For the last 2 weeks we have been learning the importance of editing and how different types of cuts push a storyline. We were assigned a "One Word Film" project, where, with a partner, we were expected to create a short film that strives to represent a random word, given to me by my instructor.
We were instructed to work with a partner; I picked my friend, Trisha Burr, and later got assigned our word, which was "awe." It was drawn out of a mug full of papers so that all words are truly randomized. Later, we were assigned a brainstorming and storyboarding activity. Our task was to basically write a list of shots and editing techniques that we could use for each shot we were thinking of doing for our film. It turned out like so:
For our storyboarding project, our task was to essentially recreate the shots we listed as a storyboard to show the pre-planning of the sequencing/editing of our shots. Our storyboard looked like so:
Although we had multiple different ideas on how to carry out this film, our idea turned out to follow the story of a girl who was being bullied by two girls and feeling a sense of awe when a kind girl at school decides to help her during her most vulnerable moment.
Being completely honest, I did feel like the restricted use of shots didn't allow us to express our full idea for our project, but it did help us see what different shots would look like and how we should approach the next step of our project, which was our filming.
After all of our planning was completed, we began the filming process. We were given the following instructions:- The film must be at least one minute and may not exceed 1 1/2 minutes.
- No sound is allowed within the production. Therefore, all sound should be extracted from the video.
Our teacher allowed us to check out tripods or stabilizers to aid us in filming our project. We chose the tripod, as we would also be the actors for our film. But with actors came our first obstacle: we needed 2 more people to act in our film, and everyone else in our class was busy filming their shots. We tried asking some girls in our class, but we were not able to acquire their consent. So, to work around this obstacle, we decided to film all the shots that did not include those extra characters first. This led to us having to wear the same clothes on our next filming day to not have any continuity issues within the shots.
We filmed all of our shots, striving to include the editing techniques we learned in class, such as the eyeline view or the shot/countershot. Unfortunately, there were many parts we had to cut, not only to keep it under the timeframe of 1-1.5 minutes but also due to external factors. For example, we wanted to film during our lunch time, but because we weren't allowed to check out the tripods outside of class time and my partner and I don't have the same lunch schedule, we had to scrap the idea. But I do believe that this made our final video more concise and follow a continuous order of events.
At the end, it took us two days to get all of our shots plus extra raw footage. The editing process was very short for us, as we organized our shots while filming, meaning all we had to do in editing was cut and place the shots together. However, we did have issues with our editing software.
In our instructions, we were told we couldn't use CapCut, which was a problem because CapCut is the editing software that most teens are familiar with these days. So, I tried to use Adobe Express, but it kept crashing and lagging out my computer, not allowing me to get anything done. In the end, we resorted to iMovie and got the editing done in under 30 minutes.
All in all, I'm very proud of the project. With all of the obstacles we had, we overcame them promptly and accounted for future problems effectively. We were very resourceful when filming and had proper time management as well. If I were to do anything differently, I think I would've made the theme of "Awe" more clear throughout the story, as I fear it gets lost in the plot of the girl being bullied. Some of the scenes we cut pushed that theme more, but we cut them due to time constraints and a lack of actors. This did make our finishing product suffer, but in the end, it's a great start!
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