May 30, 2011 - FINALLY DONE

I have not made the DVDs yet, but I have finished the film, minus the credits, which won't take long, maybe 30 mins at the most.  I am having a private screening for those that went on the trip tomorrow.  I will be working on the DVDs and the paperwork for my Senior Project in the afternoon, and I will be handing out the 1st 43 copies of the DVDs tomorrow during the Senior Project Exhibit.  Then Wednesday afternoon at 4, there will be the opening of my film in the theater.  Everyone is invited and encouraged to go.  I am proud of my work, and the majority of the stress is gone.  It has been an incredible journey, and a memorable experience.  I am very lucky to be a part of this school, and I am very lucky that this project was approved.  And thank you to everyone who has supported me over these last 3 years.  Had I not come to Proctor, I would not be headed down the road I'm on.  Proctor has made me me, and has allowed me to discover my passions and talents.  This place has changed my life, and has been my home away from home for the last 3 years.  I have never had to deal with the emotions of moving away from home until now.  Graduation from Proctor Academy feels like I am moving away from home.  It is bittersweet.  I know I will be leaving great things, but I know it will allow me to move on to even greater things.  Thank you for the support, and thank you for the life changing experience.  Come watch my film!  It has been an entire term's work, and well over 70 hours of time put into it.  I hope you enjoy!

Weekly Reflection 5/21/11 - 5/27/11

This week has been a long week.  I had to mix my audio myself, adjust all of the levels for the entire movie, finally realizing that I progressively lowered the levels towards the end of the movie and needed to redo it, and start the narration.  I now know why big budget films take months and tons of people to make it happen.  I’m doing the majority of it myself, and it is taking its toll on me, and it has yet to show in the film.  At least I don’t see it.  I show it on Tuesday as a private screening, and I show it on Wednesday to the whole school.  I am nervous, I still have a lot of narrating to do, but I have to get it done.  I know I can.

            I did not get my time sheet in on time, and I don’t know what is going to happen with that, but I have proof of my logged times.  I also know that I have a lot of reviews and evaluations I need to get done over these next few days and nights.  Now that the play is over, I have even more time during the day and during the night to get things done.  I have less than a week left to finish the film, and make at least 43 DVDs of it.  I have the skill and efficiency; I just need to do it. 

            I have been getting a lot of requests, and a lot of comments about how excited people are to see it.  I feel like I am dealing well with the pressure, and it is making me work harder.  It is just that the harder I work, the more I find I need to fix, or realize could be better.  Overall I have been happy with my work on this film.  This has been an incredible experience for me, and it has taught me so much.  I am very lucky to have been given this opportunity.

May 27, 2011 - How Close Am I To Finishing?

I feel like this movie has something that makes it like a fibonacci sequence.  Meaning that I will never actually finish it, I will always get closer and closer and closer, but never the true 100%.  I got more narration done today, finished the highlight film, and finished the trailer yesterday.  I just need to finish this narration.  I had opening night of My Fair Lady tonight, which was AMAZING, and I have the closing night tomorrow.  Then striking the set on Sunday.  I found out that I am busy Sunday night, and I am trying to get my video shown at 3:45 or 4:00 on Wednesday after "Dorm Cleanup," but I haven't heard back from anyone.  That is the only time I can show it.  So I will not be showing it Sunday, I am almost done (still).  I hope I can finish tomorrow.  Then the beginning of the week (1 week after I had planned on working on the DVDs) I will make the DVDs.  I will have 43 copies to give to everyone that went on the trip (depending on who went on the trip, there may be more than 1 per family).  Email me if you want a copy, I can't guarantee I can get it to you by the end of the week.  If you add your address I can send it in the mail.  I logged 4:35 today, and found out I had 26:42 logged for the whole week, and 74:18 for the entire 3 weeks period.  I'm still working, and can still log more, but I only needed 45 hours, and I nearly doubled that.  I am happy with my work so far.  I forgot to hand in my time sheet yesterday, which is not good, but my mentor knows I have worked, he signed the paper, and I have updated each day on here with the hours logged.  Again, keep checking in to see where I am!

May 26, 2011 - Narration Has Begun

Today I logged 5:15 hours.  I have been stressed these last few days because I thought I wouldn't get finished in time.  But today, I finished the preview, met with Swill (Sarah Will) during B block for some pointers on narration.  She gave me some, and I think that is all I needed for ideas on what to say.  I went back to my room, made the trailer (which I can hopefully get approved for tomorrow's assembly), and have narrated the majority of Beijing (around 30 minutes of the movie).  We had our dress rehearsal tonight for My Fair Lady, which went very well, but has drained my energy.  Tomorrow morning I will be attending my first and last polar swim.  For now, it is bed time for me.  I am happy with the day's work, hopefully I can do even more tomorrow.  Keep checking in!

