Looking Back

 So we've finally made it to the end of this project's progression. I thought I'd have forever to work on this project, though "forever" was a lot shorter than I had expected. That being said, I successfully paced myself and my project's progression throughout these nine or so weeks to a point where I never felt like I was racing against the clock (I still felt very stressed, but that's on me). While there were parts in the production of this project that felt tedious and uncomfortable to work with, I never felt like I was just trying to push through it, or treating it like a chore. If I didn't pace myself as well as I did, by holding myself to post every few days regardless of progress, I would've found this project much less enjoyable, and wouldn't be considering taking the higher level of this course next year. 

    Now yes, there were points in time where I was exasperated with the project and frustrated to the point of insanity with issues that, in retrospect, weren't that bad. If I had a dollar for every time my editing software messed up a frame in my video, I'd have two dollars, which isn't a lot but it's very unlucky that it's happened twice. I'd probably attribute most of the stress I've had about this project in general to the last two or three days, which coincidentally were editing and CCR days.

    It's no secret that I didn't particularly enjoy editing my video. Not only was I vastly inexperienced, but having my first experiment with editing have stakes as high as submitting to Cambridge was not healthy for my mindset. I started out editing on Openshot, serving as a sort of way to ease myself into editing, since the interface is fairly simple and it offered nearly every option I needed. However, its shortcomings were soon apparent, as I found myself having to save the project file every 10 or so minutes because the application would start to lag tremendously. It was through this painful cycle of editing, saving, and restarting the application that I edited my film opening.

    For my CCR, however, I was more cautious about relying on only one editing application to edit my reflection; especially one as volatile as Openshot. So I decided to challenge myself and use Adobe Premiere to edit my CCR. Again, maybe working on a video I need to submit to AICE isn't the best time to pull a learning experience and try something I have no experience in, but I figured it was my project, and I could choose how I did things. And so I spent about eight hours on Sunday (from 11 am to 7pm) to edit my CCR. 

    It was through writing the planning/ script for my CCR that I discovered how much I liked to break down my decisions and thoughts on my film opening, especially when I could shine a light on some behind-the-scenes research that I hadn't been able to mention in my blog. I suppose it was like writing a blog for myself, but then getting to read it out loud and add interesting visuals to work with my words. It's difficult to explain, but even though I know this isn't top notch editing or even script-writing, I felt really satisfied and proud of the CCR, no matter how awkward my voice lines were or how ominous the cutout of myself was in the background.

    Regarding the production of the opening, namely the filming days, I found myself to be very stressed while doing them, even though I was enjoying everything I did. I think my mind was too busy trying to adhere to my self-imposed schedule rather than focus on working on what was directly in front of me. This led to a little neuroticism from me when we would shoot the scenes, but thankfully the crew I worked with was patient with my irritability and insistence on making like 9 takes for a two second scene. Those five days were difficult on me, but I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. I think moving forward though I'd like to work with someone who is more well-equipped to work on filming things, because I was a little stretched thin with everything that went on.

    My real strength in this process was in pre-production. Maybe I'm being a little self-indulgent, but I feel confident in saying that I feel that my planning, research, and writing processes were the best they could be. Working on pre-production was easily the part I enjoyed most from this project since I am a planner. A schemer, if you will. I am known for being an idea guy, who often lacks the means to follow through with my wild plans. While I appreciate and am proud of finally following through with one of my plans, my heart belongs in the keyboard, where I can plan every minute detail of every step in every stage of the process... I went pretty deep into this stuff. Writing blogs and scripts pertaining to this project was the most fun I've had working on a school assignment in forever, and while that same enthusiasm didn't necessarily extend to some other facets of the project, discovering a passion for writing in these styles has given me some insight on tangible future careers I could be interested in pursuing. And it's this knowledge that is priceless, regardless of how well I do on the opening and CCR.

    And yes, while my name is predominantly featured in the credits for the opening, I couldn't have completed this assignment without a lot of people who came together to contribute to Clean Kill. First and foremost, Blake Crawford and Cesar Rivera, my two starring actors, had dedicated days out of their otherwise jam-packed schedules to work on this film, often spending several hours a day on set. This film couldn't have been completed without them. Also, I'd like to thank Alexander 'Wade' Duque for lending me his microphone for the duration of my shooting days, the voice lines would've otherwise been impossible to decipher had he not given me the hardware I needed to record the audio in the highest quality imaginable. Another massive thank you goes out to DR_ALEXZANDR for producing the main theme for the opening, I can't thank you enough for going out of your way to make music in a style you've never tried just for me.

    A major rule that I had imposed on myself when I started work on this project was to have everything done by myself, even if it wasn't the best quality. I wanted to look at my project and see a labor of work that was 100% me, so I could tell myself that I can do something on my own. But now, looking back at the final product, I can't help but think about how silly that sentiment was. I look at my project and don't see the work of one guy, but rather the combined effort, time, and contributions of many people. This made project made me realize how much work goes into full-on professional media productions, and how many people are involved with each project. I'm happy to see my project as a reflection of me and my team's work. 

    But that's it! I'm finally done. It was a pleasure writing for this audience, and I hope you've enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I've enjoyed writing them! I'll revisit this blog next year, when I start the A level of this course. And for one last time, I get to say: I'll see you then!