am fully wasting necessary time. Some nervousness has arose regarding completing my project in time, I really have no idea how long post production will take, quite long is what I have heard from just about everyone, so having done none of it yet produces some anxiety. Oh well though, I'm not exactly a stranger to late nights and rushing to complete work it's more a question of my fondness of those two things. By Wednesday I hope to finally have something worth reporting on, unfortunately though this is all I have for now.

Minor Setbacks

    I hoped to be filming by today first but I have met my first setback. I am without film and sound equipment until next week at the soonest which is mildly alarming. Because of my lack of experience in film I can really make nothing more than a guess as to how long filming and editing will take. This means that it would be best to give myself as much time as possible to increase the possible degree of error. There is a lot that needs to be done, but can not be started until filming begins, really the primary concern right now is just being in sort of a lull where there is not much progress I can be making.
    As for next week if there is further issues with the equipment I will either have to seek a temporary alternative or at least do something productive that is short of filming, such as in depth read through where I would essentially just have people run through the scenes as if it were for the film just without a camera. Again I am without much ti update on other than that, hopefully I will know with certainty, the status of the equipment, by Monday evening.

Collection of Final Props

    I hoped to follow up an absence of posts with something of importance yet still I remain in a sort of waiting period until later this week. Over the weekend I did complete one thing. I spent the past few days in Chicago visiting my brother. In that time I stopped in at a large second hand shop in pursuit of several new hats, as I have a strong interest in such accessories. While there I spotted some clothing items I needed for my film, most notably, basketball jerseys and cargo shorts. I am still without puka shell necklaces but I intend to close in on those soon. Unfortunately that is all I have to comment on. By the end of this week I should have further information regarding filming.

Film Dates

As of now my filming plans for spring break are just about solidified. My friend Noa has successfully acquired a large amount of equipment. This includes a steadicam, a go pro, a shotgun mic and several lavalier mics. All of which was rented from Ithaca High School’s digital media department. A loose plan is set to do some tech trials and/or minor filming in the latter half of next week. A few of my actors will  not be in town so no major filming will be done but there are several smaller shots that may be possible to do next week.

"Barnsong"

I missed class this past monday and as a result missed watching the film “Barnsong” a  project done by a former WISE student. I felt that viewing a film documented process of a past student may be quite beneficial, so I went in earlier this week to watch it in Ms. Lord’s room along with a few other students.

“Barnsong” was a documentary made as a part of the WISE program that documented another students project which was to construct a barn. The film was quite brief, likely around twenty minutes, yet I felt there was a lot to take away from it. First and foremost, I found it comforting to know that these projects are not always fully polished and achieving of all goals that were initially set. Both the barn construction project and the documentary itself were slightly rough and unfinished, this is not to say they were lacking in quality they just clearly had things left the student would have hoped to achieve. This helped me in seeing that maybe it’s not entirely about completeing as much of the project as possible, there may be some importance in just making sure what part you do end up producing is quality work that you put a full effort into completing.

Another key thing I drew from the viewing is that my project pales in comparison to the hard gritty work done in barn construction. My workload may be substantial but at no time will I need to drag trees from the woods and feed them into powerful machinery. In short there’s much more I could be doing, but luckily am not. Making me even more determined to produce something of quality.

Lastly, even in the short span of the film, progress is seen in the skills of the student raising a barn. There’s a scene where he is speaking about how much time was initially required to complete a task was greatly undercut as he completed the task for a third time. This is to say that things will get easier and that as my project and many others projects continue on, they will grow more efficient, and development will occur which is much of what the WISE program is about.

