Final Senior Semester

 I want to begin by saying this has been the best year in e-Comm so far. I have become a better and more independent person preparing myself for my future life. We began by creating a commercial, which I cannot locate at the moment.

This project was a learning experience where I found that pre-planning was necessary for the smooth flow of production. We did not have a set time or location and the actors were last minute and some did not show up. It took around 2 weeks to complete the project and we could not be happier with the ending result. With the time frame we had and the amount of things that did not go our way, I believe we produced a quality video.

This is our music video project with the song "Connection" by OneRepublic. I learned here that working as a team helps build ideas and create better content. Some people might have different and less creative ideas than yours, but you still have to take into consideration their input. There weren't many challenges that we faced on this film, but like I said, some people do not agree with ideas of others and want to take control when it is a team effort. This is also the video where I really learned what a good shot verses a bad shot looks like. I felt passionate about this video and wanted to impress others with my creative abilities.

This is a tough one to write about. I wanted to do this script as a short film because it was creative and new. I had so much fun creating this film, but the challenges outweighed our work. Firstly, there was not enough equipment for us to use, therefore we resorted to using a Canon Rebel instead of the usual Canon 80D. Second, we did not have the proper audio recording equipment and we had to trash all the audio for this film. I was able to kind of maybe make it work with music and some sound effects. And finally, our planning and schedules did not allow my group to be able to meet often. I wanted this film to be good but due to these complications I could not execute this film at the quality I wanted to.

When I was not working on these projects, in class I was watching movie scenes and learning how the camera is just as much a character in the film as any other in the film. I learned new settings on the camera to enhance my photography, which you can view, here. I also enhanced my abilities through the Steadi-Cam when I helped create the new ONW-Now intro. As I mentioned previously, I do photography outside of school. I wanted to capture things others didn't see in their daily lives and bring out something new to them. I want my cinematography and photography to inspire other to create visually stunning films and pictures. 

I believe my strengths as a student would be in the videography portion of the class. I believe I have an artistic eye and am able to create films that both inspire and awe the audience. I also believe that the video world has inspired myself to become a more independent and open-minded person. Some of the things I still need to work on are my organization skills and communication skills. I am able to convey what I want in a project, but I may seem too direct at points and it may create a hostile work environment that I did not want to end up in. I also need to plan and become better at organizing my time with work and outside projects because I sometimes overlay them with with one another.

We had three guest speakers this year and they all had beautiful and informative presentations. I did not, however, learn anything relatively new mostly because I had received the same presentation the previous year and other things I simply, taught myself.

Now my production role. I was selected to be the Director of Photography (DP) this year for the feature film. I will be able to bring my knowledge of cinematography and photography to create a masterpiece of film and bring justice to Sarah Peek's Feature "Just My Imagination". I can also bring my self taught knowledge from directors like Wes Anderson, George Lukas, and Greg Berlanti.

I loved my friends and support I have received this year through the program. It has helped my create relationships I would never have. I would like to change the deadlines and timelines of the projects because I feel that all my projects could have been ten times better with a little more time. Leaving this semester I am hoping hat the pre-production we are doing right now will ensure a good feature film. I wish that this next semester that things will look up for me and my dreams and passions are realized.