Project #1 Completed.

I am happy to say that I completed my first Digital Work Flow assignment. This concept of making mini 48 Hour Film Projects is fun and challenging. My goal in this class is to learn the technical aspects of film making such as audio, lighting, and camera angles, and though my film de femme was well received, I realized that, once again, I reverted back to my comfort zone. As a result, I did not achieve my goal. This first project was definitely a learning experience for me, and I feedback that I received from Professor Donn and my classmates will surely help me to improve. What did I take away from Project #1?

1. Do not rest on my laurels. I took the path of least resistance on this first project and reverted back to my "mash up" style of film making. In essence, I took existing footage and "mashed" them up into a new project. To be honest, when I received the film de femme genre, I went into a little panic because I had no idea how I was going to execute this type of film, so naturally I gravitated towards what I knew. The problem is that I will never learn anything if I don't try different things. For project #2, I will step out of my comfort zone and focus more on the production side rather than post production.
   
2. Do not get obsessed over one small piece of the project. I spent three hours trying to restore a vintage photo. After I completed the Photoshop tinkering, I realized that there was no way that my audience would recognize the difference! That's how subtle it was, but yet it did take me hours to complete. In the end, that photo was on screen for probably a total of 2 seconds.
3. Make a schedule and stick to it. For the rest of this semester, I will treat every assignment as if they were projects that clients have hired me on to complete. In the real world, if you do not deliver, then you will not get rehired. One of the reasons why I reverted back to my comfort zone is because I allowed myself to fall behind. As the due date approached, I panicked and jumped back into the box.
4. Editing something down to 3 minutes is damn hard. Those who know me well know that I have a tendency to go on and on and on. I am a mini-series kinda guy, so it's hard for me to edit things down. I had to shave off about two minutes of this film which proved to be the biggest challenge for me. I think the best way to approach this in the future is to actually have a story board, if not on paper, then in my head. It's always good to have a plan. All too often, I will dive into a project and go with the flow. If I had some sense of organization upfront, then I would have more direction and not have to rely on the flow.
   

I said early on that "I will do my best to step out my comfort zone and experiment with new camera angles and lighting. I guess I should probably invest in some good microphones as well. I am going to take this class seriously because I really want to do things right. Like I said, I cannot depend solely on my FCP skills anymore. I really need to become the film jack of all trades." I didn't do those things for assignment one, so moving forward, this is what I will do differently.

With all that said, I do would like to say that I am proud of the final project. I haven't shown it to my sister Diane yet, but after I click on the publish post button of this blog entry, I will send her the link. It's definitely not easy making a three minute film de femme, incorporating a Chinese fan, a bull rider named Becky, and the quote "I love you long time," into it. I think Diane will be happy with this film :-)