Film projects.

One of the nice things about being a film major is the fact that you get to do projects. Throughout the years, your portfolio increases and becomes a reel. It's interesting when you look back at projects from multiple years ago and realize how much you've changed and improved. Actually, it's a really good feeling, a feeling of accomplishment. Right in front of your eyes, you see your improvement. When you get to bigger projects (and better ones), you think back to the old ones. You think back to how you didn't even know what went into creating a film or a short video.
I guess the only bad thing about projects is the fact that you have to find your own cast. You spend so long on one project  and put everything else on the back burner, or at least you want to. That's the thing about film: one average project can take anywhere from five hours to about 100 hours of actual work. Now, that isn't on your own. You have to coordinate schedule with other people, sometimes, more than is possible. On top of our projects, we have our other courses and papers to write and tests to study for. So no, we don't sit around all the time. We do actually do work. It's just our projects are what we love doing.
You dedicate all this time to this one project that could be worth anywhere from 5% to 50% of your overall course grade. It becomes your baby. You love it. You treasure it. You spend all this time in preproduction planning out every little detail. Then you film it. You get a lot of good laughs while doing this and see other sides of people you may not have known, sometimes good.. other times not so much. It's possible you'll see multiple sides of a person in one shoot. It becomes a mix of enthusiastic, tired, grumpy, stressed, crazy, overtired, hilarious, relieved, excited. It's so much fun. Then you edit, multiple times. You spend hours on one little section of about 5 seconds getting it just perfect. You try different things to find the right way of putting it together. Your timeline may be stretched to 1/4 of a second intervals or less. Then you finally export it and can't wait to show off your baby.

When you film, you get that shot you absolutely love. You use it as much as you can. You can't stop watching it.
Moments like these are the ones that are amazing. When you finish a project you put so much time and effort into and realize it's good. There are no words for that moment, only excited shrieks and a happy dance.
For me, it's as exciting as directing, but I'll save directing for another post another day.

What's the point of this post?
To describe a day in the life of a film major working on a film project and finally finishing it. My friend and I just finished our music video tonight, and I must say, I am very proud of it. We spent about five hours writing it, seven hours filming it, and about ten or eleven hours, maybe a little more, in post production. So about 24 hours was spent on a four minute project. That comes out to six hours per minute for all you math majors out there. It becomes a time consuming thing and requires hard work and dedication, but the outcome is amazing.

I wouldn't change it for the world. I know I've found what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I will never give up on my dream.

Here's my challenge for you: Find what you love doing, and go do it. Go after your dream. Don't settle for anything less.

peace.love.happiness.