I DID NOT LIKE THIS SEMESTER AT ALL

Works of Art


The First One 

This semester we had three assignments to be completed. The first one being a simple camera assignment for us to demonstrate our knowledge of different shots and angles as well as lighting, audio, and writing. This one didn't take that long because it was pretty simple, we filmed everything in about two hours and got editing done in the same week. While we were filming here at Olathe Northwest the fire alarm went off which pushed back filming by about 20 minutes, scaring me and my group members into thinking that we wouldn't be able to finish filming in time and would have to reschedule. Finding actors was a little hard at first, which it usually is, but in the end we had to many actors and had to send some home, so everything ended up working out. The main thing I learned through this project was how to lead and teach juniors and help them get the experience and knowledge they needed to be successful. Some of the feedback we received was that the audio wasn't good and sounded like the people were underwater but the biggest piece of positive feedback we received was that the camera work was really good and that the depth of field looked nice. This made me feel really good and proud because thats what I was in charge of.  In the reedit we went back and fixed the audio so it sounded cleaner as well as color correcting a few spots. Overall, this is probably one of the projects I'm most proud of from the semester even though it was so simple.

The Second One 

The second assignment we had was a commercial. For this one I branched out a little and got to work with Lauryn which I have always wanted to do on one of these projects. This project didn't take that long either, we filmed in a day with editing taking about a week or so. The main challenges we ran into was how to get some of the tracking/ running shots because of the steady cam not having all the proper pieces and weights. We ended up using a longboard which I stood on with the camera as Lauryn or Cas pulled me. Actors for this video wasn't to hard to find because we all knew people that would fit the look we wanted it was just a matter of contacting them and setting up a filming day. Along the way I learned how important art direction and costuming because not having a clear idea of costuming and not keeping it cohesive caused the message of the commercial to get lost. There was also some miscommunication with editing I guess because it wasn't edited the way it was imagined also causing it lose its message and quality.  Most of the feedback we were given was about the length of the commercial, the color grade, and people not understanding what message we were trying to go for.  We unfortunately did not get to change anything because in order to do that we would have had to reshoot which was not possible but if we were able to reshoot we would have had our actors all wear the same colors and edited it differently. This would have been my favorite project from the semester if the editing style was different because I'm really proud of the shots I was able to get.  Nike Commercial


The Third One

The short film was my least favorite project of the semester. We choose Cas's treatment to do the short film which I was really excited about because I thought it was a good treatment but the execution of it did not live up to what it could've been. This one took the longest out of the three so far with three individual filming days and about a week and a half of editing. There were a lot of juniors in our group all wanting to get their hands on a camera which is great don't get me wrong but it was hard to find a balance of letting them set up the shot with me only helping a little but and me stepping in to ensure the shot looked the best. I was also unable to be on set the first filming day so whatever the filmed that day I had to match the rest of the film with and use the same lens, which was the kit lens. Overall, I am just not proud of how it turned out visually and know it could have been a lot better. The main thing I learned with this project is to communicate with my group members a lot more and be honest about what I think. We have yet to receive feedback but I honestly don't think it will be good just from the shots I had seen. My dream for this short film is to reshoot all of it with longer filming days so that way we can make sure we are getting all the shots we need at the highest quality.  I did not like this one.

As for my treatment, I'm really proud of it even though there are some changes to be made. This story is one Iv've been wanting to write for a while and expand on I just never had the time really but this assignment have me time to think about it and plan out the whole plot. I choose not to have as a short film option because I want to do it a very specific way and if it didn't turn out like that I knew I would be upset; I plan on still writing the script for it however.

Within the Classroom

We used our class time to get a lot of pre-production done as well as editing, we set up schedules, wrote scripts, contacted actors, and put together the whole film in post. We stayed productive on the days we got done early by thinking through all the shots we had storyboarded and saw if there was a better idea and confirming scheduling. In post we would go through and fix some color grades as well as audio issues that could be better. Outside of class I personally watch different movies to get more creative ideas and inspiration as well as youtube videos on different techniques and tutorials.

