For the Zenith project, also known as the ultimate freestyle project in Film, we were given freedom to create any project of our own choice. For me, I choose to do an experimental film. I decided to do this because I’ve never got to make an experimental film as a junior since I joined Freestyle in my Senior year and I had some ideas in my head that I wanted to try. Some of these ideas were ones that were sitting in my phone note for years, waiting to be brought to life. This was a new challenge as I worked individually and I was trying something new such as using props, different color lights, and unique shots. But it was also very fun to work on, and it felt like this was something I wanted to do in Film.
Pre-production
To the left is the schedule I made when I first started this project. We had check-ins with Mr. Taylor every Friday to update him on how I’m doing based on the schedule I made. The one in the middle is the shotlist I made during pre-production. I crossed them out as I filmed each shot so that I know which ones to get next. Some of these I never ended up actually filming but the ideas I had for the shots I can get. I think doing this helped me stay organized. The picture to the right is the fake flowers I got during pre-production as props.
This picture of the hand was the original idea I had back in 2021. This is a screenshot of a rough video I took with my phone. The red liquid on my hand was red food color dye.
These are some photos from production.
Celebrating after filming the last scene
When I first started editing, I organized all the videos into different files as shown on the left to make it easier for myself to find clips when I needed them for each scene. I had to work around a lot with the audio, especially the music to make it flow with the footage I had.
I really enjoyed working on this project, it is my favorite so far. I would say this is the best Freestyle Project I’ve ever made. I am very glad I was finally able to bring this idea into life and am very satisfied with the final result. Special thanks to Fiona who lent me the fake blood and Lily for the make up inspiration. I hope you also enjoyed reading about my process of making this film as well as the final product. Thanks for reading!