Delayed Love

A pair of children, one boy and one girl, runs intensely through a soccer field. Upbeat pop music plays in the background. The boy dribbles the ball with his feet and his face drips in sweat. His foot kicks the ball (with sound effect) to the girl and the ball flies through the air. She stops it with the side of her foot and proceeds to the soccer goal post. Without a moment's hesitation, she uses all her strength and scores. She yells in excitement and runs to the boy. They high five each other in celebration and drop to the ground in exhaustion. The girl turns her head and smiles at the boy, which in turn causes the boy to meet eye contact with her. The boy is drawn in by her beautiful eyes and a graphic match of her pupils transitions into a wristwatch.

The girl, now 16 years older, rushes out the door as she checks the time on her watch. She puts her suitcase inside her car and gets into the driver's seat. She looks back at her best friend's house, the boy now older. She sighs and grabs her cell phone. Her face shows her torment as she texts her best friend goodbye. Sorry, but this is such a big opportunity that I can't pass up. I hope you understand. Keep in touch, ok?

The boy reads the text and throws his phone on the floor in anger.

The girl turns over her car engine and drives away.

The boy looks at his calendar, which states, "April 19: Carly at airport 2pm". He walks back to his bed, but trips on a overused soccer ball. A flashback of the two of them playing soccer occurs. Snapping back to reality, he checks his alarm clock that indicates a half and hour til 2. He drops the ball and runs out his door, adrenaline pumping.

Sprinting down sidewalks, the sound of his heartbeat is prominent. He manages to get glimpses of the time on oversized clocks on buildings. Attempting to cross the street, he nearly escapes being hit by a speeding car. Returning to his constant running speed, the guy's face reveals his desire to reach the airport before 2pm.

The girl continues to drive on the freeway, approaching closer to the airport by the minute. Images of clocks are shown and the girl speeds up her driving while the guy sprints faster. 20 minutes to go.

Parallel action between the girl and the boy as they both try to reach their destination on time. The boy's face shows concern about being late and not being able to express his true feelings to Carly. He breathes heavily and turns a corner and arrives at the bus stop. He checks the time on his phone. 15 minutes left.

The bus arrives and he runs up the steps. Reaching into his pocket for 2 dollars, he realizes his pockets are empty. Looking at the bus driver in desperation, he gives a sorrowful look. The driver, sympathizes with him and allows him to ride the bus free. (another stroke of luck perhaps)

The girl pushes her car brakes and the tires come to a halt. The doors open quickly and her trunk clicks open immediately.

The bus tires come to a halt a moment later and the boy flies out the door. He turns his head this way and that in search of the girl. He spots her in the midst of the crowd, and calls out her name. She turns her head in slow motion and their eyes meet once again. Staring in deadlock, she is shocked, but smiles gratefully and adoringly.

"I literally ran all the way from home. Call me crazy, but I couldn't let you go without telling you how much I don't want you to leave... We've grown up together and it's going to be so different being apart... I love you, that's why I don't want to to go. But, it's also because of this reason that I want you to live your life beyond this place". - says the boy.

"Is that so? Well, this changes things now doesn't it?..." - says the girl.

New Bell Schedule- Broadcast Critque

Pre-production:


My partner and I came up with the idea by trying to explore a topic never discussed before. We realized that there was a new bell schedule this year and wanted to capture people's thoughts about it on camera. We first asked Mrs. Shanks for an interview because she is the head of the school and was involved in the change of the schedule. The rest of the students and the teacher we found to interview were available on the spot, so we did a quick interview. Our questions were direct, yet some of them were open ended questions in which they were asking for the interviewees' opinions.

Production Quality and Composition and Audio:


All interviews were given on campus. For the student interviews, we chose trees and the Mustang statue for the backgrounds. For the teacher interviews, we chose the teachers' offices/ classrooms. Our b-roll clips are of students in their classrooms working. We used pans, pov shots, wide angle shots, and worms eye view shots for the b-roll. One of the most creative shots is of Mrs. Gonzales, a history teacher, is teaching her class and the camera is in a low position. It is a pov shot (perspective of a student in his/her seat) and we see her in between the bodies of two students. The shot is well-balanced, with her students and desks in the foreground, Mrs. G. in the midground and the board and windows in the background. The teacher is on one of the intersections when following the rule of thirds. In her classroom, we filmed a wide shot of her class shouting in excitement, close-ups of students writing in planners, and waist shots of Mrs. G. teaching. Our camera moves were for the most part smooth when we panned across the video lab. The lighting for the student interviews outside was semi-low key because there was no sunlight to act as our natural light source. However, the teacher and principal interviews came out nice because the indoor lights created a high key lighting. Our focus was not blurry at all because we used manual focus on the camera. Our audio came out clear and without static in our voice-over and interviews.



Script:
Our VO began with an introduction to the new bell schedule. We grabbed the audience's attention by pointing out how the new bell schedule is something new at school and that it may be confusing for most people. After the opening VO, the interviewees describe their concerns and hopes about the new schedule. The closing VO is the most important because we show the audience the schedule in chart form and then list the periods dropped per day. We let the audience read the scrolling text for themselves instead of having a voice interfere. We wanted people to remember the schedule by heart at the end of the segment.

Editing:



It was difficult to really film the "schedule", so my partner and I filmed students working in their classrooms. We didn't use special transitions besides fade in and out audio and fade to black for the video. I created the titles in Livetype and either the title was in motion or the background was. We didn't add special effects or filters to our shots because we wanted to depict reality. There are no jumpcuts in our footage. Our interview and b-roll cuts smoothly.



Overall
What I like about our piece is that it is an original concept and we had a lot of interesting b-roll. I also like how it is direct and informative. If we had more time, I would have found a wider range of interviewees besides Seniors. Also, The most important lesson I can take after working on this segment is to take time on finding interviewees that can answer questions well and plan the type of b-roll desired more efficiently.
What do you like best about your piece? What would you add or do differently if you had more time? What would you say is the most important lesson you can take with you after working on this project?

Character in Time

A pen scribbles away furiously on a notebook. The teacher's voice is rambling in the background. The bell rings and right away students shout in excitement. The classroom clears and a young girl is left alone in her seat. She slowly packs up her stuff in her backpack and goes out into the hall way. The hallway is a blur as students quickly walk, run, and skip past her from left and right. She spots a large group of friends gossiping in the corner by the water fountain and she lets out a heavy sigh.

The girl makes her way back home on foot. As she passes by houses in the quiet suburb, she suddenly passes by a bush of red roses. She picks a single one off the bush by its stem. The thorns prick her fingers and she yells in pain. She stares at her punctured fingers and wonders what else could make her day worse: her lack of friends or her bleeding fingers. Quickly ignoring the pain, she holds the rose to her nose and smells the sweet fragrance. Then the realization hits her. She forms a subtle smile and her blue eyes grow brighter as she realizes how much the rose represents her. Time slowly stops as she goes into a daydream. Like the rose, she also has thorns and flaws that she isn't proud of (a flashback of her tormenting days in school) . Yet, in a way she has the opportunity to bloom into a beautiful flower in the future (flash forward of her working in her successful career) . She snaps back to reality and swiftly walks home with a blissful gleam in her eyes and her head held high.