May 2014
I can trace my interest in this class all the way back to my freshman year. I remember sitting in Ac Lab, watching Ladue View, and seeing the trailers for the Film Fest for the first time. I was so excited! I had no idea that our school offered filmmaking and it was something I had always wanted to try. I talked to some people and found out that the filmmakers were in a class called "broadcast technology," which sounded totally unappealing to me. I signed up for it sophomore year anyway, but ended up switching out to take painting instead. Junior year, I signed up for it again, but it didn't fit into my schedule. After tracking down Ms. Davis and completely messing up my schedule, I squeezed into the B1 class. I knew it was important, otherwise I might have never had the chance to take the class. During Broadcast 1, the idea of making videos excited me so much that I had to sign up for Broadcast 2. Throughout this time, I discovered something I didn't even know I would enjoy doing: making short news packages. My first real project was the Spoede Passport Night. I loved the stress of trying to navigate a crowded event, and interviewing people who helped make it happen was surprisingly fulfilling. Another project I had fun with was the "Where We're From" video about St. Louis. I drove all around the city, was approached by an intoxicated homeless person, and got probably a hundred shots of places around St. Louis. I edited them all together with some goofy music, and I was shocked when Mr. Goble was impressed by the finished product. Throughout second semester, I had kind of been toying with the idea of doing the ISM program the next year, but wasn't really sure. After I did a story on the Film Fest, and saw how awesome Antonio's and Jeslyn's movies were, I knew I had to do it. I was scared that I would be terrible at filmmaking, and after so many years of dreaming about making a movie, that thought terrified me. I finally got the nerve to go ask Mr. Goble if I could do the ISM program, and I was thrilled when he said yes. I wanted my movie to be perfect! I brainstormed for weeks but couldn't think of anything good to write about. Summer came around, and my friend Annie and I were brainstorming for a comedy screenplay we wanted to write together, but I didn't think I was going to use it for the Film Fest. I thought that comedy was too much of a risk--how did I know that other people would think my jokes were funny? What if the actors didn't have a sense of humor? I ended up using our brainstorm to write my screenplay simply because I couldn't think of anything else. I had vague ideas, but Camp Borderline was the only thing where I could see a complete story. Turning in the screenplay in the fall was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done. I thought everyone would hate it and think I was a total weirdo for writing something like that. When it was time for Camp Borderline's read through with Mr. Goble and the other directors, I was literally sweating in my chair. Literally. I smelled like a gym sock. But to my surprise, everyone was laughing! They actually thought my script was funny! I have never felt more relieved and happy in my life. Actually making the film turned out to be a huge, stressful, awesome learning experience, but you can read about all that in my previous posts. I guess what I'm trying to say is that a single decision, that one choice to switch around my schedule junior year, was the best thing I could have done, because I've discovered something I really enjoy doing. Thanks to Mr. Goble for an awesome 2 years, and I'm sorry this post is so long! I didn't realize I had this much to say. #BTech4Ever
I can trace my interest in this class all the way back to my freshman year. I remember sitting in Ac Lab, watching Ladue View, and seeing the trailers for the Film Fest for the first time. I was so excited! I had no idea that our school offered filmmaking and it was something I had always wanted to try. I talked to some people and found out that the filmmakers were in a class called "broadcast technology," which sounded totally unappealing to me. I signed up for it sophomore year anyway, but ended up switching out to take painting instead. Junior year, I signed up for it again, but it didn't fit into my schedule. After tracking down Ms. Davis and completely messing up my schedule, I squeezed into the B1 class. I knew it was important, otherwise I might have never had the chance to take the class. During Broadcast 1, the idea of making videos excited me so much that I had to sign up for Broadcast 2. Throughout this time, I discovered something I didn't even know I would enjoy doing: making short news packages. My first real project was the Spoede Passport Night. I loved the stress of trying to navigate a crowded event, and interviewing people who helped make it happen was surprisingly fulfilling. Another project I had fun with was the "Where We're From" video about St. Louis. I drove all around the city, was approached by an intoxicated homeless person, and got probably a hundred shots of places around St. Louis. I edited them all together with some goofy music, and I was shocked when Mr. Goble was impressed by the finished product. Throughout second semester, I had kind of been toying with the idea of doing the ISM program the next year, but wasn't really sure. After I did a story on the Film Fest, and saw how awesome Antonio's and Jeslyn's movies were, I knew I had to do it. I was scared that I would be terrible at filmmaking, and after so many years of dreaming about making a movie, that thought terrified me. I finally got the nerve to go ask Mr. Goble if I could do the ISM program, and I was thrilled when he said yes. I wanted my movie to be perfect! I brainstormed for weeks but couldn't think of anything good to write about. Summer came around, and my friend Annie and I were brainstorming for a comedy screenplay we wanted to