Over the course of my time at Freestyle, I have created 7 films. The ones I am showcasing will best show my growth as a filmmaker. My Junior and Senior narratives are of similar genres, and were created a year apart. There is obvious growth.
My Junior narrative, Shaken, focused mainly on telling the best story in the most practical way, with a variety of captivating shots. Shaken was the second film I made at Freestyle. Most of our preparation went towards camera use and story structure. We focused on building suspense and delivering a story that was entertaining, but that also relatively made sense. In terms of style, this film is very blue throughout and tried to reflect classic monster movies. We used tungsten lighting, as well as practical lighting from lamps and in the opening scene, the flicker of the tv. Lighting for this film was hard, because we were not yet taught artificial lighting, and the story required a shadowy look.
ARVE Error: Mode: lazyload not available (ARVE Pro not active?), switching to normal mode
My Senior narrative, Bad Hair Day, contained the features of the previous narrative, but added dialogue and artificial lighting. This specific film also required building skills in special effects makeup. Compared to the blue undertones in Shaken, this film contains a lot of red. It is not a classic monster movie like my previous one, but instead deals with internal conflicts come to life. This film is less spooky and more gory and intense, thus the red undertones. Viewer discretion is advised for this one, as it contains gore, blood, and all things gross.
ARVE Error: Mode: lazyload not available (ARVE Pro not active?), switching to normal mode
These films were very similar in their genres. I will say Shaken is more polished and coherent than Bad Hair Day, but for one key reason. My Senior narrative was far more ambitious. While Shaken was filmed in one house and is set over the course of one night, Bad Hair Day takes place over the course of a little under a week and had over six filming locations, and four outfit changes. We also had to keep track of makeup continuity, as well as balancing four to five actors instead of three. More than anything, Bad Hair Day had dialogue, which added jobs such as writing the script and working sound on set. What I’m saying is that Bad Hair Day was a big production. My partner Richard and I are quite ambitious filmmakers, and our film showed that. We both love the scary and unique stuff that tends to turn other people away, and our partnership was very effective for this project. Bad Hair Day taught me countless new film skills, the most important for my ambitions of being a producer was the scheduling, which was an intense process on its own.
Since middle school, I have wanted to work in the film industry. That’s what I would say anytime someone would ask, yet I never made a film. I said that because I love movies. Being a part of Freestyle allowed me to put my money where my mouth is, and learn the skills necessary to do what I want to do. I gained this new understanding with out even realizing, and I feel a part of the world I loved so much. I learned that I want to be a producer. I learned how to collaborate with my peers, to pitch, to write scripts, operate a camera, direct actors, communicate with people respectfully, edit, sound design, and so much more. When people ask why I want to go into film, my answer is the same, I love movies. But now when I say that, I mean it as a producer and not as a consumer.