Multimedia Project Blog

When we were first told that our final would be to make a movie, my first reaction was:

YES!!! One less thing to study for!!!

I figured it’d be simple and quick, a few days of filming a couple of days of editing and voila: a masterpiece deserving of an A.  Wow was I wrong.  It’s possible to say that making a movie is a lot more difficult to do than study for a real final or write up a paper.  One of the reasons being is that in this kind of project it’s all about group work and team effort.  If one person lags on a task, it drags the whole group down, and the same thing happens with the moral if one person brings negativity to the group.  So over all, working on this project was a lot of fun; from the first day when we picked our group I could tell we’d have some good times.

Somehow we ended up with a group of six, when the maximum was supposed to be five, so this meant there were more people than there were roles.  So since I’m not the kind of person to lead, nor am I the creative writing type, I decided to help with production design.  I shared this role with Ashley and we did a fairly good job if I did say so myself.  Using the script and our own ideas (and our own clothes) we were able to come up with simple and reasonable costumes for our leads, Olivia and Jeff (who deserve an Oscar for their performance) to wear.  My only regret was since this movie was meant to be shot during different seasons, we had to make the costumes appropriate for summer and spring.  So when we settled on a t-shirt and jeans for Jeff and a school girl uniform for Olivia, they were expected to wear only that for the spring scene while sitting on a bench outside on the windiest day in November.  Their high moral and great acting made up for their on screen shivering and blue lips from the cold.  Based on the amount of work those two did I think they deserve a solid “A+.”

My biggest contributions to the film making process were the fall scene story board, my spring clothes, (it’s a good thing Olivia and I were the same size) my cameo role in the summer scene (which taught me I’m no good at acting) and my assistance in filming the fall scene.  I really enjoyed drawing my story board pictures, because art is something I’m good at, and can do on my own.  It was the part of the project where I could depict the scene exactly how I wanted to.  So over all I got to participate in a lot of things, except editing, although I did get to see the process of it.  After watching Jeremy and Jeffrey work for two hours I could only sit in wonder at the amount of patience and skill it takes to make just one scene.  I can only commend them for actually sorting through all the different shots we took and the different angles we filmed to make a coherent movie.

We all enjoyed the process, and it’s evident if you see our unused shots.  Every time we cut it was normally because one of us laughed, or a cell phone went off at the wrong moment, or some random stranger just walked through our shot dressed up in full winter clothes when we were filming spring and summer.  Our movie goal seemed almost unrealistic; making it seem like summer or spring, when the trees are bare, the leaves are on the ground and everyone is dressed in jackets, sweaters, gloves, scarves and hats should be impossible.  It did get a little frustrating at times, but we didn’t let it get to us.  One of the most challenging problems we faced was getting the entire group together when it was convenient for everyone.  All of us had class, or work, or other time restraints that made it impossible for everyone to get together.  In fact, there were only a handful of times when all six of us could be present at the same time, but we were still able to get everything done.  This project was a great way to end the semester and the year.  It was ten times harder than taking a final or writing a paper, but it was a hundred times more fun less stressing.  I couldn’t have asked for a better end of semester assignment.