Strangers Reflection

In this story, two people with severe social issues are trying to overcome them. Max is always worried about what others think about him, and Violet struggles when talking to strangers. Natalie wrote and an adorable script about how Max and Violet meet and learn to overcome their social anxiety.

We originally were going to film a story about a kid whose parents forgot his birthday and he throws a party for himself. We started filming but ran into some logistical issues. We set aside everything we had already filmed and moved on to Natalie's script instead. We filmed and edited it over just a couple of days.

I was originally the Art Director of the production, and I helped stylize and obtain props for the birthday party, but when we actually filmed, I was busy the whole weekend. I wish I could have made it to the shoot, primarily because there are things I wish I could have done visually. For instance, putting the waiter in a more formal outfit would have looked better, or having some lights could have made things easier to see in darker scenes.

The edit was made in Premiere, which I know nothing about, so I enjoyed watching the editing process and learning about it. I still don't really understand Premiere, but I'm beginning to learn the basics of how it works.

I tried my hardest to be a team player while also keeping the group focused and leading. We're all friends, and it was really easy to get off track. But, we got the piece turned in on time. My strong suit is being a production manager, and so it's not uncommon for me to take the lead and delegate responsibilities and create filming schedules like I went ahead and did with this film.

If I could go back and start the project all over again, I would make sure the film was actually manageable for a small group of high schoolers. The original script was way too complicated, and we, as juniors and seniors, don't have access to specific things and places on such short notice. I loved my group, and we had fun while filming while still getting work done. In the next project, I hope to be able to have more time to work, and also have a bigger crew. Trying to mesh schedules so that everyone could make it to set was impossible, and our film suffered because we only had a 1-3 person crew per shoot.