Today is the day that we officially begin senior projects. However, prior to today, I have already been able to make great progress on my project. Being that my project is carrying the weight of a particularly heavy topic, a lot of the time I have devoted to my project prior to today has been used to meet with many members of the Lovett faculty to get advice and feedback on my project. I feel utilizing my resources in our community is in my best interest because of the importance of the idea that I have manifested in my senior project. I have also begun drafting my script prior to today as well. With that, I started my day today by continuing to draft my script at my favorite coffee shop, Octane Coffee. I am hoping to have the first draft of the script completed by next monday which is a week from today. I have set that goal because that is my the date of my second meeting with my project advisor, Ms. Penland, and I would like to get some feedback and revisions from her before I begin filming next week.
In a recent meeting I had with Mrs. Spencer to discuss my project, she stressed the importance of research in going about my senior project. When I left Octane, I headed to Lovett for my meeting with my project advisor where we worked on my research and discussed how I plan to manage my time for the remainder of the week. We had a very product meeting and a lot of the research we accomplished helped me create an even more concrete idea of the take away I hope to others with when presenting my project. After picking my little sister up from school, and returned to Octane Coffee before dinner time where I continued the research I had started early with Ms. Penland.
April 5, 2016
Today I was able to meet with Mr. Alig about my project as I have been doing with many members of the Lovett faculty recently as I begin my senior project. In our meeting I explained my project as a whole, why I am pursuing it and the impact I hope the final product creates on our community. Mr. Alig was a great resource for helping me develop my ideas even further as he shared with me how suicide has impacted him in his life and as it continues to today. My take away from my meeting with Mr. Alig was that with this being such an important and relevant issue, if I am going to be talking about it in front of our community, he recommended that it would be very beneficial to mention resources for people to utilize who are struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide.
After the meeting with Mr. Alig, I stayed at school and worked on my research until my little sister was ready to go home. I was able to get a lot done and through the research I was doing I could feel my ideas and visions for my project becoming more concrete and support with all the new information I was obtaining through my research.
When I returned home, I decided to give my brain break and begin working on the background music for the film. I have learned in the past that when it comes to trying to write your own music, it takes a lot of time and effort so while I have not begun filming or creating anything tangible for my project, I am trying to tackle this piece of the project earlier opposed to later since it generally takes me a while to write my own music and come up with original pieces.
April 6, 2016
As previously stated on the My Project Page, my project was inspired by a short film I saw over a year ago that changed the way I see film and exposed me to the power it can have toward the viewers. With that being said, I have continuing watching short films in my free time to develop new ideas and techniques that inspires various aspects of my film making.
I started off my day by watching a few different short films and videos on suicide. I found a PSA called Anti-Suicide PSA, while the title seems very generic I was very impressed with the way this film was carried out. I really enjoyed watching it because it was able to make such a moving point in so little time. The filmmaker also chose not to use any speaking which always makes telling a story much harder but I thought this PSA did a phenomenal job of creating such a powerful call to action.
The rest of my day consisted of continuing my research and reaching out to Ross Szabo, a resource my mom connected me with after hearing him speak at Sky Land Trail. He is bipolar and tried to take his life during high school and since then has become a speaker and travels around to different communities all over to educate and support others dealing with these types of issues.
After that, I had dinner with my friend named Erin who is planning to be an actor in my film and we discussed the plan for filming and what her role is going to be like in my film. I would say today was overall a productive day and I am very eager to begin filming!
April 7, 2016
After spending a large amount of my time this week writing and researching to create my script, today I decided to try and create an outline for myself to give myself a better idea of the visual plan for the film I am about to begin making. Being I am much more familiar with script writing and the actual filmmaking portion of this process, the screenwriting that I worked on this morning definitely didn't come as easily for me as those other components and took much longer than I had expected.
My screenwriting consisted of what I plan do for transitions, lighting, sound, scene changes, etc. In creating my "visual plan," I brainstormed different ways in which I can "show not tell." For example, I plan to set the mood and/or tone of the film through various external and environmental components such as weather, light, sound, timing, etc.
After picking my little sister up from school, I worked on finishing up my scripted I have drafted. I plan to try and get it to my actors and project advisor by early next week to get feedback and revisions. The good thing about my plan to have majority of the lines be narrated by the main character, Benton Wood, is that I can still edit the lines after we have begun filming because a lot of the lines will be read as a voice over after the filming is complete. I feel I will definitely be doing a lot of changing of the script when it comes time to voice over because I will have a much better sense of the timing of the film. Something interesting I forgot to mention in my previous posts is being that this topic is something that is very personal to me because of my past and the many people in my life who have been impacted by suicide, myself included, a lot of the script writing I am doing is inspired by someone the writing in my old journals when I used to struggle with the gripping sadness that I will be displaying in my film.
