January 22, 2016
The filming is coming along. It’s going more slowly than I expected. The Wednesday (January 20th) filming in my mom’s classroom ended at 5:00 because some of the crucial crew members had to leave early. I had hoped that we would go to 6:15 and knock out three scenes. With our cut time, we managed to only do one (which was the opening scene of the film). Despite the time, we were able to efficiently get through said scene. Since the shots were on repetitive action, all they had to do was go through the scene and I would capture it at different angles. This resulted in plenty of coverage. I’d say this one went well.
As for the cut time, we are going to need more shooting days. I believe we may need four more, creating a grand total of seven to my planned five. Luckily, the cast and crew members were willing to have more days after school. In fact, they said it worked better for them to have more days with less time. I asked my mom about using the room more than expected and she said it was fine.
We have about four more scenes that involved the classroom and two that involve the school hallway, and one on the football field, meaning a total of seven more school locations. Next Wednesday (the 27th) we are going to (hopefully) film the two scenes we missed. I think we also plan to film the following Thursday. Fingers crossed, but the final Wednesday (and the wrap of shooting the film) may be on February 3.
This unfortunately, will create a bit of a time crunch in post production. I had planned on being methodical with the editing of the film, finishing in late March or early April. However, the Student Media Festival deadline is March 15. I’m going to go through the process much faster than I would like. I tend to submit two projects to the festival every year and this was going to be my second (my PSA being the first.) Maybe I can create a less polished version for the festival and continue working on it afterwards? I’d rather not have to do that but I might need to if I want to submit it this year.
Real talk. This project is extremely important to me (if I haven’t stressed that already.) I have been thinking about it since the summer after ninth grade. I have even come up with the script the Legend of Captain Hero as a possibility. You know all of this already. I’ve explained it in my first journals.
Now that it’s been eight months (eight months!) since then. I am finally seeing the project coming to life. My months of writing, planning, and organizing are beginning to wind down in production. We’ve shot more than half (17/32) scenes! Throughout this entire process, I daresay I have learned and grown as a creative. Becoming even more confident in my abilities. There was a time when I was young where I didn’t believe I could become a director. It involved talking to people and knowing what you were doing, which, you could argue, I still don’t know today. I guess I’m getting really sentimental about this (currently incomplete) project, but right now, I’m feeling okay.
But that may change.
Unfortunately, there is a downside. I expected sophomore year to be difficult. I planned for that ahead and that’s why the making of this film has been stretched out as far as it has. However, I didn’t expect this level of commitment. APUSH, AP Chem, and Convergence Media all ask for a lot of time for me. Since I have been planning the project, I hoped to put in lots of time into it around this stage. This was a bad idea, especially for the King Holiday. I was working on the film instead of doing other, school related things, like studying for tests, practicing problems, and pre reporting my story. I didn’t use the holiday like academia expected me to. Now, I’m suffering the consequences.
I have been falling behind on school work lately. After several failures to complete some tasks, I’ve pretty much given up on them. That has not helped me in the grade department. It’s hard for me to prioritize these things especially on something I’ve waited so long to do. To me, these other school related things just popped up, and since I already had a focus, they have been falling second.
I just want to make sure the project is worth it. It’s another stake I have in this film. If it comes out poorly, it would be a waste of my year and the sacrifices made. I may lose all the gained confidence in myself.
I guess I’ll just have to take the chance. I’m going to need to find some method of balance, or else everything may come crashing down…
On different note, I’ve finished renaming and organizing all of the dailies shot so far. I’m going to be using the weekend to sync the shots to the audio in Premiere (as well as catch up on homework.) It feels so good to finally open the editing program!
I have also been reading a book called In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch. It’s a “perspective on film editing.” It has lots of interesting ideas on and about the history of movie editing, and I may be able to apply that in my project.
P.S. Guess what? Today is my birthday! I’m 16! Also my 22nd journal on the 22nd day of January. Coincidence? I think not.