May 25, 2011 - Perpetual Setbacks

Today was a Wednesday, which makes everything harder right off the bat.  I only logged 3 hours today, and I worked on a highlight film I need to have done soon this afternoon, and I met someone in the Live Sports Television aspect of film, and realized (after talking to him for 1:30 hours that I needed to edit my film.  I am really disappointed with my progress today because there was no progress.  This was not the best day for this to happen.  I think I will just ask if an English teacher can watch parts of my film with me, and help me write narration.  It is past the point where I can write it and get it corrected.  I need to write it correct the first time, and I feel that this is the only way I can possibly do this.  Hopefully I will get this thing done by Friday, but I am stressing myself out, and this is not the time for this to happen.  This is a short entry, but I basically wasted this day.  Again, this really was not the day to be like this.  This must be done before Saturday because I will be showing it soon.  I had rehearsal from 6-10:20 tonight, so I am completely exhausted right now, but I can't let it stop me.  If it even slows me down slightly I will not get this film completed.  From now on, there legitimately is no time for errors.  Keep checking in to see where I am in this now slow ending process.

May 24, 2011 - Levels Are Equal

All performances are done, all clip levels have been adjusted, and to my ears they sound fine.  No clips are too loud, none are too soft.  I watched the entire film today listening to the levels, and adjusting things.  I took out a few more clips and I am down to my absolute final edit.  I still have some ideas for narration, but I haven't laid them down yet.  I tend to talk a lot, so I need some help with when, how much, and what I narrate during this film.  Like I said yesterday, most of it is self explanatory.  When I got to the end of Beijing, which is 40 minutes, and the longest section, I didn't realize it had been 40 minutes.  For me, this film is interesting, and it does not feel like an hour and a half by the end.  Then again, I made it, so I am slightly bias and more interested no matter what.  I logged 5:08 hours today, and I will get another 1:30 this afternoon at rehearsal.  I hope to edit the preview tonight, or tomorrow afternoon, and write out the narration this afternoon, and record it tomorrow morning.  I have been getting a lot of questions about when/if I am going to show this film.  I am absolutely terrified to show it, but I am still very much excited to show my work, and what 43 students experienced.  I hope everyone else is excited about it, I am still a little bit behind, but I should be caught up soon.  I may decide to burn the DVDs next week and focus on just finishing the film this week, even though I need to be done this week.  We'll see how the next few days go, then I'll be able to decide.  Keep checking in to see where I am as this exciting and stressful process winds down!

May 23 - So Close, Yet Still SOOOO Far Away

I have less than a week left, I found out that my audio was not mixed, it is Hell Week for My Fair Lady (which you should go see if you are around, dress rehearsal at 7 on Thursday, and Opening night at 7 on Friday, and Closing night at 7 on Saturday, admission is free, but donations are accepted), and I am 2 days behind where I should be.  My audio was not mixed, don't ask why, its a long story, so I kept the performances last to edit, when I could have just edited them all along.  So today I logged 7:30 hours to try and finish up all of the performances and the ENTIRE film so tomorrow I can legitimately work on narration like I wanted to Sunday and today.  Also, Sunday's rehearsal was very busy, I thought I would be able to edit, and I thought I would be able to edit other projects I have on my plate, but I had absolutely no time to do it.  So I lost a day there, and today.  I can't narrate the entire thing, I don't have the time, fortunately, a lot of it is self explanatory, I am just praying that it isn't only self explanatory to me and that everyone can understand it.  I finished all of my editing today, and even though I woke up 45 minutes late, and didn't get started until 8:30, I edited from 8:30 until 2:30 with a 15 minute break at 1:45pm.  Then, since night rehearsals now go until 9:30 or 10pm, in the afternoon, actors get work done, so I edited for another 1:30 until dinner, then had play rehearsal.  I received 75 DVDs today, with over 100 labels and covers to print on.  As long as I get my narration written out and partially recorded tomorrow, I think I can complete this thing on time.  Tomorrow afternoon during rehearsal time, I will edit my preview to show on Thursday or Friday in assembly.  I still don't know when or where I will be showing it for sure, but I will find out soon.  I am stressed beyond belief, but it will all be over in a few days.  I know that Senior Project ends this week, the play goes on this weekend, and I get to see my mom and sister closing night of the play.  That is what I am looking forward to and allowing me to get through this.  Again, the stress easily could have been avoided, but stuff happens.  It is all a learning experience which is what this is about.  Keep checking in to see where I am in the exciting/nerve-racking process.