Expectations; Before the experience, what did you think would happen?
Seeing as there were two parts to my project, I had two expectations going into this thing. Firstly, I wanted to experience what it was like to run and organize a club that has regular meetings. Secondly, I wanted to have the role of film director, and gain the intangible experiences one gets from leading a crew of people to make a movie.
Watch the Behind the Scenes Director's Commentary explaining how the Film Club and the Short Film were produced
What did you expect to gain from an educational stand-point?
The take-away I was expecting to get from this, was an experiential one; one of performing the role as film director that I aspire to have one day. I had several mentors that helped me out with different parts of the project along the way. I got a lot of help from my teachers in my Academy Vibe program, so I'd like to thank Mr. Trevor Torrence, and Mr. Phil Nagy for helping me out along the way, with the actual making of the film. As for the running of the club, I have to tip my hat to Mr. Craig Lohmann for letting me and Caleb use his room as the springboard and meeting place for our meetings. His enthusiasm was almost matched with ours in wanting to see this project come to fruition. Finally, I have to give the real title of mentor to my father. He kept me on track, on direction, and on time with the delivery of this project, to hit all of the deadlines for the project (including the publishing of this website!)
Watch the first Advertisement for the Film Club
What new knowledge did you hope to gain from this experience?
The biggest thing I was hoping to learn about was how to deal with people better. Being on a set of any movie can be a strenuous environment; people talking, ideas flowing, keeping everyone focused on the task at hand. So learning how to deal with that environment I think is an invaluable experience that is necessary to have, and understand. And I got it in spades working on this project.
Watch the Advertisement for the First Hilliard Student Film Festival
What new relationships did you gain from this experience?
I felt so lucky to have such a great cast and crew working on this project. The first partner I gained from this project of running the film club, was Caleb Long; a fellow Junior, and film enthusiast. He was crucial in helping out with getting this film club up and running, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to start the program up with. In addition to Caleb, the Film Club brought me about 8 dedicated people to help on this project-just on the first meeting! We upped our numbers to about 11 people on the project by the end of it!
(Cast and Crew from Left to Right): Craig Lohmann, Ian Carr, Zach Leder, Dominic Iosue, Nick Mammone, Caleb Long, Hothyfa Musteif, Kevin Peck, Sam Andrei, Abigail James, Jenna Beerman, Gina Mammone. Not pictured: Caleb Rohmohr, Gavin Payne and Caleb Crowley.
How did you think you would benefit from your involvement?
Going into this project, I knew of several benefits that would gain from my involvement in the project. First off, this would add to the personal reel of projects that I've made, and it would show progress from those projects. Going into the film industry is a hard business, and the best thing you can have to try to break into the industry, is a reel of films you've worked on that show your skills and abilities. The second benefit I knew I would get is as I said earlier, having the experience of directing and orienting a bunch of people to create and end product. Not everyone in the film club is going into this industry as I am, but they were all passionate about the project and the process. So it was my duty to keep them on course, and they did fantastic. Finally, the biggest benefit I got was becoming a source of inspiration for others to make their projects. I talked to a lot of people during the process who told me "I'm going to make my projects I've been dreaming about, because I saw you making this one.". Hearing that from other students, really meant a lot to me, and I'm glad they told me about it. I hope that the film community in Hilliard continues to blossom, and I'm doing my part to make it grow!
Time-Table used to keep project on track for shooting days
Reflection:
This process was an ordeal, to put it lightly. It involved a lot of people and moving parts, and a good deal of planning before we even began doing any recording. If nothing else, the project gave me insight as to how to deal with a bunch of people working together, and all of the challenges that come with it. I definitly changed as a person, because now all movies are ruined for me, due to having the inside knowledge of knowing what goes into it, and how difficult it can be. But now, I know how to replicate it to make my my own movies, and I know how fun it can be to deal with the people you work with. The meaning of this experience was beyond words for me, I am so proud of everything that we accomplished as a film club. We were able to take a group of kids from all different grades, race, background, and come together to make something that we can be proud to put our names on. The only thing I would've done differently in this process would be to write out more sophisticated plans before running into the project. Proffessional filmmakers use things like storyboards and shot lists to lay out all of their day's actions. We kind of had that, but then ended up shooting from the hip for a number of the shots. In the end however, I was glad for it happening this way, so I know to plan better for next time.
