1st semester in entertainment final exam

        Semester Reflection

           This semester in entertainment, we did three projects. The first was our commercial. I wrote and directed a Reeses Puff's advertisement taking place in the civil war. I took one week of preproduction and one week of production and editing. The shoot took about three hours. The challenge in that project was production value, because it took place in a another period we had to remain consistent. It was the group project of the year, so we were still unsure of what we were going to the film, But in the end all of are respective roles were filled and enjoyed.  For townie it was a similar experience, we decided to have a grunge feel and so we had to do a lot of location scouting and costuming and prop work. I learned how to be a more organized leader and how to communicate an idea to other crew members while still allowing them to add their own personal touch to it.  Connect was a smooth short film, it was finally a film with dialogue so the set was very fun and interactive.

In class, I used my time to watch video essays from multiple film channels, for example; cinefix, Lessons from the Screenplay, and Karstin Runquist. I learned about screenwriting and story telling in film and it was very helpful to my year in eComm.  When working on projects I've worked during lunch and after school to finish editing or writing.

My strengths as an eComm student include Creativity, originality, flexibility, perseverance , and I enjoy doing it. It helps me in my areas of writing and directing.  I have some originization that needs improvement but I have seen much growth this year, so I know I can only get better.

Our class had three guest speakers this year. Gordon Lamb, Brandon Priest, and Drew Conners. They had a lot of knowledge to spread and was very fortunate to be in the same room as them . I can apply this knowledge to my work because they has real insider information on the film industry and what in means to be employable .

My role in the upcoming feature film is writer and documentarian. I have a background in editing but even more so, I feel my skills as a writer will be even more valuable. I will have to craft an UNSCRIPTED story so I have to be the one to find it within our numerous miscellaneous clips. I'm very excited.

In summary, This has been so far my most successful year in eComm. I've been proud of every single one of my projects and crews and I can't wait to work on the future film next semester.  One thing I would change was maybe pre production, there's always more to do. My goal for next semester is to be more organized and communicate efficiently to other crew members and learn even more about film.

"Connect" - Short Film

Short Film

Pre production

          I wrote the short film "Connect" in hopes that it would be produced by the class. In the past, I've written short films from 15 to 17 pages. I liked complicated stories with big characters and meaningful development. I like to have my comedies lengthy to build up familiarity.  Those projects were extremely difficult to work. scheduling was the first hardship, not to mention demanding time and skilled acting needed to captivate an audience that time. It was challenging, But made the decision to edit myself. I wrote a simple, yet humorous,  short film. It only had two actors and Two locations. It was 5 pages, so that meant five minutes of screen time. Filming time would quadruple.

          in past projects, My anxiety would cause me to be a tad of a control freak. I would write, direct because it was my vision. I would film because I wouldn't trust the cinematographer to I would take over the camera, and edit the entire thing in the end. This time, I only wrote and directed. I let Lauryn complete her vision through the camera as DP, and Erin my editor used her skills to fit our ideas, but still managed to make it her own. I'm proud that I put trust in my team members to refine their crafts and still collaborate with the rest of the group.

        The actors Dom and Mario, I was skeptical of atfirst. I'm friends with both of them, but I had never seen them act before, so I was taking a gamble. Filming can be lengthy and tiresome, but with Lauryn on camera, I was able to focus almost entirely on getting the performance out of them that I wanted. as we set up the lights and sound equipment, they practiced lines. we kept a fun shooting environment so nothing got too stressful. We kept things light and positive even though the shoot went longer than expected. I'm very thankful they were able to take notes and criticism, both were compliant when I asked them to do a take a different way or the exact same way for the MILLIONTH time. as a comedy filmmaker,  is one of my top priorities and they left me very satisfied.

No Film School

         As a writer, my creative process is normally stressful, frustrating, and almost exhausting enough to resort to becoming a boom mic operator. In other words, we need all the help we can get. On websites like "No Film School" between articles for editors and cinematographers, there's the occasional screenwriter's perspective and guidance. Their advice never disappoints. My chosen article "'Most Likely to Murder' Creators on Why a Vomit Draft is Essential for Starting a Screenplay"  follows the hardships of what is the rigorous first draft and how to conquer it.

        The writers of the comedy feature describe the "vomit draft" of screenplay, getting every idea out of your system and on to paper in one sitting, even if it's garbage. This way it reveals the obvious plot holes and problems with in a script before the writer has sacrificed their precious time and energy into a certain idea.  They mark the importance of finding resolutions for all their characters and the struggle of balancing comedy and horror. They take film inspiration form Alfred Hitchcock and woody Allen, combining those forces seems to be a fine accompaniment for the two collaborating writers. Without setting the foundation of the vomit draft, there never would have been so much flexibility for collaboration. "most likely to murder" eventually a polished feature length thriller-comedy, and accomplished both of the Writers' visions.  

After reading this article, I have a lot to say against personal procrastination as a screenwriter.  The most important thing about writing is actually accomplishing the task of writing.  A first draft is never perfect, and getting the idea out of your mind before it becomes bored of it is extremely important and the necessary discipline for training your mind as a screenwriter.  As a takeaway, i hope after reading this article I become more confident and efficient as a writer. Being able to see your work is the first step to seeing the mistakes of your work, and thus fixing them. Check out www.nofilmschool.com for more amazing articles on screenwriting.

https://nofilmschool.com/2018/04/dan-gregor-doug-mand-most-likely-to-murder