Thesis shoot, pt. II

As I spoke about in previous posts, I did production design on the media thesis film for my dear friend. After 2 weeks of intense pre-production and two weekends of non stop filming, I AM DONE!!!!!
(and can now put my entire focus on this film). Since I did a recap for the first weekend on set, I thought I'd do another one as a more ~overall~ review for my role as production designer on set.

The first and second weekend's shoots were very different. Week one was a lot of set up at the beginning of the weekend and break down at the end, while this past weekend included multiple locations for a shorter amount of time, and less set dressing. Since I couldn't do as much set dressing (i.e. shooting in a catholic church did not allow for much drastic changes due to time) I had to get creative to get the character's color palates into the frame. For example, the father's main colors were black and red, but due to a last minute actor change the red shirt I had would not fit the actor. So I searched around the church and found some red prayer books to put in the pews. It's subtle, but it adds to the story. Take a look below:

I am really happy with how this shot looked, but at other times I felt that the DP&director didn't care about my efforts for the shot design. I was involved with checking the frame during the first weekend's shoot to make sure the proper colors were in there, but when the second weekend came around I backed off a bit, because I sick of them doing whatever the heck they wanted; them changing all their shot directions when I had planned for specific angles and shot compositions. (part of this was because neither of them had been to one of the locations so they were going in kind of blind???? This had to do with how fast pre-production went (hence why I was disintegrating every single day hahah) and the director being too busy to meet with us (grr).

I had many qualms with the film, but it honestly looks incredible. (even with a lack of planning in some parts) Overall, I learned a lot from the experience and it was a really fun set to be on. I know I could have done better work with a higher budget and more time, but I did what I could and it still looks good.

GRRRRRR

Get ready for  A N G R Y   S A M.

Angry Sam

I'm generally a positive person. I'm always looking on the bright side, thinking about what I can learn from a bad situation, or figuring out how I can improve for next time. But there comes a time when a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And that is cracking the whip on my group for this project.

Normal, happy Sam

Here's the thing: I have producer experience. I think one of my best skills is the ability to communicate with all types of people and make sure they are comfortable, while increasing their productivity as individuals and the entire group as a whole. However, going into this project, I wanted to do something that would force me to learn more about something completely different. I've always been interested in sound (I'm very involved in the FM radio station at Ithaca College, 91.7 WICB-FM) and I know I won't have time for more audio production classes. :( Volunteering to be the sound girl seemed like the obvious choice to solve my problem. I also scared myself even more by joining the group doing a horror film--I can't even count on one hand the number of horror films I've seen. (Currently working on that). But I came to IC to learn and conquer challengers, so that's what I'm going to do.

Now we're at that time in the semester where I feel like everyone has gone from being super motivated about the project to not giving a sh*t about it. This may not be true, and I hope it's not true; yet through the actions of my group members, (or lack of actions) their excitement is no longer being communicated to me. People don't show up to class, the ONE TIME we're all in the same place at the same time. People are not taking the initiative when it comes to their job. People are showing up late to meetings.

IT'S TIME TO GET OUR SH*T TOGETHER, PEOPLE.

It was not my job to apply for a Pendleton Grant, but I thought that having some money to spend on our production and craft services would motivate my group and make them more comfortable when we're on set together for an entire weekend (starvation = bad!!).

I took Fiction Field II because I wanted to produce a film that I would be proud of. I wanted to go to the screening day and sit with my group and watch our film for the probably 200th time and be excited that all our hard work was finally done. I'm getting the feeling that this may not happen at all, and I'm not the type of person to just say "Ah, well. Whatever." and give up. I cannot do that. I'm gonna whip my group into shape, even if I end up as co-producer.

If any members of my group are reading this, I'm not trying to start a fight with you. I'm trying to get us to work together more quickly and efficiently. We only have nine and a half weeks to produce our film. It's time to step it up.

One Group to Rule them All

I recently returned to the U.S. after studying abroad at the Ithaca College London Center last spring. It was an amazing experience, but I'm glad to be back in Ithaca for an entire year. I'm especially excited to be taking production classes again.

It really has been a while. Usually I try to balance my schedule with half of my classes in Park, and half out of Park. However, there are no production classes offered in London so I can't help but feel a little behind. This summer I interned for the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show and it was awesome, but I wasn't doing video production there either.

Woah. What a crazy flashback.

Arturo said we could choose our own groups or work in one huge group and I immediately had a flash back to when I took Fiction Field I last fall.

~It was a dark and stormy night~

Kidding. It was probably 2:00 in the afternoon and there were no windows in the classroom so I have no idea what the weather was like. Anyway, for our final project (we only did two projects total) we divided ourselves into three groups. At first, each group was super motivated. But then came The Dark Days.

#tbt to when we pulled our hair out. <3

Okay. I know that I'm being dramatic, but the fact of the matter is, even a short film (one that is ten minutes or less) requires a ton of hard work. When people started feeling the pressure and stress that comes along with a huge project, they would argue, freak out, and soon we were all on the verge of pulling out our own hair as well as every other group member's hair.

It was extremely difficult and when we eventually screened our projects in class, I didn't feel like it was my best work. I had this feeling of "well this is the best we could do given the circumstances." I don't want to have that feeling. That feeling is the worst feeling.

Arturo said we could work in one huge group. I don't know if it's this one experience or just a feeling in my gut, but something is telling me that one group might be the best option for all of us.

Yes, actually.

Pre-production, production, and post-production groups could work together and independently, potentially eliminating the need for all of us to meet at the same time. There would also be no need to run around Park, trying to fill crew positions if everyone has a specific job. For those of you in my class, please just consider it for a day. You know, let it marinate in your brain.

Obviously, this will take one great idea that everyone can get behind and coming up with said idea might be the hardest part of all. Yet I have confidence that if we combine our skills, we can make something truly spectacular.


Perhaps, as Arturo said, something that can be submitted to festivals.