Looking at Past Projects

     Today in class I received a former WISE student's project to both evaluate and draw from. Although I have yet to look through it thoroughly I did take time to read through their reflection, research commentary, bibliography and their first entry.
     For this students specific project they ,in collaboration with one other student, created a documentary focused on their fellow seniors in their last semester of high school. This documentary was made with the idea of it being a narrative of the students given little attention due to them being so near graduation.
     If there were a particular component of their reflection that was most useful to me it would be the long list of unforeseen challenges encountered throughout their process. Challenges that sometimes arose from areas initially seen as a simple step. It's important to see the inevitable roadblocks that will require you to alter your project, it's easy to be deterred by this sort of conflict if you are unaware of how common the issue is.
     It's interesting because the largest problem this student faced was scheduling which is something I predicted and have experienced in my own project. This issue of finding shared free time among many different people is a much more troubling task than it may seem. They mentioned that if they were to do it over they would be more organized creating a confirmed schedule among all those involved. It may have been beneficial to them but I have an inclination that for me it may be useless, those who have agreed to act in my film are not exactly known for being reliable. This produces some concerns for myself, most notably that I'll be squeezed for time regardless of how many precautionary measures I take. With that said ease comes in the form of a sentiment found repeatedly in the former students project I received. Through all the issues to overcome and the shortcomings, the project remained to be incredibly fulfilling, that it may not be entirely about the final product but also the journey that gets you there.

Toeing the Line

    As the first week of filming rapidly approaches I fight with the dilemma of what is and what is not school appropriate. The question arises in most if not all scenes,  most often linked to the foul mouthed nature of many of the characters.
     For this upcoming week I am finding there is a lack of work to be done and as a result a lack of content to fill a required blog post. The script is nearly finished in it's roughest form leaving me with little to write until I am able to run through it with actors. Unfortunately I can move filming dates closer to today due to conflicting schedules and absence of equipment. I was considering taking a look at the music I would like to use but without any footage it's somewhat difficult to select what fits best. Because of all of the above this week will go as follows. In addition to concluding the script and general touch ups I will be trying to find more creative ways to include what I want while still keeping it appropriate. Also I will hopefully find my remaining props at reduced prices.
    I will be leaving Ithaca by train on Wednesday night, this travel will force me to endure 13 hours of mild discomfort but more importantly plenty of time to finish whatever writing is left to be completed because it is almost certain no sleep will be had while traveling by way of Amtrak trains.
Here is to hoping by the end of spring break I will have a finished script and filming underway.

Polishing a Script

    As the four week week mark approaches so does the completion of my initial script. This benchmark is just about on track with my plans at the start of the project. Although there is some work left to be done on the script I have made time by preparing to film while still in the writing stage. What is left for the script is improving transitions, connecting scenes and adding to the story line mostly in the form of jokes.
    By the end of next week at minimum I'd like to be entirely certain with at least four scenes from the film in order to film them over break. I will be out of town Wednesday through Monday of next week so I would ideally hope to be filming Tuesday. Tuesday would consist of tech testing with my friend Noa who has graciously offered to help me with the film. Unfortunately many of the actors in my film will be out of town for a good portion of the break. This leads me to think it may have been smart to shrink the cast in order to make scheduling easier.  With that said I am confident with the dynamic created by all my main characters. I am still working on a time but currently I am hoping to sit down later in the break and film at least one of the scenes with many cast members.
     In addition to the film over break I'd like to gather up the rest of the props I've settled on to this point. This shouldn't be too difficult but it will likely take up much of the a day. In terms of positive news I have received confirmation that I will have access to a quad copter for filming. Although I have yet to mention this device it is very exciting news because it makes many of the shots I was hoping to test out possible.
    The only serious roadblock I face currently is the weather. I would like to have the film appear continuous but the weathers inconsistencies and the snows refusal to leave is providing some issues for continuity. Hopefully the snow dissipates before the week after next, beyond the issue of realism is also that the perpetual overcast weather requires much more lighting than the much preferred sunshine. Don't get me wrong , I adore winter and it's bitter cold but it is less than ideal for filming.

Peer Blog Respond

       I chose to read over Lili Delotsang's blog and Gavin Wentzel's blog both classmates of mine.

     Gavin Wentzel is currently making an album for his own project. This involves the playing of various instruments, recording, and mastering of the tracks. Although Gavin's posts are somewhat infrequent the ones written consist of concise plans and description of progress. It's also evident through his posts that he has a true interest in both music in general and his own project. I hope to see videos and photos of equipment used or small excerpts from songs in the works. The posts are brief now but I assume this is at least in part due to the being in the early stages of the project.