Strong Suits

My strengthens are definitely in script writing and cinematography. In screen writing, it's definitely character dialogue and character development and in cinematography it's finding away to make the shot interesting but still look very nice. I maximize these strengthens by practicing them as much as I can and expanding on them so that way I can be the best I can. I also try and teach other people how to improve in those fields so that way they can grow as well as understanding what I am doing. Like everyone, however, I have areas I would like to get better in such as editing and communicating. I used to be pretty good at editing having that be the only thing I did, but over the years I've done it less and less becoming rusty in the area. Editing used to my big passion and I want to find my love for it again as well as just having that skill so I can work on all parts of the project. I've always been really bad at communicating with my team members gradually getting better over the years. I am just always so scared I will come off as mean. This is something I have tried to get better at and something I have seen improvement in. I did a lot of client work for the district this semester  with live streaming and recording a series they had on teenage mental health and a presentation they had over vaping. The video files are pretty big and the videos themselves are pretty lenthgthy so I'm not going to embed them but they are all on my Youtube, which is just Sophia Saunders, if you want to check them out.

Vistors 

Throughout the course of the semester we have been visited by several different people all coming with different knowledge. Honestly, I'm running out of time to write this so I'm just going to this generally, I have learned a lot about the technical side of film by seeing a lot of different equipment and understanding camera settings more to post production and how important it is to label correctly as well as understanding the professional side of the industry and how you may not have the fanciest stuff but that doesn't matter, its all about how you use what you have and making opportunities for yourself. I can apply this to my works and my future by remembering what is important as well as having an edge over the competition by knowing how equipment already works and how to be efficient.  I can also be resourceful and see how to use things in a way that might not have been thought of before.

Feature Film

In this years feature film I am the publicist. I have been executing my role and will continue by working closely with my content creators viewing us as more of team rather than my telling them what to do. I also plan to stay on top of what is going on with the feature film and keeping out feed fresh and updated as well as keeping out theme consistent. I honestly don't bring a lot of knowledge besides just knowing what people like and don't like as well as knowing what looks good.

Final Reflection

This semester I really enjoyed getting to know the juniors in class especially the ones I sit next to and the ones that are on my social media team. I would liked to have worked with other people however because I find myself always working with the same people who I don't really have the same artistic style as. My big take away from this semester is that I need to learn how to communicate. My goal for next semester is to produce a project I am a hundred percent proud of because I have yet to do that. For this upcoming semester I am very excited to see our feature film come to life as well as being able to do all the smaller projects like the music video and PSA. No final thoughts.

Where is my Oscar?

Finding Our Subject

Right off the bat my group and I knew that we wanted to a mockumentary. One the sheet one of the topics that was suggested was "The War" and thought that it was so funny and we wanted to do something based off of that premise. After a little brainstorming we came up with making our mini doc about 'the war' between meat eaters and vegans.  Once we had this idea we already had ideas for who we wanted to be casted as our main actors, both who are naturally funny and play off each other so may group and I decided to create an outline of what we wanted to be said and the rest would be improved. Verifying the actors made our job easier by not having to write an entire script and more straight to storying boarding. During this time we naturally just fell into production with Cas as cinematographer, Miles as editor, Shelby as art director, and me as director. Storyboarding didn't take very long which allowed us to move into production fairly fast especially since we knew editing would take a while because Miles only has video 3rd hour. Filming was stressful because on the way to set one of our main actors told us he couldn't make it but luckily Cas was able to step into the role and I took over camera. The rest of the day went pretty smooth and it was a lot of fun. Post went smooth with Car becoming an editor as well working with Miles to order clips and find music and everything. After we finalized the video Cas and I worked on color correction and then I worked on audio. Overall the entire process went really well and the video turned out just how we wanted.

Educational

Throughout it, being in the director role, I worked on areas of the film learning new editing techniques like how to take out wind noise and how to color correct to make people look pretty and the shot more clear in post. I also learned how to adapt on the fly and how to communicate with several people over phone and keeping everyone on track and knowing whats going on. However, I learned that having everyones phone number would make connecting people easier and more efficient. But I was able to use my leadership and project management skills to make sure that the overall project was completed on time.

On to the Next Topic

For the majority I wouldn't change anything besides a few of the criticisms people gave the video. This is probably one if not my favorite project from this year both in the process and the finished product. I will use the experience to help me be a better leader and group member through my new communication skills and lessons as well as a better film maker with the new technical skills and what to look for and add to a film like this.