April 8, 2016
This morning a spent a few hours at Octane Coffee and was able to knock out the rest of my script which was a very satisfying feeling. However, my script is subject to change after my meeting with the main character, Benton Wood, on sunday to go over the script and the plan for filming.
Later in the day I spent a good amount of time continuing to work on writing the music for the background of my film. I was able to begin recording it on garage band and am going to work with a few of my friends who are also musical and potentially add more instruments into the music I have begun creating!
April 9, 2016
Today is Saturday and I decided to work more on my project over the weekend to make up for anytime that was not completed this week. Today, I watched more videos to get some ideas in preparation for starting to film this week! I found one that was worth sharing. Break the silence for suicide attempt survivors is a short TEDTalk that is done by JD Schramm who discusses what is it like to have failed an attempt at suicide and how he has chosen to live happily and move forward from the dark times he once faced.
This afternoon I met with Benton Wood, the main character in my short film, at Starbucks to go over the script and the schedule for going over the scenes he is in. Benton is a senior at Westminster and is the perfect actor for my film. In September, Benton made a post on his Facebook page about Mental Health Awareness and how he has struggled prior to his senior year. Benton shared that over the summer he had attempted to take his own life and since then he has come from that and been able to be the happiest he has ever been. I had absolutely no idea about this prior to September. I have an enormous amount of respect for Benton and anyone else who is willing to admit they are or have been struggling and share their experiences to help others. Benton and I have that in common, we both have a history of battling depression and we are both very passionate about mental health and helping others. With that, Benton and I worked on more than just the script, we were also talked a lot about the take away we hope to create for people when they see the final product. I got so much done with him and felt my project evolve into something much bigger. Also, we have decided to work on the music together given that we both play multiple instruments!
After dinner I finalized scene changes/outline of the order of the film and when I plan to film each scene. Now that I have that complete I can let the actors in my film know when I will be needing to work with them!
I started off my day by doing a supplies run for my lighting equipment because I am going to start filming within the next two days and I beginning to get everything together for the actual filming process. I had to go and buy new bulbs and a reflector. Now, all I need to get is sound equipment that Mrs. Bracket will be lending me.
At noon, I met with my project advisor, Ms. Penland, where we looked at my progress thus far and discussed this upcoming week. We were able to pinpoint how I plan to use my time this week and where I plan to be with my project by our next meeting, taking place next Tuesday.
Later in the afternoon, I added new pages to my website so that way people could have a better sense of the research I have been spending so much time doing. I did this because as I was looking over my Daily Logs I was realizing how often I was mentioning the time I was devoting to my research but I was not providing a place for people to view my findings. By creating the new pages, this will enable people to understand the information I am basing my project off and where that information is coming from.
April 12, 2016
After creating new pages on my website to help people navigate my website easier and develop a better understanding of what my senior project is about, I started off my day today by condensing all the research I have found leading up to today and put it on my Research Page. I hope this allows the viewers of my website to better understand my research and my inspiration to do this project. My research has changed the direction of my project in many positive ways and I would love to be able to share that with people and allow others to conceptualize all that I am learning in doing this project.
Later in the day, I watched the short film titled INSEPARABLE that Benton shared with me that is completely unrelated to the topic of suicide, yet it telling the story of a man who finds out he has cancer. I noticed how the filmmaker used lighting to set the tone of the film and aside from the scene in which the man is in the doctors office where the light is very harsh, the light is very hazy in all other parts of the film. This film also has very little talking which is similar to what I am going for because my film will be mostly narration by Benton.
April 13, 2016
Today was my last day to prep before filming tomorrow. While research has been a huge part of my project thus far, in preparing for tomorrow I was asked many questions such as "What should I wear?" "How long do you think it will take?" To be honest, those were questions that I had no answer to. I have spent so much time preparing for this part of the process but have not spent a single second thinking about those seemingly obvious components of the filmmaking process. Of course we resolved this and I asked the actors to bring multiple things to wear given a certain description but I am finally realizing how chaotic it can be when you are writing, directing, filming, editing, and producing! I met with Benton and we went over the script after he had looked over it the past few days and gave me feedback on it. Luckily, as previously mentioned in early posts, because my the lines for my film are mostly narration, they can change as the filming process goes on because the narration is the last part that we will do.
April 14, 2016
I started filming today! Today consisted of a lot of repetition of the same scene sequences over and over because we wanted to get it right. Something I did have to keep in mind is that while I am always tempted to get the right shot and the right angles and "make it look cool," I must keep in mind the importance of remembering not stress the unimportant scenes because it will lose the attention of the viewers and fail to reinforce the message or story I am trying to get across.
