CCR RESEARCH - 3 

+ How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

- My production skills began to develop as soon as this project was presented to us and I was able to start putting everything together with my partner. There were times when things felt slow, and rushed, but as overall experience, I think it came out good. I was able to learn on how to use color theory, jump cuts, match cuts, and so many more things. The genre me and my partner ended up choosing is known to be a darker romance type of genre and we were able to also give hints of love throughout the film opening when we would show her phone calls, messages, and pictures throughout her room.

The entire storyline was originally my idea because I am close friends with someone who is very similar to Ana. She overexerts herself with school work, she tries to take harder classes than everyone else without considering her mental or physical state, and she always worries on what colleges she'd eventually get into since freshmen year of high school. This friend of mine worries about her grade and works way to hard on herself to the point the bonds she has with her personal life aren't the best. 

Picture of Lara

I was able to express this point of view of mine towards my friend to my partner and she immediately understood as I kept explaining to her the ideas I had. I would tell her different types of props I'd be able to get us, friends of mine who are willing to act, the time I'd be able to make and she reciprocated as we both have busy schedules. Then, we began piecing the scenes together such as shots of Ana's room, Ana then falling asleep doing homework. Later, during a group meeting I was recommended to do a therapist scene and I shared the idea with my partner and both liked it and immediately started thinking of the dialogue, clothes, location, props, etc. We had no idea who would be the school counselor/therapist so I ended up taking the role. 

Once we had created the script and storyboard was when I really saw everything coming together and we would present the script to our actress Lara she she would practice it. Our first days of production weren't the best due to the fact lighting was harder than expected and we were both working with equipment we weren't used to. On the bright side, we were able to get a taste of it and return extra prepared for the following days of production. Once we were able to do this, we were far more successful with the scenes we were finishing up and the techniques we were trying to use. Especially since we both wanted to integrate color theory into the film, the lighting had to be good, obvious but not too prominent, and had to show emotion throughout. Shadows, and different light sources such as a small light we were using, another white light which we could change the warmth of, and our phone flashlights which you could change the level of brightness on. 

Next, was the big scene of the therapy session between Mrs. Larsson and Ana in the school library which consisted of us shooting in our local library near our school. We got there around the time it opened to try and get the specific room we were trying to use but there had already been someone there who reserved it for 2 hours so then throughout that time we began touching up other parts of our film and research. Once those 2 hours were up we went there immediately and began to set up the room exactly how we wanted it. (A timelapse of us adjusting the room to our liking) This process didn't take us too long due to the fact we already knew what we wanted to do. 

Picture of me and my partner

Throughout this process, I was always sure to try and be more prepared towards props and extra shots if needed. I played around with Canva as well to add things about our film. I'll always be thankful for the people I was able to bother with acting and letting me borrow their house decorations in order to use to for my props. But more than anyone, I'm thankful I was able to have my partner by my side and get to know someone and work with someone good in filming and feel as if we were both able to grow together throughout the production of our film.