Praise the Lord This Year is Over

The Light Of My Life

One of my favorite projects from this year was the short film we created. I picked this as one of my favorites because it allowed me to express myself creatively and without boundaries especially since I took the role of director. I overall had a great time because of everyone I worked with, the finished project is something I am really proud of, and I was in a role were I was really happy and able to be artistic. The actually filming process took the least amount of time with editing taking the longest and pre-production taking a good amount of time while being the most stressful. Overall, the film most likely took a month to produce with filming only taking a few hours and the rest of out time being dedicated to pre and post production. Some challenges we faced were finding actors that fit the roles how we wanted them to fit in pre-production and figuring out how we wanted to achieve the blogger style and what camera to use and such as well as what shots would look the best during production. Through teamwork in pre-production we were able to find actors that really enhanced the film as well as using teamwork on set to figure out the shot and camera issues that appeared. Being a director during this short film allowed me to learn new leadership skills and what the responsibilities of a director look like, and realizing I basically do all the responsibilities for all the projects. It also helped me learn how to refine my ideas and create them into something that I am really happy with and can be proud of which is something I struggle with a lot. The feedback we received is that the film would be better and feel more coherent if we kept the whole thing in a vlog format instead of starting with it and then coming out of it and then going back in, as well as one of our shots being used to many times. Sadly we didn't have the shots to change any of the non vlog shots as well as just not having the time to change the repetitive shots. I plan on going over all my projects from this year and making reedits however. Overall, I am very happy and proud of how this short film turned out.



Pt.2 

My other favorite project from this year is our music video, even though I can never listen to this song again. This one took about a month as well but the time spent of pre, production, and post being about the same. This one took a lot more work and had a lot more components to it but really the only challenge we had was conflicting opinions. When deciding on the song I came into the discussions with a very clear and strong vision for one song that I presented to the group with everyone supporting but one person. Due to this one person disagreeing we spent the entirety of class time looking at other songs but eventually agreeing to do my song and idea which was "Talia" by King Princess. Along the way we had more disagreements but instead of shooting it down immediately we would talk it out as a group and possibly try it and see how it would look. Through this project I learned how lighting can be a really powerful part of a film and made me appreciate lighting a lot more. Once again being in a director position but also acting in the video made me learn how to communicate what I wanted the shot to look through words instead of just showing which I am really happy I learned how to do. We got feedback about some shots being to shaky but also that the acting and actor choice was really good because the two weren't weird with each other. We couldn't go back and reshot so we did not change anything. I am also very proud of the vide but I feel like it could look a lot stronger and our location for the interior scenes could be different to add to it even more.



So. Much. Stress. 

When there is a project going on I am always so stressed because I want everything to go well and the finished project to be great. I use class time to talk to my group about what we have done, what we need to do, and who would be able to do what. This allows a schedule and plan to get made so that way we know when things are happening and need to get done;this is also when most of the storyboarding would happen as well. Post-production class time is working with editor and other group members to figure out what shot goes where and any corrections that need to be made. Outside of class I use my time and work on projects by finding actors and telling them whats up as well as finding any costumes, props, or locations as well as texting back and forth with my group telling them what I'm doing and hearing if they are doing anything or have any questions. In all the projects this year I have taken a leadership role in some way so most of the time if theres a problem then people turn to me, which is stressful sometimes but I don't mind it.



Area 

Throughout the course of this year I have been able to see that my strengths are in pre-production work as well as cinematography. At the beginning of this year I started out with a very strong passion for editing and really wanted to go farther in depth with that but through the course of the year, really starting in first quarter I was gently pushed away from it. I was able to go to the cinematographer position however and apply my eye and abilities to this role and grow in this area. I used these new found strengths in the music video for lightening as well as what shots were needed in the short film to make a coherent story and journey. Being first assistant camera for the feature film definitely helped me grow as an artist and I can see a big improvement in my skills and new found strength. My organizing skills and strengths definitely came in handy in pre-production by allowing me to get everything organized and not have everything be complete chaos. While I can see myself growing I definitely still need to work on keeping my pans and tilts smooth as well as keeping lighting and camera settings looking sharp and in focus as well as continuing to work on my communication skills. I still have a long way to go.




That's A Wrap

My role in this years feature film was first assistant camera. This role means I am the DP's right hand gal, helping them basically bringing the film into and actual film from the script by creating storyboards and shot lists, working with the directors and gaffer to hear what they are thinking and want so we can make the film the best it can be. Oh yeah, I was also responsible for helping film the movie. I helped the film be successful by creating a visual and plan for what filming would consist of and what everyone could expect to see as well as being there to get a different angle at the same time the DP was getting one to make the process go faster. I helped get camera equipment get set up and taken down, lens switched out, find the correct storyboard and shot to see what needed to happen, as well as make sure the shots I was getting looked good and that there were no errors so we could the least amount of takes possible. I didn't realize how much I did but yeah, thats how saw my role and how it helped the film be a success. In class I worked with Lauryn, our DP, on storyboards and shot lists, planning scenes, and how the day would go, as well as talking to directors and confirming scenes. Outside of class I worked on storyboards and shot lists that didn't get quite done sometimes staying up to crazy hours to get them done. This was probably the most fun and stressful time.



