Portfolio Post: Final Reflection

 Reflecting on Entirety of Project

    When I first learned of this assignment I felt challenged but in an excited manner. As Mr. Zacharias lectured the components we would have to generate through a 8-week long process, I couldn't help but feel anxious to begin. Ideas soared through my head, too fast for me to grab onto one and run with it. When there is no topic or prompt my work needs to reflect I am almost immediately overwhelmed by the endless possibilities. Luckily, my only saving grace was that I had just watched the film Funny Games (2007) and decided that a similar storyline would both be fun and realistic to create. I figured by being able to film completely within my own home's walls, I could eliminate any and all stresses about having to find a sufficient set or, dare I say, humiliate myself filming in public. Once I was able to nail down this general idea the rest seemed to come to me almost naturally. Quite quickly I could put together the 'meat' of the opening. I found myself fulfilling almost all roles: storywriter, story boarder, director, cinematographer, editor, actor, and producer. At the beginning I enjoyed being burdened with such a heavy role but as we progressed the pressure and stress seemed to disproportionality fall on top of me, and me alone. What began as an exciting opportunity to dip my toes into the filmmaking realm quickly transformed itself into a substantial academic stressor, and unfortunately I do feel as though it was emphasized because I was working alone in a partnership. 

    For a stretch of weeks I came to resent this class due to frustration but in hindsight I do believe I was taking it all too serious. Watching some of my classmates films gave me a much more realistic perspective that the expectation is a student-made project with a deadline, not a big budget executive production. I often find myself in a toxic relationship with perfection and for this reason I ruined many aspects of this project for myself. Rather than enjoying the process (both the successes and failures) I spent much of my time spiting both Adobe Premiere and my collaborator. I had misplaced expectations that my partner would have a greater knowledge than I did when it came to individual aspects such as editing, but she didn't, and that is unfair of me to condemn her for not fulfilling my presumptions. This showcases one of my most unflattering traits in that I am unable to take pride in being defeated so I roll over and conform under the blanket of frustration instead of attacking misfiring's straight on. 

    Now, this reflection may seem to be burdened with negative input, but all of this reflecting goes to show that this project taught me much about myself and how I react to adversity. I do not take all of the new learning experiences this project prompted for granted. Before this assignment I had no experience editing on Adobe or at all for that matter. Now I have opened a door for myself by acquiring these skills that can be repurposed for a multitude of future projects and creations. I also learned a lot about planning out scenes so I can put together a story that flows and consecutively makes sense. This skill can be useful in other situations that require creative writing. On a greater level, as an absolute fanatic of films I absolutely felt at home and fulfilled by finally diving into the surface level of creating movies. Films allow a visually and auditory transformation into another world where a viewer can spend a few hours away from their own reality, and to now have even a miniscule understanding of all the effort that goes into creating such a visceral experience has, above all, given me a greater appreciation for this style of media.

    Some of our most pivotal moments were trying to needlessly communicate over a broken phone line while I was inside and Jenna was outside. Little did I know that the frantic voice on the other side of the phone were not due to frustration but rather an influx of mosquitoes hungry for her sweet human blood. For me, this offered a humorous situation. For Jenna, a painful one. Additionally, having to re-position our camera to capture a perfect shot for our microwave scene took probably the longest out of all the clips. Once we figured out the brightly lit hallway allowed for a prominent shadow to be cast in the reflection we were able to play with it until we perfected it. The major scenes that we changed was when the title would appear; we originally had it at the window scene but I decided during the editing process that it has a greater effect when we have it at the end. Also, some of the angles we had scoped out in the storyboard did not end up being realistic when we actually tried to film them. For example, during the cutting of the strawberries I had originally illustrated a complete birds eye view but we could not accomplish that angle due to the natural zoom of the camera and a restrictive ceiling. So, instead we opted for an over-the-shoulder shot at a somewhat high angle. Changes similar to this one are apparent when comparing our storyboard to our finished project. Overall, I am more than satisfied with our final working especially due to the changes and our ability to adapt.