The End is Just Around the Bend

It has been a long and interesting year in Film 2.  This is the last week, that we have been anticipating since the day we entered the film classroom.  I cannot believe that I am now one of the juniors who is making the next morning announcement show.  I cannot believe that I am just about to be a senior and take on all the responsibilities the seniors had.  After sitting in the production class all this semester, I got a bit of a preview of what is to come for my future.  I am nervous, but I am ready.  I have to be ready.
My main concern is making the year's last morning announcement show remarkable.  Many of the students and teachers on our campus don't even acknowledge the work we film kids do.  I want our class to make a show that will entertain our audience and catch their eye.  I think the ideas we have keep progressing into better ideas and concepts.  All we need to really figure out is our set design and light design today.  I saw Jachelle, Alexa, and Daisy working on the next Question of the Week segment and Jose went out to talk to Arc about their activities.  I think we are lucky to have a group of 14 dedicated kids, even if they aren't dedicated to film they're dedicated to the school and grade in the class which is all that we need.

Bright Lights and Many Lines Later

Finally our true adventure begins, something we've been preparing both our minds and skills for the past two years.  Television production and broadcasting is all such a new world to our class, but I think most of us have been able to maintain it better than just general film production.

My group is just awesome, we can work collaborate on ideas and we finish everything ahead of time.  I'm really happy with the progress we've made and our design for lighting and the set.  It's a matter of determination, and being capable of doing this work independently.  I think we'll be okay, and our host is amazing.  Unfortunately we have had trouble finding a definite position for our expert, but we can make ends meet.

My main focus throughout this week has been the many lines and scripts I've been reading through.  Not only have I been studying my own script and the shots with it, but I have memorized both scripts since Mark and I are hosts for both projects besides our own.  I really didn't think I was going to be able  to remember every single line, but after a couple long nights and a lot of mumbling to myself I was able to remember whole scripts.  I am really impressed with myself.  I'm nervous to shoot other peoples, I hope I don't ruin their project.  The most sketchy part of being filmed is balancing between doing the action and looking at the camera,  but hopefully I can maintain.  I don't really have a choice.

Final Crunch

I can't and don't want to say much about my project, but I can say it'll be decent.  I mean throughout production many things went wrong, and I don't expect perfection.  I really just learned after this project that this class shouldn't be taken so seriously, for being a high school class.  I know it's good to, but I really prioritized my life.  I know that now certain aspects may need to come before a passion I have.
I'm just glad we're done, and it's over.  For the most part, everyone was cooperative but we all just probably need a good break from each other, kidding for those who take me seriously, but I think it's time to move on.
Working so many hours on a computer can be laborious, and I think everyone's effort to edit is incredible.  If anyone has something to complain or say about this film, I would understand but ignore any comments.  We have our reasons for our faults and we can admit them.
I just want to move on to the next project.
I'm over talking about this one.

So Close, Yet So Far...

This has probably been our longest week filming.  We have filmed every single day of this week, except I did not come to the shoot on Tuesday.  I trust my producer and editor, though, and they can keep the shoot running perfectly fine.  Everything has been extremely stressful though.

My guy actors are flakes, simple enough, but they managed to work with our schedule so I can't really complain.  I just want to get the job done.  I really appreciate my main actor, Marlin, or showing up to every shoot and for being very dedicated and good with her lines.  I feel bad for taking up so much of her time, but by the end of this week it'll all be over.  Today we'll be finishing up our last scenes and our actors can take a breather.

My sound guy, Roy, is also very dedicated.  He gets what he needs to done, and he is an asset to my crew.  I appreciate his long hours of work, and soon he'll be done too.  However he did have some trouble with the microphone in the middle of the week, but he found a solution for us to shoot with, and he fixed the mistake.

My post sound crew is just starting to work, this week they've been focusing on foley sounds.  Most of them are okay, but some are not totally necessary.  I think Jeanette and Laura need to look for a better score, though.  I'm worried that they aren't looking for a non-copyright song that we can use.  Jeanette has yet to show up, and  I let her know for her benefit even though she's busy.  But we'll have to see.  Laura's boyfriend was also a major help in our film.  I'm glad Laura had him as our "bully" since he really fits the part.  Although he did smile a lot, he got it done and that's all that matters to me.

My D.P. has been doing his job, but it's hard to keep him focused and on task.  He makes minor mistakes, and I really think he should listen to what we're saying.  I had to really start enforcing things on him.  I made sure he was paying attention to focus and his shaky hands.  I am sick of having to keep him on track though, he gets very distracted, and isn't thinking about the fact that everybody else wants to go home.  I'm glad that he's showed up to majority of the shoots though, and he knows exactly what I want.  I also want to thank his mom, Ms. Sylvia, for acting as an administrator in our fight scene.

