Remember that tragic trainwreck of a project called Macbeth? That film where 24 students were tasked to work together to make a movie? Where students stood out in the snow for over 5 hours on their weekends? Well, I remember it. I remember it as a bittersweet production where nothing seemed to go right and everyone seemed to want to make it better despite the chaos. A percentage of the class showed great commitment and honestly, I’ll probably remember my time with the few who stood with me out in the rain and snow. Now teleport into grade 12 where we are learning about horror, and surprise surprise we are tasked with creating a horror movie in the same class-wide style.
This project was different from Macbeth but neither better or worse. I would have hoped we learned from our mistakes but many of the same seemed to occur. The 22 of us still seemed to waste time we didn’t have. We were still lost in our own roles and failed to see the power in being 100% on the same page with everyone. Despite the negatives, we still created a movie that I frankly enjoyed. I’ll have to admit I laughed and scoffed at points where mistakes were obvious and errors were present. I see the 17 day project as something I’m proud of that could be edited further to be even more impressive.
Background:
This film was a part of our horror unit. More importantly, this unit was a study of society. We were investigation through the lens of horror learning about the way society operates and thinks. We discovered and learned about our lens of horror through literature and film plus a field study I didn’t attend. This study of literature and films helped us build and focus our lens so we could correctly look at society and understand. All this being developed and worked through for the overall goal of answering the driving question: “how does horror reflect and comment on our society?”
The books read were Bird Box by Josh Malerman and Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, paired with this we had read the lengthy titled Elements of Aversion by Elizabeth Barrette. We learned how these elements are used and how we should move forward. We watched Halloween and The Exorcist studying how horror is used in both of those movies too. After this, the project was assigned and work started.
We were divided into different groups based on our applications. We applied through a Google survey and wrote about why we should get the job we wanted. I applied for the cinematographer role and got it without much competition I presume. I had shown some skill in the Macbeth production and believed I was fit to film again. I bought an expensive camera to the job and a commitment I will talk about below.
Contribution:
I contributed as much as I could and some. I was at every single shooting opportunity I could make and left when we were completely done, never early. There were multiple days where I was at school from 3pm to 6pm filming scenes and two days where I was at school from 3pm to 7pm. No matter the time or situation I worked as efficiently as I could. I worked outside of the allotted time when the shooting went over schedule without any gripes. I never complained about the time shooting was taking out of my day and away from my other courses as I knew that the other committed team members were in the same boat as me. My commitment was to the highest degree because I knew it would help the ball roll along more smoothly. I didn’t want to be one of the reasons shooting was behind or the project was lower quality than it should be, and I believe I achieved this goal. I spent time with Michael and the two other story borders understanding their vision and requested camera angles. The loss of vision between storyboarders and directors was frustrating so I tried my best to bridge the gap. I spent time speaking with Michael about what his vision was and how the storyboard represented it. I tried to help the directors as much as I could as there were times on set when they were stumped or arguing about what the scene should look like. Although I went away after the first 10 Days of shooting I tried to be as impactful as I could when I was there.
The effectiveness of being a DRI:
For the days of production that I was there, Marley and I made a good team. We were both equal as DRI’s and when I evaluate my role it’s one that I shared. When I was there filming I tended to take the cinematic lead as I was operating a better camera so naturally I was given the only microphone. Despite this, Marley was always with me when we were on set at the same time and we made sure to work at the same rate and on the same page. When tasked with a difficult shot, we discussed angles, lighting so we agreed on the best option. I believe Marley and I were very effective as DRI’s and didn’t waste time. I see our cinematography as quite well done and not one of the movie’s shortcomings. When I watched the movie I was very impressed and satisfied how the movie was shot and how the scenes were paired with music for effect. I see areas where shots could have been better and continuity could have been kept but naturally, there will always be faults to recognize.
A shot of Brad (Michael Sutherland) that catches his iPad
Driving Question Reflection:
As a work of art that answers the driving question: ‘how does horror reflect and comment on our society’, I believe we hit the mark with the edge of our punch but the brunt of the blow glanced off.
I see our movie answer the youth’s side of this driving question. In the movie, we reflect on the often negative power of social media and how technology can hurt us. How you ask? In the film, a girls life is ruined because a photo of her is circulated and the kids behind it are punished. The action of circulating the image is a source of fear in society as the youth are so addicted and reliant on their phones this could ultimately happen to any of us. The punishment of death that the characters receive in the movie comments on what technology and its poor use can really do to us which is terrifying. Images and photos are often so nonchalantly passed around we are unaware of the damage we are doing. We young ones are too informal with technology and we are bitten from behind. The number of lives ruined from social media is tremendous and this movie does comment on these real fears throughout the 22 minutes. When I say “lives ruined” am not just talking about the lives ruined from bad photos being circulated, material from the past being used to stop kids from getting jobs or the cyberbullying that leads to suicide every year. Lives are ruined because of the addiction so many kids face. The youth does not understand and does not want to understand that we are so addicted to social media and the gratification our likes get us it. I believe in response to this, our movie reflects and comments on these societal fears of the youth.
Personal Reflection:
As a student work of art, I am proud of the movie and see the greatness of it. I understand the glaring flaws but overall am not disheartened by what was created.
I was not there when we received final feedback and a verdict from our executive producers but from many people in the class, I hear it was not a good time. From this, I have many thoughts. Even if our final project was not to the standard set before us, I believe our commitment and efforts were important. I see our work ethic and overall teamwork as a thing to be proud of. From this project, I believe I have learned a valuable skill about how work needs to always connect back to the original concepts and answer the driving question
If you want to watch the movie, look no further.