    Lili has chosen to analyse the current state of the supposed "American Dream". She's chosen to come at this subject through the perspective of immigrants and their experiences in the United States. As mentioned in her own description this particular study is pertinent to her own life and the Ithaca community. She herself being half Tibetan and living in a community with a very racially diverse population, the topic of immigration is often a discussion piece. With response to her in depth posts and personal connections to the subject I think it's fair to say she has a passion for her project which is a necessity in my opinion. I think in addition to this strengths are found in the depth of her posts and a well balanced blend of formal and informal writing. The only weakness I see now is more than likely due to being only a few weeks into this project. The weakness is simply that the focus is somewhat broad currently, I would like to see it grow more focused as the project progresses.

Prop Run and Construction

        Not much has changed since Sunday evening, most notably though, I have finished constructing my refrigerator box/ skateboard cart. Now initially this consisted of simply taping a pair of skateboards to a refrigerator box. Unfortunately this plan was far from perfect.
        As one may guess, half broken skateboards are not exactly predictable, in either the direction they travel or their general functionality. In the context of the film I need them to travel in a relatively straight line for a substantial distance. The first cart traveled no further than 10 feet before sheering off to the left dramatically. I attributed this to the left board which I had taped together, I assumed I had taped it slightly crooked. I un-taped and re-taped it with the help of a level. I pushed it down a hill once again, I started with greater hope for success yet a similar feel of failure upon seeing gradually slide of the right side of the road. This went on for something like ten trials before I reached the a working set of weighting and alignments of the boards. A project I hoped and expected to require no more than ten minutes, turned in to closer to an hour.
        With that said I am fairly certain it will now run straight 4/10 times with 70-15 percent certainty so that's progress of some sort. Congratulations to me.

Acquiring of Props 3/15/15

     Over this weekend I have been looking to acquire the props necessary for filming the completed scenes. Although I still have plenty left to find I did find several key props. One scene I hope to film during the upcoming break requires a contraption that involves two skateboards and a refrigerator box. Due to the fact that all money required for the film will come out of my pocket I chose for more frugal methods of obtaining these items. For the box I will be visiting appliance stores on Monday and will check if they happen to have any from sold products. The skateboards I have already obtained. I have a friend that skates and they happened to have many either worn down or broken boards, luckily for me I do not boards in fine condition so after a few minor fixes I now have two boards that should work. There are also several clothing items I need to find so I will likely visit the second hand shops in town, here's to hoping they have what I need and I can save a few dollars.There are a few higher priced items that I will not be able to buy at a reduced price but the list of items is small enough at the moment that the money required should not be a huge concern
        As a follow up to the mention of tech trials, I have found a scene and a time that only requires myself in terms of actors. It is also a scene that I hoped to include a variety of shots so it should be perfect for testing the equipment. I am still trying to find a date to film a few of the scenes that require most if not all of the cast.
     
   

Transitioning to Filming - 3/13/15

I met with my mentor for the first time this morning and we discussed general plans for the script and certain directors I should look at for possible inspiration. When talking about the order in which I was going to complete pieces of the project he recommended that I mix the writing and film together.
     I've decided to heed that advice, due to being very inexperienced with film making I imagine my project will benefit from experimenting with equipment to figure out what works best for me. Sometime in the next week or two me and my friend who has agreed to help with this project will test the cameras available along with lights and mics to figure out what most accurately fits my idea for the film.
     The scene I am most confident with, in terms of its current content, includes all of my main characters. As a result of this it was difficult to find a time when everyone was free. The date of filming is not rock solid currently but it's looking like it will be sometime over the upcoming break. This should give me time to polish up the scene in question and also continue to write more. I hope to use this scene as sort of a test run and an indicator to my limits for this project so I can write my script accordingly.
   

