For the Hidden, I was the 2nd Assistant Director. One of the main challenges I faced was learning how to have a director role in our film and being able to work over people but also being directed by the Director and 1st AD. I had to learn how to do things like make call sheets and schedules, which took a while to get used to. Along the way, I learned how to make it clear that people needed to change their behavior on set and I adjusted to being somewhat in charge. I actually had to make some important decisions with this film. However, the director yelled at me a couple times for not doing my job even though he did most of the aspects of my job until the last filming days and didn't teach me how to do said parts of my job. On the other hand, some told me that I needed to be more firm in my direction, especially on set. In response to this advice, I heavily enforced the "Quiet on Set" rule, especially when we were behind. I also occasionally had to be boom operator, so I learned a lot about the sound side of the production. Overall, I think I did a fairly good job of keeping people quiet and on task, but we also had those moments where we got to have fun and make memories.
Time Management
In class, I used my time pretty well when I had to make schedules, spreadsheets, and call sheets. When I was done for the day with Hidden work, I worked on creating my website or I started to learn some things in AfterEffects that I could use in future projects. Outside of class, I spent some time watching documentaries and videos about creating and editing documentaries to prepare me for projects that I want to do this summer.
Strengths and Areas for Improvement
In e-Communication, I feel that I have lots of skills in communicating my thoughts and ideas and collaborating with others. In terms of leadership, I feel like I really stepped up to the plate this year and took on a role that I wasn't used to and I think I did a pretty good job in this position. I do have a fair amount of technical skills, although I would like to learn a lot more. For areas of improvement, I feel like I need to work on my project management skills. Although I do delegate my time very well, tasks end up taking longer than they should and I get very behind.
Summary
On May 9, we premiered The Hidden at a movie theatre. One of my favorite parts about the premiere was being able to eat with the crew and the cast because it felt like one last bonding moment. However, I feel like the premiere could have been a bit more organized because the night kind of felt rushed and that the plan wasn't exactly set in stone. In terms of the process, I liked being on set when we filmed major scenes and seeing how the whole shot would come together. Overall, I learned how to work with others to make something amazing and I really enjoyed the experience. Next year, I would like to be able to choose whether we could do a feature film or not individually because although I loved the experience, it caused a lot of stress and took immense amounts of time and there are other big projects that I would like to do on a more small group basis. To conclude, I will really treasure the experience of working on the feature film this year and it is something I'll never forget. e-Comm this year was a bit of an adjustment, but I had a great time.
Our Feature Film The Hidden has been a huge success! With a sold-out theatre and an evening of fun planned, it can easily seem that most things went smoothly in order to create a project on the scale that we did. However, there were many issues between people's ideas a suggestions and some of these things often slowed the process and resulted in arguments.
In terms of my role as Second Assistant Director, I had duties that included making call sheets, asking for the crew's availability, sometimes making schedule breakdowns, and lots of other things involving Pre-Production. For about half of our filming days, I worked as Boom Operator when others on the sound crew could not be there.
The article from No Film School suggests that if you anticipate working on a directing team with multiple people, it's important that the group sets boundaries so that each person knows what they are expected to do in their set role. I think that it would have been beneficial for us to communicate more on what our roles entailed because, in my opinion, our director took over a lot of the assistant director responsibilities and we ended up not doing much for the film in the beginning. I understand why he wanted to start off doing things by himself because we have similar personalities, but those duties weren't apart of his role and he should have focused more on being with actors while the First Assistant Director and I worked on call sheets and scheduling.
Also, the author pointed out that listing our personal strengths and weaknesses to the group would help with designating certain responsibilities. Each director was different on our crew and we were interested in doing different things, so it would have helped to know that someone would not be able to perform their best on a certain task. Especially with our first few days on set, knowing our strengths and weaknesses ahead of time would have eliminated our confusion on what we had to do on set.