The Memories

I loved all the people I got to meet and talk to and create relationships with because without this class I wouldn't have probably even talked to them. Not only did I get to meet these people also create lasting memories with them and create wonderful videos and films as well, and thats something I would never give up.  The one thing I wish I did was work with different people on projects because I felt that I only worked with the same people for every project and I wish I got to work with a variety. Overall, I am taking away so many new skills with me from this year both technical and professional. I would like to do more cinematic, professions looking videos and films next year instead of just comedic non structured ones. I just want to say thank you to Mrs. Smith for believing in me and giving me awesome opportunities like being first AC and get ready for next year.



Senior Year

Okay, I'm going to keep this short and sweet because it doesn't need to be long and I'm tired of typing. I don't really know what class I want to be in next year because for me it really just depends on the people. It would be really cool if we could keep most of this class together because that would a legacy, but if I have to choose I'd probably go with Hours 3&4 again because I want French 7th Hour and I don't want this class 1st Hour because then the rest of the day would be gross. Having it 3rd and 4th is a nice break in the day. As for feature film production role next year I really want a leadership role as most seniors probably do, I would love to director because who doesn't want to be director because I would be able to be organized and lead people which are things I enjoy and I would be able to be as creative and out there as I wanted to be but I would especially love to be director if it's a script I am really passionate. DP would also be amazing because that way I'll be able to be hands on the camera more but still being a leader and being able to work really closely with my 1st AC and lead them especially if they are a junior.  DP would also still allow me to create something beautiful and something I could call mine in the shots I filmed. Overall, any leadership role I would be honored to have, with DP or director (or AD) being my top picks.

PSA:Pea Soup is Awesome

Mind Of An Artist

My group decided to do our PSA over drunk driving. Our PSA would essentially be a one shot starting with a close up of a girl in front of a wrecked car and having the camera pull back until the shot is an extreme wide. We would do this two time one with the girl standing and one with her laying on the ground after the "wreck" with blue and red lights flashing to represent the police that show up to the scene. The story of the night would then be told through audio playing in the background. Our video relied heavily on editing and cutting and layering the shots in the right way; thankfully our editor is amazing and put the PSA together beautifully.

Creating The Masterpiece

Pre-Production was pretty simple. We all figured our roles out really fast due to knowing our strengthens and everyone communicating what the wanted to do, I was Director of Photography. Our director had a pretty clear vision of how he wanted the PSA to be and we all liked it so we began story boarding which wasn't hard. The hardest part of pre-production was finding our actors and figuring out a date to film. After asking maybe six people if they were able/want to be in our video we finally found two actresses for our video and a date that worked for everyone. However, the night we were supposed to film was the night the temperatures reached below freezing so we had to cancel. In class we started trying to figure out a new time to film which we successfully did but our actresses couldn't so we had to find new ones. We had actresses by the time the new date arrived but when it was time for them to come to set they were suddenly unable to. The director and I being the only ones there at the time started to brainstorm possible actors when we thought of one. Thankfully she was available but we had to rethink our idea a little. We filmed the shots of her standing and laying down individually and would edit them over in post. It was still a little cold out but was bearable and we were able to complete our filming. In post our editor just went hard on the PSA, working really hard on creating the directors vision while asking the rest of the group for advice on some aspects. 

Important Life Lessons

As DP, I learned that using a different lens probably would have made the video look a little cleaner after watching it on the big screen in class. I also learned and got experience in taking a one shot video.  I have yet to learn and master the steady came but hopefully in the future that will soon be conquered. Professionally I learned how to deal with problems when I have a long time to fix them and a very short amount of time to fix them. I also learned how to reach out to people to have them act in a video and becoming more comfortable with doing so. Knowing that a lot of editing would need to be done allowed us to wisely choose our filming date to where we gave our editor enough time to do a good job. 

For Future Reference

A lot of what I want to do different for next time I can't really control but can prepare for. When filming mainly outdoors it's always a good idea to have a backup date in case the weather isn't working in our favor as well as having backup actors for that date. I would also change what lens I used to make it look cleaner and more professional as well as using a piece of equipment to make the shot more steady. However, I would keep the idea and concept the same because overall it turned out really well and unique. I will always remember to not be afraid to take risks and be creative.