My role in the movie making process was the acting out spider as well as helping my group members in any way possible during the process. I was also the dramaturg. I read through the script as it was being acted out when Blu and Galvez were the only actors, and offered my advice to help the movie make more sense to the audience.

I’ve acted before on stage where you get one shot, and one shot only to give your best performance. You can’t sit down right before you go on stage and practice your lines, let alone first memorize them. This movie-making experience was drastically different. Even though, you might get multiple takes, there are so many other variables in filming that are not present while acting on stage. The camera angle had to be perfect, the costumes had to be sufficient, emotions had to be exaggerated since the camera zooms in, and the biggest factor, the memorization of the lines had to be spot on. I would say memorizing the lines was the toughest part of this movie-making process. My group could probably have saved a couple of hours if we took out all the times somebody messed up a line or the times when we just sat and repeated our lines over and over again. That’s why this process was so time-consuming and meticulous. I never want to be an actor, because I never want to do anything like this again. I was wondering, when producers make professional movies like this, how many shots does it take to make the scene perfect? How long does it take the stars to memorize their lines?

However, all that being said, I still had a good time making the movie. There were many struggles along the way, but it still was fun making the movie. The best parts were when somebody did something funny during the scene by accident. Also, it was hilarious when we were waiting for Waseem, the camera man, to start the scene, and we would just be staring at each other, trying to get into character. Then we would crack up laughing, and these moments were the enjoyable moments of the process.

I think the best thing is seeing everything come together to be the final product. It’s cool to see all the little challenges that come up when creating the film and then see the final film after all the editing. You never think the film or project will ever be good because so many things went wrong, but then it’s amazing how everything works out in the end. When we were going through some of the footage, it surprised me that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. After the background music and the additional sounds were added to the film and the editing was done, the film really felt whole to me and complete.

Overall, the film making process was an interesting one. I am very proud of the film. It was great working with all my group members and I am grateful for how well we worked together. This experience was well worth all the time put into it.