Junior Year, Video Entertainment, Semester Uno

This Semester we did 3 projects: Camera Assignment,  Commercial, and A Short Film. The Camera Assignment was focused on hitting six types of shots that consist of Extreme-Closeup, Closeup, Medium, Wide Shot, Extreme Wide, Over The Shoulder, and Point of View. Using those six shots we would create a film sing the key principles of film making: Directing, Lighting, Audio, Editing, Writing, Cinematography. The rest of the project was of our own vision. With the project scheduling was the biggest problem as it was an inconvenient time for everyone. Out of the three films this one was the only one were I think I could have done more to help and make the film.  For the Commercial project we had to sell a product using a video that is either 15, 30, or 60 seconds long. My group did a Beats By Dre commercial and the same key principles of filming were just as important as the last project and will continue to stay important all the way through out a film career. This project was better than the last one because I had more of a hand on everything in this one and we managed to get it done but late. The next and last one was a short film that we had to write a treatment for and pitch it to the class. later the class choose five of the films to be made. The group I got in was a comedy called The Date. Out of the three that we did this year, the short film was the hardest but the most fun. Scheduling proved to be the arch nemesis again similar to the Camera assignment. However this one was more to my liking because it belongs to the comedy genre and those films are the most fun to make.

Over the semester I discovered strengths that I posses that can heavily change a film. I posses good cinematography and leadership skills crucial to film making. At the start of the year my camera skills were not that good and made a bit below average for a e-com student. Now through working with peers, I have stepped up my camera skills and now am much better. leadership wise I didn't really improve much because I took a backseat to directing to focus on some of my previous weaknesses such as cinematography and lighting. I did this by assisting a DP who knew what they were doing. that way I can learn from them. During all the projects we had we also had some guest speakers: Morgan Cooper, Leah Wellman, Gordon Lamb, Darby Christensen, and Ryan Burnett. Morgan Cooper was a Hollywood director that came to the class to talk about his journey that he took to become a director and how hard it was. Leah Wellman talked about using a camera to peak effectiveness.Gordon was a professional that talked about getting and using different types of equipment Darby Christensen talked about planning a film and how that works. Ryan Burnett talked about editing and organization of many clips after filming. Each one gave very useful advice. To end the semester, we choose production roles we will excel in for the big feature film. I got the role of the Documentarian. In this role I will try to make the documentary fun and informational of the overall film. I will attend most if not all film related events and be there with a camera. Overall, I really like this semester of e-comm and look for to the next one.