The purpose of the Senior Innovator Project is use your own passion to innovate, create, and develop your own project.
For my innovator project, I wrote a feature length screenplay. I chose this project because I wanted to further my understanding of screenwriting. I was extremely interested in directing and a lot of directors write the films they direct so I wanted to get better at story in order to improve my directing. I ended up writing an 83 page romantic comedy and I especially wanted to take on the challenge of making a “quality rom-com” because so many rom-coms are hated by critics.
My research paper was about comedy which was extremely helpful when it came to writing my screenplay. I cannot stress enough how interesting and helpful the research paper was. In order to write a successful rom-com, I needed to know different styles of comedy. My research paper answered the question, “Can anybody be a comedian?”. Through my research process, I found a lot of theories about comedy and being able to differentiate the different techniques and styles really helped me find my own creative vision. That being said, I do think my creative vision changed throughout the project and that is something I would like to work on next time I write for film.
Regarding collaboration, I wish I did more throughout my project. Every week, I met with my tutor to read whatever I wrote over the past week. It was a nice experience and I got a lot out of my sessions with him but I wish I got some more from other freestyle students. That being said, I am extremely glad I did the project alone. I did this project for a specific reason that benefited me. It motivated me through the writer’s blocks I had but if I worked with somebody else, I feel like I would have just dragged them along with me. I need to be able to work with people who are willing to put in a strong effort every day, but it’s hard to find in high school. I look forward to finding people as passionate as me in college.
If I could do the project over again, I think I would have focused on another aspect of filmmaking. I worked hard this month and feel like I got a lot better but I still feel like I’m better at lighting than writing. I was hoping this project would make my writing better than my camera work. I think I went into the project with the expectation I would finish it as a writing virtuoso. Realistically, writing takes a long time to develop. I think it would have been more beneficial to write a ton of shorts then film them in the summer or something. I think my project was fun but not as beneficial to my career as it could have been.
I feel that I improved on my problem solving the most. I found a lot of plot holes as I worked on my story but I ended up having to fix them as I wrote the rest of my film. I did not have time to go back and start over, a problem that I struggle with. I was forced to fix my plot holes by adding things to earlier in the story. I think that the narrative unit also really helped me get good at problem solving. I also think I avoided a lot of problems by planning intensely. In film, pre-production takes a lot more time than production and post-production. I also think pre-production has three stages in it too. Pre-pre-production, if you would call it that, is going to take a lot more time than writers realize. I think my story was very well mapped out but early on in the project, concerns were brought up that my idea for a film was just not big enough to be a feature length movie. Those concerns were absolutely right. I felt stretched in my writing and throughout a lot of the screenplay, I feel like I lose the audience’s attention. If I had spent more time in revising, I think I would have wanted to start over. I’m glad I stopped after a second draft because I think the project is pretty much dead. However, I wouldn’t say I wasted my time. I spent it well and worked hard. Just sometimes ideas aren’t really good enough to make it to the big screen.
The learning experience I learned was how essential teamwork is. Typically, in high school, I found that a lot of other students are just not as hard-working as me. Because of this, I tend to take control of projects when I’m involved. That is NOT because I cannot help myself. Often times, it is because I doubt other people’s motivation to succeed and whether it is a strong as my motivation. A lot of the time, it isn’t. This project was nice to work with my tutor but I definitely missed out on a lot of potential opportunities because there weren’t enough people working on the project. The more people, the more likely it is you will come up with a funny idea. I would love to do a project like that and I would have instantly done that for my project but nobody is as motivated which is extremely frustrating. The way my family puts it is, I am not working to make it in the industry. I am working to become one of the best at what I do and I’m not going to stop until I get there. Because of my “intense” drive, I find it hard to work with others who are not as committed. I missed that sense of teamwork that I had in my narrative. If anything, that is what I learned. But, I also believe that not a lot of people could have worked with me on this project.
Overall, I think this project was an amazing experience. It taught me a lot about screenwriting. It also taught me that I should maybe become a cinematographer instead of a writer haha. I think that projects like this are amazing because they help you find your strengths and weaknesses in your abilities. I think that I couldn’t have done this project a lot better if I redid it but I’m glad that I struggled. There were some moments where I wanted to give up but I didn’t and I’m proud of myself. Also, every time I tell someone I wrote an 85 page screenplay, their jaw drops. That is definitely one of the best things to come out of the project haha.