Film Inspiration 3/11/15

         Yesterday morning I received a film recommendation from my mentor in response to me explaining my choice of involving stereotypical douchebags in my film, early 2000's douchebags, those that sport puka shell necklaces and frosted tips, colored sunglasses and over sized basketball jerseys. The film recommended to me was James Merindino's SLC Punk.
   A story of geeks turned punks. The two main characters, Stevo and Bob, in the film are written to portray the stereotypical anarchist punk of the mid 1980's. Now the film details a much more serious story than my own, one filled with drug abuse, mental breakdown, and savage beatings. With that said it did give me a number of ideas about writing these stereotypical type characters. I expect to make serious modifications as my characters are intended to be a parody. So yes for the past day my research has consisted of viewing SLC Punk.

Examining Schedules

        Over this past weekend I sat down with several people I intend to work with and discussed what their schedule would look like for the rest of the year. One of the larger uncertainties up to this point was how timing would work out when I reach the stage of filming. To combat this I received rough approximations from actors so I would consider moving certain people in and out of scenes to make sure I could execute them as planned. Obviously I don't want to seriously alter the films plot to accommodate people but I'd like to what I can especially in these earlier stages of the project.
        Although not much has changed story wise in the past few days I'm deciding to include a factor that is usually present in my writing. After including my personal support for social justice in many of my work this year particularly I had decided that this project I would not include any of my own sentiments, and just stick to comedic purposes. Today I changed my opinion on this and intend to deliver a belief of my own on the topic of social  justice in my film. It will not be the centerpiece or likely much more than a brief scene yet I feel it's important to include it. Not to say it means much in a some high school kids short film but you may as well spread these ideas of equality through whatever medium you're able to regardless of how small or large the platform is.

Week 1 progress 3/6/15

Since my last post things have been uneventful for the most part. Due to busy schedule these past few days it has been hard to find time to sit down and write for an extended period. I intended to hold a second table read this weekend but I decided to hold off until I have completed many of the scenes I have started writing and polishing the piece.
    Most of the writing that has been done in the latter half of this week has consisted of editing and minor tweaks to polish this first draft. Although it has been difficult to find writing time I have been reading plenty from David Trottier's book I mentioned earlier in the week. I have read plenty on efficient ways to keep dialogue lively and purposeful. In addition to that I have been reading about many of the overused methods in script writing and the simple alternatives that add much more to the piece. An example of this was to avoid including the term beat in your writing. Beat refers to a slight pause in the action or speech of a character so it's easy to replace beat with a more descriptive observation of their action.
    Beyond the writing stage I recently completed an essential prop list and estimated a price for the items included. I then drew that amount from my own money and intend to make a trip within the next week or so to collect the required items.
    Lastly my mentor meeting this week was cancelled on account of illness but I intend to complete what I can through an email correspondence with my mentor. For now that is all.

Developing Distinct Characters

As of late I have been focusing a lot on developing a unique voice for each character. Sometimes it is easy to slip back into a voice you’re comfortable writing with and it can make character indistinguishable from one another. This is something I have been working to avoid as I know I have had a tendency to do so in the past.

I also spent much of my time looking over the scenes I have written and figuring out the best way to order them and connect them to one another. Thus far I have really just been writing scenes with little concern for their connection to others and viewing them mostly as a way to reveal the tendencies of individual characters.

For the most part my story has remained the same just a few modifications here and there. The only big change I have decided on is being uselessly excessive in the final scene of my film. I will not divulge any specifics but it is certain to involve fireworks. This decision really comes from just wanting to make this project as much about an enjoyable experience as it is about creating a well made film. As for now that is all the news worth sharing regarding the project.

Initial Scriptwriting and Gathering of Actors

For the the two weeks prior to today I have been writing up my initial script, as of today the page count is fifteen. While writing these pages I have also outlined several scenes and the general arc of the story. I’ve decided on a story that consists of five main characters, I have found an actor for each of these five roles also.

