My First Baby: Sueño Rojo

I am fairly pleased with the outcome of my first film. Something miraculous, as shooting it was kind of a mess, the planning was vague and I only knew the basics of editing. It seems like every time I watch the finished version I find something that I want to change, however, I do keep watching it. I must have done something right. Overall it was fun and through this experience I found out that I actually like creating films; the haphazard process taught me a lot.

As is the style of FILMP/MEDP we were rushed through the learning and production process of the project. It’s understandable, but being the artists transplanting pieces of themselves into their work it’s easy to get frustrated within the constraints. Knowing how “real” we like to keep in MEDP I expected to be running through the halls of Hunter shooting a couple of takes of our shots and then running on. This would make a solid story bored extremely valuable.

My partner and I met outside of Hunter one night to draw it out, imagining the locations in Hunter we would utilize. Here I think we got a little overzealous and overestimated the amount of time we would have to shoot and did not anticipate the (unlikely) complications to come. Instead of fantasizing about all the cool shots we could do it would have been better to stick to a comprehensive storyline prioritizing continuity. Putting in this extra effort would have illustrated specific goals for filming and essentially made for a more elegantly constructed piece. I can say though, that the visualizing and drawing that we did do shows is the final product.

Despite the somewhat weak storyboard and my tardiness on filming day, the production went well. I think my forethought on having my girlfriend as an actor and the attractive wardrobe made the film more visually appealing. Her red dress stood out in Hunter’s bleak hallways and in juxtaposition with my grey attire. Our “wing-it” approach to filming actually paid off in some ways in that it allowed for spontaneous creativity and linear development as we basically shot the scenes in the order of the story. Realizing that we were running low on time and that we still needed to shoot more, I got the idea to take the story into the nearby piano practice rooms instead of wandering the school looking for the “perfect” locations. One problem we did run into was that we quickly filled up our memory card and had to fumble for a new one. Another (potentially disastrous) problem was the camera person getting the “record” and “standby” setting mixed up. We probably should have had a better recap of camera use. This resulted in great shots of the floor, auxiliary audio of us frantically planning shots and cuts at the time shots should have began. We only lost a few scenes. This made me even more proud of the editing of the final product.

I enjoyed editing the most out of the whole process. I feel this is the time that allowed the most creativity—it also satisfied my somewhat obsessive attention to detail and order. I would have liked to learn about more visual effects I could have utilized, making the film darker and more experimental, instead the film was kind of “ordinary”. With all that remains after my likes, dislikes and wishes, the film still makes me proud. In the context of its constraints it’s definitely impressive but I also think it plays out well on its own. If you don’t think so then you should have seen the production process.