Done!

I finished my ten minute documentary for NYU!
If I ever get a chance, I'll post it here.
Now it's all about putting it with the application and getting it in before the early decision deadline.

Here is the image I'm using for my DVD:

Interviews Shot!

I started shooting interviews for the project on Wednesday.

The first one with Dr. Wertheimer went a lot smoother than I had anticipated. The audio sounds great. My only problem is the glare from one of the lights, but I guess it'll have to be something I have to live with.

DJ's and Maranda's interviews took on a much lighter tone, which made me feel more comfortable while asking questions and preparing.

On Friday, after the half day, I interviewed Trevor and Mr. Zinga. I haven't captured Trevor's interview yet, but Mr. Zinga's seems to be one of the better interviews in terms of video and audio quality. One of my concerns is with DJ's mike, which appeared to hiss half way through the interview. My dad was the one who was overlooking that, so during all future interviews, I'll be the one checking the audio and video for any thing that needs to be fixed. This is my project, and I would like to make sure everything is as perfect as can be.

On Tuesday, I will be shooting Mr. Ringold's Interview, so we'll see how well that goes.

I've put together an edit of some of the better answers to the questions I've asked. In this very very very rough phrase, the video is somewhere along 8 minutes long. I'll have to cut this down as I dub in the narrator and add more interviews. My worries about not having enough content have been eased.

Different Direction?

My dad gave me a bit of inspiration.
Since I will be using this video as part of my application to NYU, I should use it to show off my talents in timing, comedy, and the like. To do this, I could turn this documentary into sort of a mockumentary. I would keep all the facts about City High in place, complete with interviews. However, I would apply a bit of comedy and focus the video around a new freshman or perhaps a dramatized reporter. This way I could show a different side of the school while maintaining the factual information that I intended to include.

This is something I'll have to think about.

Meanwhile, I'll continue with my script as is and then put in the "plot" later.

Duly Noted

Today was a day to mark on my calendar as the day that I officially started my script.
I don't think that I managed to follow my schedule as well as I thought I could, but I know that when the the time comes, I complete whatever task I set myself to do.

I'm hoping to complete this script by the second week of school or so. By then I think I can schedule some interviews perhaps during the half day or another convenient day.

I want this done by the end of October so I can use this in my NYU early decision application. Hopefully, it'll look good to their admissions board...

Newsflash

Since I've updated almost all of my other blogs, I figured it would be unfair not to update this one.

So what's going on in terms of the movie?

I'm really trying to get an idea of what would be the best method for this.

It seems as though there's already a "promo" video for City High, so I suppose I could try to expand on that.

The main problem I think will be motivation to keep this project going, as with most projects.

I think over the break, while on vacation, I'll formulate some questions and try to see if I can create a tree of topics for the movie. This might be frowned upon since this is basically skipping the step of creating the script, but it would be the easiest way for me to organize my thoughts. I'd prefer a timeline for my documentary instead of a straight forward script; however, I'll probably end up writing some form of a script after the film is shot and quickly edited in order to make a rough cut. This will be easier for others to critique and also for me to see the order of the movie with full dialog.

I'm waiting to see how Michael Gregory's film turns out to see what kind of style he went for in his introduction video.

Also, I want to create a menu for this DVD with Adobe Encore. I've been playing with it recently and am confident I could create a spiffy DVD menu for this movie.

I'm getting ahead of myself now. This is just a note for future reference.

Woah

It's been a while.

Meanwhile, not much physical product has been produced. Okay that's not completely true.

I've mostly been brainstorming, making post-it notes where ever possible so I can get some idea on the script. As of now, the script is my biggest concern at this point followed by the interviews. I still need more research on which to focus on first and how to integrate the two.

I also found a NY Times article today that I found interesting. It has to do with film editing: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/science/02angi.html

Honors and school work has been taking up most of my time. For example, I have two essays due Monday and various other assignments scattered about. I'm trying to fit time in whenever possible.

I really hope to have some sort of product by the end of the trimester so I can film some things during the break, like interviews and establishing shots.

Until next time...

Interviews

So far I've talked to Mr. Zinga about an interview and he's excited about it.

I'm talking to Dr. Wertheimer tomorrow and also to Mr. Ringold for Drama.

The Robotics team is going for an award this year that involves video.

This is going to be the first hard deadline, as the video is due February 18th. By this date, I'm aiming to get the core elements of the documentary done (a brief history, interviews with administrators) and then complete the robotics section of the documentary. I feel as though this would be killing two birds with one stone by contributing to Robotics and completing a section of my Grad Project.

Mr. Kohnen and Ms. D seem to be on board.

Off to write a script...