Going into this project I expected a decent amount of difficulty out of the gate and this was very much an accurate expectation. When it comes to writing dialogue and fleshing out distinct characters I have a grasp on it and feel comfortable with the task. What causes issue is the both the matter of formatting and adapting to a medium which requires that I select camera angles, transitions and scene descriptions. Now it is true that it is not necessary for me to write in camera directions into my script, yet seeing that I am also the director that work will have to be completed by me at some point in the process so I have committed to including it in the script.

As you can imagine, being essentially void of any experience with scriptwriting my work thus far has included many questions. These first two weeks have been just as much research as actually writing if not more. What I quickly learned while writing was that online community of screenwriters is almost never in agreement on formatting nor do they have a website thought of as the standard. As a result I purchased a book called “The Screenwriter’s Bible” by David Trottier, which was suggested to me by several writers I am in contact with. It has since been my go to for research.

Another thing I quickly learned was that much of scriptwriting is tedious if you’re without software that does much of the formatting for you. After a quick search I found the program Adobe Story which has done all that I need from it.

Thus far I have read through eleven pages of my script with my actors and received positive feedback, I intend to share it later on this week with my father and my mentor as I expect they will give me more constructive criticism.

All and all I am greatly enjoying the project and look forward to completing the script and getting to filming.

Journal #2: Two Week Outline

Two Week Schedule

Monday:

Class                                         .................................... 45 Minutes

Script Writing                          .....................................60  Minutes

Journal Entry                           .....................................40  Minutes

Tuesday: 

Mentor Meeting                      .......................................40  Minutes  

Script Practice and Research  .......................................30  Minutes

Wednesday: 

Script Writing                           .....................................60  Minutes

Journal Entry                           ......................................40  Minutes

Thursday:

Script Practice and Research    .....................................30  Minutes

Script Writing                           .....................................60  Minutes

Friday: 

Polishing and Final Edits       ........................................30  Minutes

Read Through and Feedback .........................................60  Minutes

Journal Entry                         ..........................................40  Minutes

Total Time: 8h 55m

Goals:

- Complete act I of the script.

- Learn all basic formatting for screenplay writing.

- Have actors more comfortable with their characters. 

Monday:

Class                                         ...........................................45 Minutes

Script Writing                           ..........................................60  Minutes

Journal Entry                           ............................................40  Minutes

Tuesday: 

Mentor Meeting                      .............................................40  Minutes  

Script Practice and Research  .............................................30  Minutes

Write Up Needed Inventory   ..............................................20  Minutes

Wednesday: 

Script Writing                           .............................................60  Minutes

Journal Entry                           ..............................................40  Minutes

Thursday:

Script Practice and Research    ..............................................30  Minutes

Script Writing                           ...............................................60  Minutes

Friday: 

Polishing and Final Edits       ...................................................30  Minutes

Read Through and Feedback ...................................................60  Minutes

Journal Entry                         ....................................................40  Minutes

Total Time: 9h 15m

Goals:

- Complete act II of script.

- Learn smaller components of a script. ie; angles, parantheticals, camera direction.

- Prepare necessary props. 

- Complete a general sketch for the final act. 

Journal #1: Introduction

Dear Reader, as a rather ambitious endeavor I have chosen to write, direct, and edit a short film for my independent project.
         One of the more difficult goals I hope to achieve in my project will be present almost immediately when beginning my work. By the end of the writing section of my project I intend to have written a technically correct script that takes advantage of the many indications one can use in a script. For me the vast majority of this project is relatively foreign. I have written one small script in the past and have absolutely zero experience in film making. This results in my primary goal being to produce a film of quality and my fear to be that I am unable to produce something of my liking.
         A lot to do with the quality of the film depends on my competency with filming and editing. I would really like to feel comfortable and efficient with my use of cinematic technique and aligning music with my film to give the film a feeling of truer completeness. Although I have no experience with creating a film I do tend to write on a regular basis and that mixed with an infatuation for film has pushed me to commit to this project and to be quite excited about doing so. Being able to write for much of my day and translate it to acting it out with many of my friends is something I will certainly cherish. I think it requires a subject of great interest to you to work with it for sixteen weeks and I have no doubts that I have found that subject.