For the third project in Freestyle, we did a documentary. We were to choose a specific person, an organization, or an idea and interview at least three people with questions pertaining to our main subject. This project would also consist of finding angles and perspectives, and presenting my personal angle. For my documentary project, I chose to document a local theater company that was recently started. The company is called Upstage Theater, and was started to provide more theater opportunities and put on shows that tell important stories of adolescence, and participants must be high schoolers. For my documentary, I interviewed the director and co-founder, an actor in one of the shows, and the assistant director for one of the shows. The Documentary Project involved writing a paper in English class and creating a book layout in Design, along with this website where everything is put together. With this project, I gained skills in Adobe applications that I had previously not used before such as InDesign and After Effects. I also reached out to people in the community that I had not known before, improving my communication skills.
Creating this video was the first time I had used After Effects. I learned a lot about the application and how to use it, and was able to apply several techniques in creating this. Some of these techniques can be seen in the video, and others are things I used while working, such as shortcuts.
For the book, we wrote a paper in English class and created a layout for the book in Design. The paper required use of the interviews I conducted, as well as some outside research. In Design, we learned how to use InDesign and design elements such as color palettes, margins, typography, and white space. I wanted to have a relatively calm color palette and plenty of pictures documenting Upstage. I feel that I learned a lot about using InDesign and creating a layout such as typography, color palettes, and effectively using white space. I learned about spacing between text in kerning, tracking, and leading, as well as how to pair fonts effectively to present an attractive book. I also used guides and margins so there would be enough white space, and so my layout wouldn't be too busy. I learned about bleed on images, making the images large enough so that there wouldn't be any white on the edges of the page.
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Julie Garber is currently a junior at The Nueva School, and the director and co-founder of Upstage Theater. Julie founded the company in her underclassmen years of high school with Jessa Mellea and Zoe Levine, after wanting more theater opportunities for high schoolers. Besides directing at Upstage, Julie also has done acting in other shows and is in her high school’s choir. This interview took place at Jessa Mellea's house. I wanted Julie's story about founding the company.
Eli Melmon is currently a junior at Carlmont High School and an actor at Upstage Theater. He has seen previous shows put on by Upstage Theater, but Spring Awakening is his first show at Upstage. He has been acting since elementary school and has done shows connected to his schools, as well as other community theater. He has recently cowritten a musical, which was performed in January of 2017. This interview took place outside Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, and I wanted his perspective on working at Upstage as an actor.
Louis Blachman is the assistant director for Upstage Theater’s third show, Spring Awakening. He has previously been involved in other acting roles and directed for a play in the One Acts Festival and his own original play. Spring Awakening is his third play that he is doing directing work for. He has previously seen shows that Upstage has put on and appreciated the work done by them, prompting him to be an assistant director for Upstage. This interview took place inside Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, and I wanted his perspective on working at Upstage as an assistant director.