On October seventh my Advanced Studio Production class had the opportunity to go to New York City and shoot/edit a short film called "Aberration". We were one of nine schools from around the country chosen to participate in the first Film Invitational for the All American High School Film Festival. It was a great opportunity to learn and expand my knowledge on filmmaking by being a director, camera woman, and editor.
It all started in August when we first received the information. There were four prompts to chose from to create our story. As a class we decided to go with the prompt "I left it all behind... Now I am here". We worked really hard during pre production and did everything possible to be prepared before we went into the city. I created a vision board for the class that contained the locations, props, and costumes we would use for our film. I also had a binder to keep organized.
On October seventh we went into the city to film our short film. On that first day we filmed at Washington Square Park and at an apartment. In Washington Square Park we filmed a dialogue scene and it was very challenging as the camera woman. It was the first time I had shot a scene with complete dialogue in it. After the park we went to the apartment to shoot two other scenes but things did not go to plan. We had to wait for the next day in order to film one of the scenes.
The next day we got to shoot a very important scene of the Aberration at Grand Central Terminal. Keeping on schedule was a top priority for us because that day we had to shoot all of the important scenes and the scene we could not shoot the day before. We almost ran out of time at Grand Central Terminal but we were able to leave and get to the apartment on time. When we shot at the apartment we had to do the scenes over and over again in order to have enough footage to work with when editing because we knew it would be crucial. We filmed the last scene in one continuous shot and it took a long time to get it right.
On October Ninth we traveled to the Apple Store and edited our film in one of their offices. We had to submit Aberration by six PM so we only had a limited amount of time to edit most of the film. It was very stressful trying to fix everything when the clock was ticking but we had great people at the office who had a lot of knowledge about Apple products and Final Cut Pro X and were able to help us when something went wrong. Having someone like my classmate Kimberly by my side while editing was calming because we both had the same idea for the video and we were able to work under a lot of stress and finished the video on time.
Overall, the Film Invitational is a unique experience I will never forget. As a filmmaker I learned a lot about myself and my ability to work hard and under a lot of stress in order to create a short film in three days. Being in New York City and being surrounded by classmates who all worked so hard as team to create something special reassured me that I am choosing the right thing to pursue as a career. I love creating films and being able to participate in the Invitational made me excited about going to college next year.
It all started in August when we first received the information. There were four prompts to chose from to create our story. As a class we decided to go with the prompt "I left it all behind... Now I am here". We worked really hard during pre production and did everything possible to be prepared before we went into the city. I created a vision board for the class that contained the locations, props, and costumes we would use for our film. I also had a binder to keep organized.
On October seventh we went into the city to film our short film. On that first day we filmed at Washington Square Park and at an apartment. In Washington Square Park we filmed a dialogue scene and it was very challenging as the camera woman. It was the first time I had shot a scene with complete dialogue in it. After the park we went to the apartment to shoot two other scenes but things did not go to plan. We had to wait for the next day in order to film one of the scenes.
The next day we got to shoot a very important scene of the Aberration at Grand Central Terminal. Keeping on schedule was a top priority for us because that day we had to shoot all of the important scenes and the scene we could not shoot the day before. We almost ran out of time at Grand Central Terminal but we were able to leave and get to the apartment on time. When we shot at the apartment we had to do the scenes over and over again in order to have enough footage to work with when editing because we knew it would be crucial. We filmed the last scene in one continuous shot and it took a long time to get it right.
On October Ninth we traveled to the Apple Store and edited our film in one of their offices. We had to submit Aberration by six PM so we only had a limited amount of time to edit most of the film. It was very stressful trying to fix everything when the clock was ticking but we had great people at the office who had a lot of knowledge about Apple products and Final Cut Pro X and were able to help us when something went wrong. Having someone like my classmate Kimberly by my side while editing was calming because we both had the same idea for the video and we were able to work under a lot of stress and finished the video on time.
Overall, the Film Invitational is a unique experience I will never forget. As a filmmaker I learned a lot about myself and my ability to work hard and under a lot of stress in order to create a short film in three days. Being in New York City and being surrounded by classmates who all worked so hard as team to create something special reassured me that I am choosing the right thing to pursue as a career. I love creating films and being able to participate in the Invitational made me excited about going to college next year.