write together, but I didn't think I was going to use it for the Film Fest. I thought that comedy was too much of a risk--how did I know that other people would think my jokes were funny? What if the actors didn't have a sense of humor? I ended up using our brainstorm to write my screenplay simply because I couldn't think of anything else. I had vague ideas, but Camp Borderline was the only thing where I could see a complete story. Turning in the screenplay in the fall was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done. I thought everyone would hate it and think I was a total weirdo for writing something like that. When it was time for Camp Borderline's read through with Mr. Goble and the other directors, I was literally sweating in my chair. Literally. I smelled like a gym sock. But to my surprise, everyone was laughing! They actually thought my script was funny! I have never felt more relieved and happy in my life. Actually making the film turned out to be a huge, stressful, awesome learning experience, but you can read about all that in my previous posts. I guess what I'm trying to say is that a single decision, that one choice to switch around my schedule junior year, was the best thing I could have done, because I've discovered something I really enjoy doing. Thanks to Mr. Goble for an awesome 2 years, and I'm sorry this post is so long! I didn't realize I had this much to say. #BTech4Ever
April 2014
The Film Fest was a success! We had a decent turn out, and everyone loved the films. I thought they all turned out really well! We had a nice variety of genres, and you could tell how hard everyone had worked this year. It was an exciting experience to listen to the audience react to my film, and I'm not going to lie, it was a relief to hear them laugh at the parts they were supposed to. I've been staring at Camp Borderline on my computer for the past 4 months, so it was refreshing to see it from a new point of view. It really feels like the end of high school for me now! I've been working on/obsessing about Camp Borderline since the beginning of last summer when I started writing it in Barnes and Noble with Annie, and now that it's over, it feels like the whole year is. I'm really glad I took a step out of my comfort zone in making this film, because I learned a lot about myself and what I'm good at during this process. I also made a film that I'm super proud of and I will keep showing to anyone and everyone!
The Film Fest was a success! We had a decent turn out, and everyone loved the films. I thought they all turned out really well! We had a nice variety of genres, and you could tell how hard everyone had worked this year. It was an exciting experience to listen to the audience react to my film, and I'm not going to lie, it was a relief to hear them laugh at the parts they were supposed to. I've been staring at Camp Borderline on my computer for the past 4 months, so it was refreshing to see it from a new point of view. It really feels like the end of high school for me now! I've been working on/obsessing about Camp Borderline since the beginning of last summer when I started writing it in Barnes and Noble with Annie, and now that it's over, it feels like the whole year is. I'm really glad I took a step out of my comfort zone in making this film, because I learned a lot about myself and what I'm good at during this process. I also made a film that I'm super proud of and I will keep showing to anyone and everyone!
February/March 2014
I am almost 100% finished with Camp Borderline! The Film Festival is in a week, and I just have some last minute things to fix. Although it's not perfect, I'm happy with the way the movie turned out. I realized today that some of the scenes look much better when they are small...I just watched it full screen and some of my mistakes are a lot more obvious. OH WELL! There's nothing I can do about it now. Finding music was a bigger challenge than I expected. There are some parts where I need it to be cheesy, and some parts I need it to be normal, and sifting through the ISM website to find the perfect match was very difficult. In fact, I'm going to continue looking right now to make sure I made the best choices.
I am almost 100% finished with Camp Borderline! The Film Festival is in a week, and I just have some last minute things to fix. Although it's not perfect, I'm happy with the way the movie turned out. I realized today that some of the scenes look much better when they are small...I just watched it full screen and some of my mistakes are a lot more obvious. OH WELL! There's nothing I can do about it now. Finding music was a bigger challenge than I expected. There are some parts where I need it to be cheesy, and some parts I need it to be normal, and sifting through the ISM website to find the perfect match was very difficult. In fact, I'm going to continue looking right now to make sure I made the best choices.
January 2014
This is the official trailer for Camp Borderline! I have been busy editing the past few weeks, and it is coming along slowly but surely. I definitely made some mistakes during filming, but I think I can fix most of them. I'm learning a lot about filmmaking by seeing my mistakes, so I know I would feel much more comfortable if I did this again in the future. Mad respect for professional editors...this process can get pretty annoying. I hope the final project turns out well and people think it's funny!
This is the official trailer for Camp Borderline! I have been busy editing the past few weeks, and it is coming along slowly but surely. I definitely made some mistakes during filming, but I think I can fix most of them. I'm learning a lot about filmmaking by seeing my mistakes, so I know I would feel much more comfortable if I did this again in the future. Mad respect for professional editors...this process can get pretty annoying. I hope the final project turns out well and people think it's funny!
