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.
