Blog #3: Getting Organized,

What I did:

- For the past few weeks, I chose a poem to film about

- The poem I chose was " Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

Here's the poem:

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

- I took videos of stairs (like dirty, lonely stairs. Stairs that are depicted in this poem)

- I also took videos of various things, like the withering flowers- videos of my apartment

- The reason I took these videos were to get an inspiration of the upcoming project I will do.

- I had a meeting with my mentor during the weekend.

- After I had the meeting, I came up with another standard.

- I was thinking up with another project that could have my HONEST perspective, my excitement, and my view

- Filming random stuff did not help me bring up an idea

- Film producing organizations like "Omeleto" were inspiring, but I couldn't bring up with my own idea

- I started to write down what I did during the day and felt during the day, like a doodle, (shortly) by handwriting on my journal. This surely helped me.

- I thought of using a most recent novel I've read : "Candide" which was read during English Honors Class

- This is a satire book which distorts about war, religious intolerance, and the situation at the time (18th century)

- Since the book contains some hilarious part for me, I want to make a film, using Candide and Pangloss ( characters from the book)

- I was thinking of storyline

- I was thinking of the setting, the theme, and most importantly, the casts of the film.

- Casts are very important for this project, since if no one wills to take the role, it would be hard

- Also, students tend to have a hard acting when the camera is right in front.

- I got to have a talk with Ashley

- Surprisingly, Ashley and I were thinking of the same route of filming.

- Ashley and I are thinking of making 2 films

- Ashley as her own project in mind ( which I will be supporting, sub-directing)

- I have my own project in mind( Ashley will be sub-directing this!)

- In conclusion, I am thinking of building an organization for film projects but I will have to be more careful and specific about this

- Also, during the week, I have found various tools that could help me such as,,

Khan Academy ( "Art of Storytelling")

Crashcourse- Film History

- I also have started to film "10th grade's 20% time" -- I had a casual interview with Julie ,Jungmin, and Eunwoo during club time and 20% time.

Reflection

Everything should be truly honest. Or else, you just have to go back to where you started.

The reason I picked poem to start off a film was it would produce an adequate amount of time (less than 5 minutes). It was hard to film a poem for me, because everything is kind of abstract and personal in poetry. "Mother to Son" didn't really attract me like "bam!" but I still picked it because it showed a visual imagery of it. I was trying to make my project less complicated and simple. Being simple is fine, but when it doesn't come out of my perspective, and if I just try to somehow fit it in, at the end it just all collapses and I feel it's worthless to work on it at the end.

I have been only trying to focus on techniques and how it can make the audience curious.

I can get really honest with writing because it's something I'm used to and what I always do. So by writing, I was going to get a idea of my future project.

I did not stop the poetry project, because I was unsure when I will ever be able to bring up with an idea that is not squeezed and artificially made, but something that I can have more of a natural drop of.

Also, I have been thinking of films I could make alone, instead of together, since I was afraid to make it into a project that include other crews. I would have to take the leadership and teamwork. I was going to do that much later when I was already skilled and famaliar with this project. I didn't wanna lose the credibility because of the 1st project I wil struggle.. I would need to have high responsibilty.

I am already involved in a lot of team projects, and it would mess my head up if I start another team project. Although teamwork does require complicated schedule matchups and cooperative work distribution, I realize again why I wanted to do journalism and film. I like getting involved with people. Writing and drawing is surely something I like to do individually (alone). But since the intention I had of trying to work alone, was because it was too complicated, my film idea crashed down to a narrow perspective. I could not even bring up with my own idea.

But after I met Ashley who had similar interest with me, I realize how important, especially film, requires to work with people. Ashley and I were both so glad to meet a person with similar interest. We both were struggling to proceed film making because it was hard to find a partner who was thinking of film producing.

I know how efficient team working is and how much it is important. But I still somewhat have a fear of having a team that is depended on my plan and idea. I will continue to learn by watching the videos I have found, and having discussions with various people. Also, I am going to write down my plans and thoughts on the journal I bought for my daily life record.