With these tips from the article, I think that I can improve my communication skills with others before we get into the whole process. Although I don't want to participate in making a feature film next year, I still think these skills will be extremely valuable for working with others on any project and learning how to collaborate efficiently and effectively.
Entertainment Video has been a pleasing experience. I feel like I have improved significantly in my skills with video regarding multiple aspects, including directing, using cameras, and editing. I am excited to see what second semester brings along with our feature film, The Hidden, that will premier in May.
Semester Projects
The year started off with some basic projects to get our minds back into film-making. My group made a PSA about healthy eating and alternative foods to replace junk food.
The goal of this project was to produce a PSA that focused around an issue in today's society, and my group decided to focus on healthy eating. This PSA helped shift my focus to different aspects of film-making and it required a lot of preplanning due to the excessive amounts of props that we needed. We had around 2-3 weeks for this project to go from Pre-Production to Post-Production. Although this was probably the smoothest process of making a project that I've experienced this year, we did face a couple of challenges. Some of our filming days had to be delayed due to people (including me) forgetting to bring props on certain days and some people not completing their said job. However, everyone got along throughout the entire process. My position on this was a Production Manager (sort of), and this is what really got me interested in being behind the scenes and not being as hands-on as I've been in previous projects. Some people complimented our shots and the nice exposure and overall look of them, but we did receive criticism on the subtitles for going too fast. Overall, I feel like this was a really good starting project that set the expectations for the work that we were going to do this semester.
Our next project was our short film. Everyone in the class wrote a treatment for a short film idea and then we assembled into groups and decided on which one we would transform into a detailed script and eventually a short film. The short film had to tell a story through an Act I, Act II, and Act III. We had around a month to complete this project and it took about a week just to get our script nailed out. During this project, we faced a lot of challenges. A lot of people in the group didn't like the concept of the story, but the director started planning the project without our approval . The director also did not do much in Pre-Production except to find the "cell" location. Most of the props, shot list, and overall planning was done by me, a Production Manager, and Leah, the DP. Filming days were extremely stressful and the director even left at one point for around 30 minutes. Schedules didn't align but the deadline was quickly approaching and we had to get the project done. With this project, I learned some valuable skills, including a bit of directing work. I communicated a lot with the members outside of class to make sure of filming days and also telling people what props they needed to bring. In class, we actually watched the DP's edit (and it's also the one linked above). I thought that it turned out well in the end, but the class was pretty confused with the storyline, which made me think that we should have chosen an entirely different script in the beginning. Throughout the project, a lot of positions changed and a lot of the things that we had planned in Pre-Production also shifted a little bit. Overall, I feel like this project could have turned out a lot better with a different script and dedicated group members who were passionate about the project.
This semester, we started Pre-Production for our feature film, The Hidden, which is written and directed by Brady Stanfield. He originally pitched this concept for a short film and the class liked it so much that we decided to save it for the feature film. I wasn't extremely involved in script writing because I was a little unsure of the concept. The beginning planning was extremely rocky because so many different ideas were given to the director for different scenes and characters. Once we applied for production roles, the dedicated and passionate people were weeded out from the rest of the class. Now, I am Second Assistant Director for this film and I couldn't be more excited. I get to do a lot of planning and I even get an opinion on matters that the director is discussing. I can't wait to see where this project will go.
Time Management
In class, I feel like I have balanced my time pretty well. There were some days where I just wanted to sit and watch Netflix when we were doing menu items, but I kept myself busy most of the time with my client work from Midwest Dairy. I usually get all classwork that is assigned done in class and I try to stay as focused as possible. When I finished a project or other assignment, I would usually watch videos about film-making, like DSLR basics, work on client work, or look at different film and journalism schools so I could begin to narrow my college search. In free time, I would usually watch the channel DLSR guide on YouTube on anything that would interest me, which would probably be ways to execute aesthetically pleasing or interesting shots on most days. Outside of class, I'm usually working on client work to meet deadlines, but these projects also give me more experience to apply to other projects, whether it be e-Comm related or for clients.