My editor has been very good too.  Laura Macias has provided us with a lot of help, with actors, locations, and her work as an editor.  On set, Laura showed up and kept track of any inconsistencies and had even helped with minor things, such as holding the boom.  I really appreciate her hard work, especially staying after school on the night of open house to edit.  I think she is doing a good job of editing, and we are pretty much on track.  We just need to finish shooting tonight, get the footage edited, tweak the look of the film, and then boom sound editing and we're done.

Honestly and all-in-all, I am done with this project.  It has been long, strenuous, and stressful.  I'm ready to finish this project.  I personally don't believe I'm fit to be a director, I can't really maintain the control I need to.  I know what I want, and if I lose my patience I will start maintaining total control, but nobody listens really.  I'm just not in the right state of mind to be doing all this right now.  It's too much for me to handle, and I apologize to my group for not being the best director and just hopefully they can look past it.

Production At Last

So we've been about a week into production and, in fact, I am very happy about the progress my crew has made.  Although we may have our flaws, we have gotten so much done.  It wasn't until this week when we began having trouble.

As of our first week, our crew showed, our actors showed, and our shoots were longer than expected but still went as plan.  My main guy actors have been causing a bit of trouble.  My "Ramos" is a good actor and can fit the part, but he's just terrible at memorizing lines.  I've been going over the lines with him though and progress has been made.  My "Andrew" flaked on us for a day, but he's better with his lines.  I think I could of found a better guy to fit the part, but if he was capable of our schedule then all is good.  Our girl actors are dedicated, they have their lines and show up to every shoot so I couldn't be happier.  We need to do some reshoots and we had to reschedule quite a bit, but we'll be able to finish by next week still.  Just later than we expected.

As for my crew, I'm happy with them for the majority.  My producer is very responsible and is capable of organizing everybody.  My D.P. is good at what he does, but we've made sure he pays more attention to the focus of the shots and the steadiness of his hands.  He gets a little distracted here and there, but a firm voice can get him working again.  My on-set sound guy is also dedicated.  He shows up to every shoot even when he wasn't initially needed due to technical difficulties. I am a little worried about my post-production sound crew, but I think since things have become a bit more tight, with attendance sheet and all, they'll be a bit more dedicated to this project.

I think our project has the capability of being one of the best, and I want to make it the best.  All I can hope is the shoots for the next coming week goes as planned.

Week Two: Back to the Drawing Board

This week was good towards the development of my partner and I's treatment.  We fixed some more bugs in the story, adding more or less to help develop the story.  In the matter of a day, we had our beat sheet finished.  Although we had to tweak it at school, my partner and I have the same mutual thinking and decisions for this production.  As of today, we began working on our script which proves ease and also difficulty.  A script is easy to write, but when you have to create dialogue based off of the cynical and low key language that makes up the characteristics of film noir.
I'm satisfied with the work we have done, and I am satisfied with out results.  We have plenty of time to work with our scripts, so I have a feeling eventually we can get it down perfect.
It's been hard for me to work though, and I do feel guilty for not being able to process as much information and ideas as usual.  I can only hope a wave of creativity strikes me.  I do apologize to my partner, for having to work with someone who does not have a clear head.

- Note to self: Next week can only get better right?

Week One of Film Noir

As of right now, I am very satisfied with the progress my partner and I have made on our treatment.  After first writing both of our treatments, my partner and I decided to work with my treatment but add twists and ideas that also combine elements of her treatment.  On our first night of work, we had to switch the entire plot into a realistic high school scenario, it was difficult to make the plot move in a sensible way, but we got a lot done.
For the next days we developed our story, as we had more ideas we added.  Our ultimate goal was to make the plot as twisted as possible, but also PG enough for a school project.  We had to really analyze and go into depths of why each character behaved the way they did, the reasoning for this and that, and so on.  We had a basic story line, we just needed to add the details to the plot so that the noir theme could be present.

My partner had then told me that we had to work on a pitch for our film, and my first idea was to do a teaser.  Unfortunately, we only had so much time so we decided not to do that.  My partner and I both agreed that we wanted to have some kind of visual to make our pitch more appealing, so I made a quick and simple character map along with a short character analysis.  When it came to actually pitching, we made a couple lines to share up, but either way we had to give away our story.
For the next few days we'll be working on putting together a noir scene, which I am excited for.  We can practice making the noir feeling in this scene, and if I get any ideas along the way I plan to use it in my current film.
Everything has been easy-going, so far, but I don't want to make any assumptions for the future.  Working with my partner has been a breeze, we both can agree easily with one another, and can openly develop ideas without having to worry about anything personal.  So far so good, but let's see how next week unrolls.