December 2013
I can't believe I'm finally finished filming! I should be relieved, but all I can think about is how I might have missed something. We finished up the "social skills scene" inside the theater because the weather had changed too much outside. I'm glad we found a way to do it, because it's probably my favorite scene. The next few months are going to be spent editing...hopefully it doesn't get too tedious. I can't wait to put the whole thing together.
I can't believe I'm finally finished filming! I should be relieved, but all I can think about is how I might have missed something. We finished up the "social skills scene" inside the theater because the weather had changed too much outside. I'm glad we found a way to do it, because it's probably my favorite scene. The next few months are going to be spent editing...hopefully it doesn't get too tedious. I can't wait to put the whole thing together.
November 2013
Camp Borderline filming is (almost) finished! Today was supposed to be the last day, but I'm not sure if we got everything. It was 30 degrees and we had to film outside. By the end, everyone was frozen and miserable, and I was so cold I could hardly think! We rushed through the last few parts so I'll have to watch everything back on Monday. There will definitely be some awkward transitions between seasons...maybe that will be funny? I feel confident that everything will be finished by the end of the semester, though. This movie is not turning out exactly the way I pictured, but it's been such a learning experience. I can tell that the actors are learning a lot, too. They all seem much more comfortable in front of the camera. It will be nice when I have all the footage I need and can relax.
Camp Borderline filming is (almost) finished! Today was supposed to be the last day, but I'm not sure if we got everything. It was 30 degrees and we had to film outside. By the end, everyone was frozen and miserable, and I was so cold I could hardly think! We rushed through the last few parts so I'll have to watch everything back on Monday. There will definitely be some awkward transitions between seasons...maybe that will be funny? I feel confident that everything will be finished by the end of the semester, though. This movie is not turning out exactly the way I pictured, but it's been such a learning experience. I can tell that the actors are learning a lot, too. They all seem much more comfortable in front of the camera. It will be nice when I have all the footage I need and can relax.
October 2013
I can't believe we are 2/3 of the way through the semester already! It's going by so quickly and there's still so much to film! Overall, things have been going more smoothly. I've been trying to find things to film every day, even when I'm not scheduled to, and we are chipping away at what needs to be done. Every day I feel like I know a little bit more about what I need to do and how to do it, although I still make stupid mistakes sometimes, like messing up the white balance. Today, I was scheduled to film with the whole group, and one of my actors didn't show up. I tried to do parts of it without her, but she was pretty important to the scene so we didn't really accomplish anything. I'll have to find time to make it up somehow. I'm feeling more optimistic than last month, but Camp Borderline is still far from complete.
I can't believe we are 2/3 of the way through the semester already! It's going by so quickly and there's still so much to film! Overall, things have been going more smoothly. I've been trying to find things to film every day, even when I'm not scheduled to, and we are chipping away at what needs to be done. Every day I feel like I know a little bit more about what I need to do and how to do it, although I still make stupid mistakes sometimes, like messing up the white balance. Today, I was scheduled to film with the whole group, and one of my actors didn't show up. I tried to do parts of it without her, but she was pretty important to the scene so we didn't really accomplish anything. I'll have to find time to make it up somehow. I'm feeling more optimistic than last month, but Camp Borderline is still far from complete.
September/October 2013
This year, instead of taking part in Ladue View, I am creating a short film. It's called Camp Borderline, and it's a comedy about some people who need a bit of work on their social skills. My friend Annie Cohen helped me come up with the idea, and I wrote the script this summer. Sometimes it was tough to make myself sit down in front of the computer and do the work, but once I started, I had a blast. Writing is so much fun because there are no limitations. The story can go anywhere you want it to. When we returned to school this semester, all of the filmmakers started ironing out the details in our scripts and working with the acting class. I realized that there were some parts of my script that wouldn't be practical to film and had to make some adjustments. Also, there are 5 directors and only 7 people in the acting class, so planning when we each would be able to film was extremely difficult. My script requires 6 people in many of the scenes, so that made it even harder. We had auditions, and luckily, everyone in the acting class knew how to act. However, I wasn't sure if they could all act in comedy. That has been a big struggle for me, now that we have started filming. It seems like some of the actors don't understand which parts of the script are supposed to be funny, and what their characters should sound like. Trying to direct them while also setting up the shots and getting everything I need done in such a limited amount of time is hard to manage. Most of my scenes take place outside, which has been another struggle. The light changes all the time, sometimes a PE class runs by and makes a bunch of background noise, and even walking out to our location takes a few extra minutes that we don't have to spare. Overall, the biggest challenge has been time. The directors have to take turns filming, so I have been forced to squeeze a lot of filming into a few short periods. Even weekends are hard to schedule because we all have a lot of filming we need to do. I feel like I don't have enough time to get everything where I want it to be. I'm just trying to get it done, and when I watch the things we've filmed on the computer, I'm not 100% thrilled with what I see. Hopefully this will all work out, because this movie is killing me! I want it to turn out perfectly, but trying to balance all this work with college applications and the enormous amount of homework I've been receiving this year has been driving me crazy. At this point it doesn't feel like I'll even be able to finish it. There's still a long way to go.
