Production Journal

As film students, we are encouraged to take risks and try new things. Unleashing your true potential can be achieved through broadening out and taking leaps of faith. In my case, my group and I have taken the opportunity to branch out into the style known as film noir. Despite that we have only had few lectures on the style, we have been able to learn through our own experiences as individuals. We have taken as much information as we got, put our brains together and have come up with ideas that we may not would have thought of if we had worked by ourselves. Creativity was key and we didn't want to follow such a formulaic way of making the movie. By that I mean we wanted to think of different kinds of shots, angles and lighting to make our own story unique. After coming together and throwing in our own ideas, we finally were on the same page as to what we want our film to look like. The vocabulary was a novelty for us and we found ourselves laughing at the different words we have stumbled upon in the collection of film noir jargon. After we had gotten used to it, we were able to weave it into the dialogue and give it a slick and witty feel. Finding out what different kinds of shots we needed definitely strained my creativity, however with the help of others, everything turned out alright. Not only did we get the shots we want, but it also served as a learning experience for me. Lighting also was an outlet that let us work together and visualize as a group. We decided where to place what lights and what to emphasize. Though this, I got the opportunity to see what other people had envisioned. 

I originally wrote the story, but as a group  we worked on it and tweaked it so that the story was just right. We decided that I would be the main actor, however whenever the crew needed ideas I did everything in my power to give ideas. The director felt that I was good with a camera so whenever the D.P. needed help with the camera, I instructed him the best that I could and hoped that he would do it better. 

I have learned that I need to be committed in making a film. In other words, there may be times where I need to sacrifice certain things in order to keep my group happy and my movie looking good. Being punctual is always encouraged as it is advantageous for your group. Finding time has been a real hustle due to the fact that there are other things going on in our lives. Finding a date that accommodates all of our schedules definitely proved itself to be a challenge,but in the end I know we will do good especially with the group I have.