As all reflections must, looking back on the absolute beginning of the piece's development was my friendship with Luis. Last year when we met in our AICE Media AS level class, we instantly formed a bond that I cherish every time we share a laugh or talk about complex, outrageous ideas and how they impact the world as we know it. With my spontaneous creativity and his motivated dedication to his work, we made a balanced team when developing what would blossom into a film reflecting on the world around us. Credit is paid where credit is due, and Valedictorian wouldn't be where it is without my brother.
I've always been interested in character development whether that is through one's physicality, costume design, or dialogue. Having this space to experiment and express my thoughts was highly beneficial to creating the unique characters that appeared on the screen. At conception, Luis and I knew we wanted to showcase the personalities we saw walking the halls with us. Brainstorming the stereotypes common for Gen Z people was extremely exciting as they hadn't been defined with the perspective of their own generation before. This responsibility weighed heavily on our shoulders as we wanted to represent our peers accurately, without offending them. Not only did we achieve that goal, but we made each character clear to understand (in some cases) when they weren't even talking.
I confidently say Luis and I achieved that because our last part of our developmental process was to send our video to a focus group. This consisted primarily of Luis' contacts of film personnel, but they ended up being complimentary of both of our efforts. I addition to citing specific areas that needed minor corrections, this group expressed on multiple occasions that we did a great job. After over 4 months of brainstorming, developing a story, writing a script, acquiring a cast, filming, and lots of editing, to hear that our execution was of a high caliber amongst other filmmakers our age proves that the time and energy Luis and I poured into this project was worth it. The excitement we had about beginning this project early shone through all the creative decisions we had to make.
With quarantine, our development process was impacted a lot. Without our typical school day to schedule around and the quick enforcement of quarantine procedures, Luis and I faced major obstacles in filming our last scenes. Fortunately, as the last few scenes required less than four cast members, planning a shooting day was not difficult to arrange. We were very lucky; our enthusiasm for this project made us begin early, putting us out of production by the time heavy quarantine restrictions were put into place by our local government.
My senior year has been my most memorable year to date, and a lot of that is thanks to my portfolio project. I've developed a new confidence in my ability to convert a conception to a viewable film. This would not have been possible without the critique and advice of my teacher Tina Stoklosa, who educated so many on how to create a film that has a clear purpose. For that, much of my current ability is thanks to her. The largest take away I have from this project is simple: it pays off to be excited. Don't let a fear of prematurely jumping into a project sway you from taking the first steps towards your actual goal. Succeed or fail, if you aren't developing something you are excited about, it is impossible to be proud of your end result.
And guess what? I'm proud of the end result.
No comments:
Post a Comment