I worked on two scenes today, I started with the ending scenes that only required some of the extras. I ran through the scene multiple times from different angles which took longer than I expected but it was a great feeling to start having something tangible to look at as far as the progress of my project goes. After, I worked with Benton and we began filming the opening scene in that car. We made sure to do it at a time where we would have both light and dark outside so we waited till the late evening to do it because this scene is the starting point for the shift in mood of my film and I thought using weather and light to express the mood of the scene could be very powerful.
April 15, 2016
When I initially began planning how I was going to use my time over the course of my senior project, I intended on leaving the last week for editing. Now that I have started the filming process and have begun putting the content onto my computer to begin reviewing and cutting it, I am now seeing that editing and filming are not two different steps. I will be editing every time I film, in other words, I won't begin the editing once I finish filming, I will need to film and edit and repeat because it gives me a better sense of length and what still needs to be filmed or filmed over again.
With that, having started filming yesterday, today I began editing! I am learning that the filming process itself and the time it usually takes to film a scene does not always correspond with how much you get out of that filming session. With that, I spent many hours on my feet yesterday filming yet I probably got less than a minutes worth of content I will actually be using. I am glad I am learning this now because it will allow me to plan accordingly more realistically with how long it takes to get the content you need out of a filming session.
April 16, 2016Today was a productive Saturday! Benton and I got together and were able to complete the first scene, known as "the car scene" on my story board. Given the title, it's rather self explanatory that majority of this scene takes place in the car. This limited my ability to move around and shoot from different angles. But that limitation also made this a particularly fun scene to film because I had to get pretty creative to shoot the different angles. For example, I sat in the back seat for part of the the filming session and stuck my tripod out the window to film the side of the car and drivers seat. I looked pretty silly for the people driving by but the experimentation definitely paid off because we got some really awesome footage!
April 17
Today consisted of a lot of planning. I mapped out my filming schedule for this up coming week. By doing so I was able to reach out to the actors I will be needing and when I will be needing them depending on when their scenes are being shot.
April 18
Today I am realizing that editing comes right after each filming session. This is different than what i originally expected when I first mapped out how I was going to be using my time of the course of my senior project. I originally thought filming and editing were two separate processes that happened after the other was complete but I am seeing now that that is not the case. With that, I am realizing that I will be managing my time differently than I expected. With that, while editing the footage from the car scene that I just recently completed, I decided it would be a good idea to reach out to Mr. Silverman and Mrs. Bracket because though I have experience filming and editing, there is still so much to learn so I was able to schedule meeting with them for later this week to get their advice and resources for my project.
April 19
Today I met with project advisor, Ms. Penland. In our meeting we discussed how I am at the halfway point and what needs to be accomplished within the final stretch of senior projects. After my meeting with Mrs. Penland, I met with Mr. Silverman. The insight Mr. Silverman gave me was really useful and I was able to apply a lot of what he talked about int he filming I worked on later on this afternoon. My biggest questions that I asked him was how to show not tell. I want to make the viewers understand without saying it directly. From there, we discussed mood and how to instill a particular mood in a film. Lighting and movement when filming were the two techniques he stressed for setting the mood in my film. Also, Mr. Silverman mentioned the importance of the sound quality since so little is being said in the film. He offered to loan me his sound equipment and access to the editing software he has. I had planned to have a meeting with Ms. Brackett tomorrow for those two components of my film but luckily I was able to kill two birds with one stone with Mr. Silverman.
After my meeting with Mr. Silverman, I worked from school till my little sister was ready to be taken home and from there I filmed my transitional shots that I did not need my cast for. These shots are more abstract and scenery shots so I was able to get those complete without needing any of the actors. From there I put those shots on my computer and began trimming to get more of an idea of where I am and how long my film will be.
Later I watched a few dramatic short films to observe the camera stabilization they use. Stabilization is a new aspect of the filming process I was beginning to factor in after my meeting with Mr. Silverman.
April 20
Today, I had initially planned on filming two scenes but unfortunately, a cast member needed for one of the scene had a last minute conflict so only one of the two scenes was able to be shot and completed today. The scene that was still able to be shot was the most difficult scene I have shot thus far. This was the scene in which the death of the main character, Benton Wood, takes place. Though I had previously created a story board for this scene, I did a lot of experimental takes with him to try out different angles and ways to approach the intensity we were trying to convey in this scene. After we completed our filming session, I loaded all of the content onto my computer and began cutting and editing the new frames.