Areas of Strength and Improvement
As a video production student, I feel like my areas of strength involve planning and behind-the-scenes work. I am strong communicator and work with others, especially in the process of the feature film. I feel like I could work with these strengths by applying them to projects that I'm interested in, like making another short film to submit to festivals. I meet deadlines and I get my work done to the best of my ability.
I feel like my weaknesses are in Production and Post Production. I know the basics of shooting with a DSLR, but I know I could put in a little extra work and make my cinematography look phenomenal. In Post, I can easily edit a video, apply effects and transitions, and modify music (to a certain degree). However, I have been wanting to go more in-depth with color grading and AfterEffects to enhance my videos even more to get the desired effect. Another thing I am not entirely strong in is Leadership. I like to be told what to do and to fly under the radar in a sense, which is why taking over the director position in the short film was really different for me. I don't think that I'm entirely lacking the leadership skill, but I know that there are ways that I could definitely improve it.
Guest Speakers
This semester, we had 2 guest speakers come to the class and speak about their experience in the film-making industry. Our first speaker was Gordon Lamb, who works at Concorde Career College and makes commercials for them. He had a lot to say about his experience, but I didn't like how he spoke to the technical side of film and equipment. I know that it interested some people, but I nearly fell asleep if I'm being completely honest. It was a little hard to understand everything he was talking about, but I could appreciate his work when he came back the second time and I understood why he was so technical. The second time, he brought in so much equipment, including 4K cameras, a dolly, jib, and a ronin for us to use for our feature film. It was a really hands-on class and I really enjoyed getting to work with all of the equipment and figuring out how it all worked.
Joshua Smith also came and spoke to our class. Joshua works for Bernstein-Rein, an advertising company based in Downtown Kansas City. I loved all of the work he showed us and the commercials that he made and I saw on TV. He was extremely energetic and passionate about his work, which made it really easy to stay engaged through the entirety of his presentation. I think Joshua's presentation appealed to me more than Gordon's because I feel the advertising is an excellent career for film-makers and anyone working in media and it's a potential career that I have in mind.
I feel like both speakers gave excellent information about the industry and how much dedication it takes to get to where they are now. It makes me realize how much I have ahead of me, but how ahead I am already by being a part of this program.
Summary
This semester was an eyeopener for me. There are talented seniors in my class and they inspire me to work hard at the things that I'm truly passionate about. This semester, I really loved how everyone has been working together to produce something amazing. It makes me think that we can make a feature that will improve from last year's. One thing I would change is the amount of work that some people do. I feel like there are a few people who are taking all of the work upon themselves and there are quite a few who sit and watch Netflix all hour. If people aren't passionate about even being in the class, I feel like they shouldn't be apart of the program because they haven't done anything beneficial to the class. One takeaway I have from this semester is that I have to work extremely hard for the end result, whether it is on the feature or my own projects. Projects take an immense amount of time to complete from start to finish, and that is something that I wasn't particularly aware of at the beginning of the semester. A goal that I have for next year is to become more skilled in DLSR's and putting those skills to use in future projects. I have really enjoyed this semester and I am excited to finally begin the Production phase of our feature film next semester.
I probably have mentioned this before, but one thing that I continually struggle with is cinematography. I have a Canon T3i at home and I feel like I'm not aware of it's potential and all of the amazing qualities that it has. In the near future I hope to get outside and practice using the different techniques mentioned in this video. I really enjoyed the fact that these tips came from a professional film-maker, Seth Dunlap.
One tip that I like in this video was the fact that not everything should be in slow-motion when it comes to expressing more cinematic shots. Slowing down the frame rate and editing clips in Post-Production can make shots steady and the shots can be aesthetically pleasing, but shots in short film don't need to constantly be in slow motion, which Seth Dunlap explains. He mentioned that a short film should contain 60% of the shots in real time and 40% of the shots in slow motion. Although this isn't the case for some films, like comedies, I feel like slowing down a more dramatic film would give it an interesting effect that is different from the usual chase scenes that I see a lot.
