Semester 1 Final

Alright, so here's the final for this semester. You know the drill, showing off and talking about everything I did this year in hindsight. We're going to talk about main projects, as well as side projects, and everything with the 5 Guarantees (Technical Skills, Communication, Collaboration, Leadership, and Project Management).

Commercial

So for our first project of the year, we had to make a commercial for a project. It took a couple of weeks. We figured we wanted a bit of a ridiculous comedy, so of course that's what we did. Most of our challenges arose from arriving to set and realizing it was quite a windy day, as well as the sun changing the position of the shadows, so I learned to prepare for the weather. Some feedback we were given is to make sure the audio captured is loud enough. Overall, I still think it's funny, and I like it.

Music Video

So for the next project, we did a music video to a Mumford and Sons song. I was a little behind when I joined the group (more on that in the main blog post for this video), but I still tried to contribute. We had a little longer than the commercial to work on this one, so the group took advantage of that to really make something. Some feedback we got is that it's really good, but really slow paced with long shots and long breaks. That was our intention though: to make the audience a little on edge in the beginning, and slowly pick up the pace with the music as our protagonist learns to move forward. I still really like this, although I wish I had done more with the group.

Short Film

So here's the last major project we finished before focusing in on the feature film. It's our short film. Our time on this was cut quite a bit so we had time for the feature film, but I still think it's decent. We wanted to make more of a portfolio film, and that's how I learned what a portfolio film is. Some feedback we got is mainly plot-wise, there were some people who thought this was a bit of a weird structure from what Amanda pitched. Fair enough, I guess. Also, making sure audio level are balanced. Overall though, like I said, I think it's decent.

Other work

So now I talk about other projects that weren't as big as the main 3, but still pretty important.

Script

Well, for deciding stuff like a feature film and also pitching short film ideas to your classmates, you come up with your own story, and write a treatment and script for it. Unfortunately, I was getting exhausted from NaNoWriMo and at a massive creative block for any other stories, so I had to force one. I came up with one based around characters who each have the Dark Triad personality traits: Narcissist, Machiavellian, and Psychopath; and their chemistry and chaos and whatnot. It sounds fairly interesting, but man, I had no faith or care for that story at all. And if there's one thing I learned from being a writer, it's that an audience senses when the creator doesn't like their story. Poor story. Anyway, so I decided to go with others this semester.

Reel

So, pretty big filmmaker achievement unlocked. I made my first reel! I realized I didn't have that much in terms of newer content I really liked, so I put together what I had. I'm thinking I'm probably going to update it now that I have more, so I hope to have a better reel next semester.

Website

Oh yeah, I made a website a while back and have been updating it throughout the year. I occasionally make a few changes when I feel like it, so yeah. Like recently, I replaced the stock photo banner of someplace in NYC to play my reel instead. Check it out: https://arielseemann.wixsite.com/website

Using Time in Class

You'd think that I'm doing all of this, that I don't have a lot of free time in class, right? Wrong! Things can get pretty laissez-faire in eComm, for when we finish a project, or our editor is working away. Since it's the end of the day, it can get pretty hard to actually work, but trust me, I work on focus. I do things like editing stock footage, researching technical things or trying to come across new inspiration, or watching short films on YouTube and thinking about feedback I would give them, and/or what I could learn from them. Of course, that would only be after I'm done with the day's work. Outside of class, I'm also practicing writing and storytelling and analyzing short films and movies, so that's the hustle.

Areas of Strength

Communication and Collaboration. I'm not that much of a leader as I am a team player, but I'd say I'm a pretty good one, especially comparing to last year. I let others know everything they need to know in a friendly and productive manner.

Areas of Improvement

Project management. I don't know if it's just an extreme case of senioritis or something else, but my project management is drooping. Not only in this class, but in my other classes as well. I'll keep that in mind and work on improving it for next semester, with my reward system being that I'll graduate, wake up, and high school will be over at last.

Guest Speakers

So we had a few guest speakers come in, including the guy that loaned us some equipment for The Hidden, someone in a local millennial-lead marketing agency, and a good friend of mine visiting back from college. We mainly talked about film and advertising jobs and internships, so some cool opportunities. Drew came back to give a presentation on character development, which I found really useful as both a writer and filmmaker.

Upcoming Feature Film

So our upcoming feature film is heavily 80's inspired. But the real question, does it take place in the 80's or not? Ooh, I'm dangling the plot in front of you, aren't I? Anyway, we're doing a bit of shorter feature film this year, around 50 minutes, since we have 3 classes to showcase for the movie theater night. I got the role of boom operator, something I previously worked with for Behind Closed Doors. I hope to bring us our audio, while also improving my boom operating skills. 80's high school nat noise, here we come!

Final Thoughts

Man, that was a long blog post. It's the end of the first finals day, so I'm really tired. I'm going to go home and take a nap. Until next time!