Introduction
It’s over, but honestly it still really hasn’t hit that after 4 years I am done. I still remember my freshman classes like it happened last week. Hundreds of people I will never see again. And the ones I will see will probably be the ones I wish I didn’t. The things I learned about other people, but honestly about myself. I am still relatively young at 17 so if I ever see this document again I will probably laugh and call myself stupid. But e-Comm is something I won’t ever forget. The projects I made the people I have met. The skills, at least the big ones, project management, leadership, communication, collaboration and technical skills are something I hope I keep forever. The thought that needs to go into a project like a film are really multi tool skills. That I hope to keep.
Section I
At the beginning of e-Comm I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do, but in entertainment I realized that film is simply beautiful. At the time I didn’t know anything about a camera or how to refine an idea into a workable project with deadlines (how fun!) I have learned so much but I still want to work on something that I didn’t really get enough time to do and that’s directing and cinematography. I want to be able to have the confidence to create something and be able to lead something to that end product.
I heard a saying one time that a team is only as good as its weakest link and that’s why I want to hone my skills to bring everyone up as a team. I am not sure what I would do differently, perhaps make filming a bigger priority in my life.
It’s to say for certain what I did that made me most proud. I have imposter :) syndrome I guess. Every time I look at a project that I worked on that is really good it’s too easy for me to make excuses. But the ones I am most proud of are Hawthorne, Can’t Take my Eyes Off you and our 24 hour film fest video. The biggest problem with most of these projects is time constraints, when you are managing a big group of people it’s hard to find time in which everyone can be available to shoot. Hawthorne (my short film) would’ve been my Magnum Opus if you will. Of course we ran out of time, or we ran into technical issues. The thing is that I learned to plan out everything. Do not procrastinate and waste your time on stuff that is insignificant to the project. They all turned out to be great in their own ways, CTMEOY had a great story and lighting, Hawthorne a great cinematographer (Drew) and an experienced actor/advisor Brett Taylor. The 24hour film is a bit different, the shots, story, script are fine but it was the experience of hanging out with friends and shooting a movie made it truly special.
The 24 hour Film Fest took you guessed it 24 hours. The other projects took a few weeks to complete with scheduling and shooting, pre/production all that Jazz.
It’s tradition to give feedback after we view a video and my projects were no different. I honestly can’t remember the feedback we were given or if we made any big changes. I guess that might be something I should work on, whether my stubbornness or memory is more important is your call.
Section II
Time is money or whatever annoying people say but it is rather true. The time I spent editing a project are some of my favorite memories in e-Comm. But time is hard to manage when you’re at school. When your actors are in math class and you need to film in an alleyway 15 minutes away things can get difficult. But if when we had dates you gotta get out there and give it your all. I’d say I’m a good editor, especially in Junior year I focused on editing and trying to enhance whatever product I was given through a well timed cut. My cinematography will always be something I want to improve and hone if I decide to get back into the film scene.
Section III
The feature film was an odd one. I don’t often work with sound, and frankly I’m glad about that. Whether through bad luck or a potential I didn’t know I had, I was sound supervisor for Cursed. I thought it went well. I was there for all the film days capturing sound with the boom pole operator (Lucas, Malik, Truman, Kellan.) Inside class I couldn’t really do much as the group of Juniors who ran the show didn’t really give good detail as to what we were shooting, when, what location. But Smith knows what she's doing of course, I thought we did a good job. (Also I was kinda lazy and forgot to apply.) And I loved that we got to work together as a class.
Section IV
Overall entertainment video was awesome. I can’t really describe the overall experience I had. I could offer up stories but not a connecting theme between them all. I guess I would like to try putting more effort into filming and contributing to the project. But hey to be alive to have regrets and live with them, not every choice we make is the right one, not every action we make is flawlessly or objectively right but we can give ourselves grace and work to better ourselves.