Another thing that Dunlap mentioned was that framing subjects in shots is crucial and that there is something almost psychological behind the different types of framing. For example, he stated that he worked on a documentary about a mother who had lost her child. When she was talking about grieving about the loss, he framed some of his b-roll to where she was on the left side of the frame, showing lots of empty space behind her. This represented that she had so much in her past that had affected her. When she spoke about having hope for the future and being happier, she was framed on the right to show how much she had to live for and the good things that were yet to occur. I feel like spending the time to understand the psychological connections between shots can make my films more dramatic and intense.
I feel like these tips will be very useful in helping my films become more cinematic and dramatic. Although these are some basic tips, I feel like I definitely need to work on these and to make more films so that I can master these techniques so that they become second nature.
One thing that I feel like I struggle with is making my shots cinematic and appealing to the eye. I tend to rely on the auto settings of a camera because all of the buttons and options seem a bit overwhelming. My camera work has improved this year because I have learned some of the basics in working in manual mode. This video will really help me for my next project so I can use these tips to make more cinematic short films and other projects.
Personally, I think the most important tip in this video is using either equipment or a tool in editing to stabilize clips. Unless it's used for effect and contributes to the story, shaky clips look unprofessional. I also despise using tripods because they are so big, heavy, take up a lot of room, and take a while to set up. However, using a tripod obviously makes the camera steady and eliminates having to use warp stabilizer or another effect to remove the shakiness. If I had the funds, I think testing a GlideCam would be fun to see what effect it makes on the clip.
Using a shallow depth-of-field also creates the blurred effect in the background, which is a really neat aesthetic. Adding the black bars on the top and bottom of the frame make the project look more professional. I think this video provides a lot of good tips, especially for beginners, for how to increase the quality of their work and elevate it to a professional level. I think I can take these tips into consideration to help improve my work and turn it into projects that I enjoy filming and editing.
In Cellulum, written by Drew Conners, is a story of a boy who is struggling with depression and feels "trapped" within his "cell". His anger eventually builds up and he punches a wall, where he finds a key to get out. He returns to normal life but is confused and doesn't understand. He goes back to his room, falls asleep, and wakes up in his cell again.
For this project, our class got into groups of 5 or 6 and we decided on a script to transform into our short film. The short film had to display Acts I, II, and III and had to be within 5-10 minutes. In terms of Pre-Production, I was in charge of story-boarding most of the shots and I got some props together as well. I provided some insight to how we could successfully execute our script considering that they story was based in an absurd location. In Production, I told the actor where to place himself and I helped the DP and Art Director, which isn't what a Production Manager normally does, but I kind of turned into the director because ours was being uncooperative and left the set for a long period of time. In Post-Production, I worked with the editor to give my opinion on how the edit should look and I helped find music and sound effects. Again, our director wasn't being very helpful and was gone for a couple days.
What Did I Learn?
Technically, I learned more editing features in Premiere and the importance of story-boarding to get the best idea for what shots the DP needs to get. We also learned our lesson with actor choice and recording shots for longer and getting them more than once. Our actor continually looked at the camera and the DP forgot to record shots more than once, so our editor had to work around that issue. This project taught me a big lesson in collaboration and working professionally with others. Our director was very uncooperative in helping with storyboards, planning, filming, and editing. Although directors are not directly involved, they should still be contributing to the discussion and giving their ideas considering that the project is branded under them. I stepped into his position because work was not getting done and we had to meet deadlines. Another issue that we had to combat was the issue with time, considering that all of the members' schedules were cramped and busy and we had an hour and half to film the scene in the cell, which is the biggest portion of the short film. However, for only getting an hour and a half, the DP and I were focused the entire time and tried our best to get filming done. One other thing I learned is that collaboration is key to a successful project. We made a group chat, but I had to message and talk to people directly in order to get a response. The edit above is the DP's edit, and although it is interesting to have two different edits with different perspectives, the editor should have been the one that was doing the editing because it is their assigned role.