April 21
This morning I went to Octane Coffee where I began editing the scenes shot last night and pinpointing what filming these is still left to be done. While I was there I was also able to complete my first draft of my final reflection to prep for my meeting with Mr. Peebles to discuss my project thus far.Later on, I met with Mr. Peebles about my project and the personal connection I have and how I plan to present my take away of the project in my final presentations in front of both the faculty and in front of the student body. In my meeting Mr. Peebles shared with me an old chapel talk he once did and also gave me a book called Lincoln's Melancholy. My meeting overall went very well and is making me feel very confident about how vulnerable I will be making myself appear in the final presentations.
April 22
This morning I added the frames onto my computer and edited them. Then I thought of the idea of ending the film differently because as of now the way my film ends is rather depressing. I had the idea that I could reverse the ending so that it shows that he ends up deciding his life is worth living and that taking his life was all just an illusion.
Later on, I reached out to my little sisters friend, Ava, to schedule when I can film her next week because my scene with her is the last scene I need to shoot. She is playing the role of the little sister of the main character that Benton is playing. From there, I began planning the last scene and what it will look like that way I can be efficient with my time with Ava when we film later this week and tell her exactly what to wear and bring.
April 23
Today I continued editing the new footage from this week. I also recently had the idea of reversing the suicide to show that it was all an illusion of the main character but I have not yet been able to create that feel while editing so I am just playing with the idea at this point. I worked on reversing the frames of the death scene which is really difficult to try and create so I watched some videos on the internet where there are day dream type scenes to learn how I can use special effects and reverse to replicate that.
April 24
Today I worked with audio because I have spent very little time on audio for the film. I worked on sounds and how it can create a mood and how it needs to change when the death is put in reverse so I played around with sound effects on iMovie as well as piano music I have written for the movie on my keyboard. Though I have planned all along to create my own music for this film I am beginning to get somewhat doubtful that I will have the time to really make the music as good as it can be. I haven't entirely ruled out the idea of using the music I have written but I do feel I could something more fitting online as a credited source instead.
April 25
Having just made my college decision last week, my mom scheduled a last minute trip to Boulder for today and tomorrow. I woke up early this morning to catch a 9:00 flight. The timing of this trip was the not the best considering this is my final week of my senior project but luckily I was able to get a significant amount done on the 3 hour flight to Denver and 1 hour car ride to Boulder.
April 26
Today I left Colorado and headed back to Atlanta. On the way to the airport I worked on my final reflection and was able to finish it on the plane ride home. Once I finished my final reflection on the plane ride, I spent the remainder of the plane ride finish my edits and cuts and planning my filming session for tomorrow with Ava.
April 27
Between coming back from Colorado late last night, meeting with my project advisor this morning, and performing in the senior talent show later in the afternoon, today was quite the day! In my meeting with project advisor this morning, we discussed what I plan to say in my presentations and she advised me to begin making my Powerpoints for both the 5 minute presentation and the 30 minute defense panel presentation. Later on, I got all the sound equipment from my friend Scott and then had to learn how to use it all for when I record the voiceovers. Afterwards, I had my final filming session with my little sisters friend Ava who plays the little sister in the film in two small scenes that I recently added to the storyboard of the film. Once I finished filming and put the new frames on my computer, Benton came over and we watched the film before doing final edits at school. I got feedback from Benton and also started recording the voiceovers with Benton.
April 28
Today I finished my powerpoint for my 5 minute presentation on Thursday to show to my project advisor in our meeting tomorrow. I also made an outline of what I am saying in the presentation as well. From there I was able to begin writing the script word for word. I started with planning the 5 minute presentation instead of starting with the 30 minute panel defense presentation because it helped me boil down what the most important things are that I am planning to say.
While 30 minutes is a while and sounds like a harder time frame to present in comparison to presenting the 5 minute presentation, I am actually finding that the 5 minute presentation is going to be more difficult for me to do because of my ability to talk continuously for so long. By starting with the 5 minute presentation I am able to use that as an outline for my 30 minute presentation.
April 29
Today is my last official day of senior project! This morning I completed the outlines to go over in my meeting with project advisor later today so we can finish the script and 30 minute presentation.When I got to Lovett I ran into Mrs. Waterman about my presentation and scheduled a meeting with her for the upcoming week to practice presenting for her. She was my British Lit and Modern Argument teacher and also has worked with my for Speech and Debate so I thought she would be a great resource for this final part of the project where I am prepping to present!
Later on, I had my meeting with project advisor where I practiced presenting and script writing for both presentations now that I was more organized and had a much better idea of what I will be saying when I present next Thursday.
After my meeting, I went and spent five hours doing final edits in Mr. Silverman's room on Adobe Premiere on all the footage and audio.
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