Making Progress

The last class period was primarily spent discussing how our short films were coming along. Group 2 gave us some helpful advice—they had discovered that not all members of the group had to be on location to shoot since they (editors, sound operators) were doing post-production.

We began the class by watching a short film created by a senior honors student. I was very impressed to see someone not too much older than us write, direct, act, edit his own film. The movie was about 15 minutes long and it was a biopic. The plot was about the student’s own experience the summer before he went to college. Although I thought that his film was certainly something to be proud of, many of us had a problem with the lighting. Many in the classroom were turned off from the film because sometimes the characters’ faces and bodies weren’t visible, which caused a disconnect between the audience and the characters. We were overall very grateful to see the importance of lighting in our own movies.

After a discussion with the film student, Eric showed us some short films and guides to give us some pointers on how to make props, sound effects, use shots, etc. Then we divided into our little groups again. Our group finally came together and committed to one idea. I am stoked about it! We jotted down some ideas and were able to make an outline. We decided a couple of people would initiate the script, then a couple of different group members would make revisions and additions to it, and then Sam (our director) would have the final proofing of the script. I feel really good about our film now because it really will be collaborative creation. We begin shooting sometime after Spring Break but I am not quite sure if we decided on actors yet. I know Sam really wants to be in the movie!