This year, instead of taking part in Ladue View, I am creating a short film. It's called Camp Borderline, and it's a comedy about some people who need a bit of work on their social skills. My friend Annie Cohen helped me come up with the idea, and I wrote the script this summer. Sometimes it was tough to make myself sit down in front of the computer and do the work, but once I started, I had a blast. Writing is so much fun because there are no limitations. The story can go anywhere you want it to. When we returned to school this semester, all of the filmmakers started ironing out the details in our scripts and working with the acting class. I realized that there were some parts of my script that wouldn't be practical to film and had to make some adjustments. Also, there are 5 directors and only 7 people in the acting class, so planning when we each would be able to film was extremely difficult. My script requires 6 people in many of the scenes, so that made it even harder. We had auditions, and luckily, everyone in the acting class knew how to act. However, I wasn't sure if they could all act in comedy. That has been a big struggle for me, now that we have started filming. It seems like some of the actors don't understand which parts of the script are supposed to be funny, and what their characters should sound like. Trying to direct them while also setting up the shots and getting everything I need done in such a limited amount of time is hard to manage. Most of my scenes take place outside, which has been another struggle. The light changes all the time, sometimes a PE class runs by and makes a bunch of background noise, and even walking out to our location takes a few extra minutes that we don't have to spare. Overall, the biggest challenge has been time. The directors have to take turns filming, so I have been forced to squeeze a lot of filming into a few short periods. Even weekends are hard to schedule because we all have a lot of filming we need to do. I feel like I don't have enough time to get everything where I want it to be. I'm just trying to get it done, and when I watch the things we've filmed on the computer, I'm not 100% thrilled with what I see. Hopefully this will all work out, because this movie is killing me! I want it to turn out perfectly, but trying to balance all this work with college applications and the enormous amount of homework I've been receiving this year has been driving me crazy. At this point it doesn't feel like I'll even be able to finish it. There's still a long way to go.
This is my final for Broadcast Technology 2! I had to tell the "story of me" in exactly six words, with exactly six shots. I read about a thousand examples before I finally settled with my sentence: I just go with the flow. I decided that I would have the sound of a river in the background, and throughout the video it would get louder and louder. I knew of a perfect little stream to film at, so I took my sister with me and she helped me with the camera. There weren't really any issues with this one--I had to reshoot the pedal shot to make it more interesting, but other than that, things went smoothly. Overall, I learned so much about video production this semester, and I can't wait to use those skills next year in the ISM film program! I've been wanting to take this class for awhile, so I'm glad it finally worked into my schedule. I like making videos and I hope I have the opportunity to do these kinds of things for a long time!
Making this video was another challenging experience. The interviews with the filmmakers went well- they had a lot of interesting things to say. At the Film Fest, though, things became difficult. It was pitch black, and even with the iris on the camera completely open, I couldn't see anything. The only B-roll I could really capture were things going on onstage, and that was pretty repetitive. During editing, I ended up with a very limited supply of shots. Half way through the editing process, I decided I wanted to interview an actor. I probably should have allotted more time for that; things became pretty rushed towards the end. This video could have turned out better, but in my opinion, I made the best of what I had, and I'm satisfied with it.
This is a video I made for Schooltube's Where We're From contest. I had a lot of fun driving around St. Louis filming it...even though I wasted a TON of gas. I wish I had done more planning beforehand, though, because all through Spring Break I was worried about how it would turn out. I ended up overcompensating...when I uploaded everything on to my computer after break I had over 100 shots! Whoops. I think if this video had more of a storyline it would have been better, so that's another place that more planning would have been useful. I really like art and I got to use some of those skills in this video, that was also fun.
So, filming this one was sort of a disaster. Before I left my house, I tested all the equipment but couldn't get the microphone to work! After running around my house in panic for 45 minutes, I realized I was plugging it into the wrong spot. I finally got to Spoede and it was insane! The hallways were packed with screaming kids and there was barely enough room to set up a camera. I frantically tried to get 3 interviews in...I had one lady all miked up and started asking her questions before I realized she didn't even speak English. The hallways were loud, so the sound got a little distorted, but overall it was a lot of fun and it was a good learning experience.
This is my first project! My partner Reis and I chose to do our PSA on leaving a clean digital footprint. Coming up with an idea was probably the hardest part. We went through a few different ones, but it eventually evolved into this. Filming wasn't too difficult since we could take care of most of it at school; I took a camera home one night to get the opening sequence (it's my sister). We tried to do something creative with the color saturation in editing...it didn't turn out perfect, but I'm happy with it!