What Would I Change?
If I could do things differently, I would have chosen a different script to begin with. This one did not have a very defined Act I, II, and III and the setting was extremely hard to work around. It would have been easier to start with a new script and be able to plan around a script that has easy locations and props. I would have also chose some different members in the group so that I would know that I work with those people well and that we would actually be productive. There isn't much I would keep the same because the work was not divided fairly and accordingly and turning a script into a short film was not very achievable. These are things that I can pull and change for my next project so that the process runs smoothly and that the project turns into something that I'm proud of. Overall, the final product didn't turn out terrible, but it is not my favorite work that I've been apart of and the issues behind the scenes are not something that I want to experience again.
In my group, we decided that Healthy Eating, especially in school lunches, was an important topic that needed to be covered and promoted. Once we came up with our idea, we decided that our PSA would be energetic and to the point, rather than making it more meaningful with cinematic shots. We pitched the idea of having the food thrown from each side of the screen and tossing away the unhealthy option to make the video more interesting and easy to follow instead of just explaining which options were healthier. Another idea was to include athletes, students, teachers, and staff to make the video relatable to everyone in the school building. I was in charge of organizing the props and making sure which props we were going to use on specific filming days. We filmed over the course of 4 days and we filmed mostly during the class period. In regards to production, we spent about 20 minutes with each actor or actress. We filmed one shot after school and we used a gymnast, but the shot was wrong and we were too crunched for time to re-film it. We recorded each shot 3 times just to make sure that we had one good one to use in the video. Although I had the role of art director, everyone had to edit their own version of the PSA. Most of the people in my group added captions to theirs to explain what was happening with each shot, but I felt that it was self-explanatory and I didn't feel the need to add a lower third. I did color correct every shot to make sure that it was well exposed and bright enough to see each item. I learned the importance of recording a shot more than once so that in case there was something odd in a shot (which happened multiple times in my group), it was able to be replaced by the same shot in a different recording to solve the issue.
5 Guarantees and General Thoughts
When it comes to the 5 e-Communication Guarantees (Technical Skills, Communication, Leadership, Collaboration, and Project Management), all 5 of them were used throughout the process of this entire PSA. For example, I had to re-familiarize myself with Premiere Pro since I had not used it all summer. I remembered the skills and short cuts that I had learned last year and I implemented them in my PSA. My group made a group chat through GroupMe to confirm our filming days and which props we were using each day. We also communicated our ideas during our Pre-Production period and during filming as well. Although our director was the "leader" of our group, we all had ideas to share and consider and we took control over our positions within the group. The group collaborated on our initial ideas and the different actors, props, shot types, and editing style for our PSA. Each PSA was a little different and had its own style to it. Since I was also working on client work at the same time as working on this PSA, I had to budget my time for working on both projects, which was PSA editing mostly during class and working on other projects after school or during Raven 50. I really liked our concept of the PSA and how it got to the point and didn't have too many extra details that were hard to grasp or understand. I liked how our shots looked and the consistency throughout the project. However, I would have liked our actors to display each food item more so that the viewer would be able to see each object better and understand the difference between the healthy and non-healthy item quicker. During critiques, some students mentioned that the objects went away too quickly for them to recognize what it was. From viewing my peers work, I would like to enhance my next project by creating more cinematic pieces with different shots and filming techniques that I haven't gotten to work with yet. Also, the shot of the lunchbox getting thrown to the side of the frame and then the next shot showing the lunchbox getting packed on the table was a consistency issue that I didn't realize until I was critiqued on it, so I would have changed that to make it more understandable. I liked how this project was a smooth introduction to get back into making projects and although it required the same planning and workload as my sophomore year projects, I liked how it took only a couple weeks to produce instead of deadlines getting pushed back and dragging the project on for several more days or weeks.
