The Kansas City Savior
Background
For 7 months our e-Communications class has been working together in order to put together a 1 hour long Feature Film. My role in the film was to be a location scout, which is the person who goes and looks for the locations that would portray the story of the movie exactly as the director wants. I thought I would be good for this role because I've lived in Kansas City for the majority of my life and know a lot of cool and interesting places that would be good for filming. Our biggest challenge was finding a bank to allow us to do a robbery scene and we had to call/email bank after bank asking for permission to film. I learned that location scouting can be harder than it is put out to be because a lot of locations are not possible to use because of the environment, safety, lighting, or permission to be there. I suggested locations for the scenes we needed, but not all of them were used, as they would be inconvenient. The production crew had to change a few locations because of the inconvenience factor. Personally, I believe I found great locations that worked perfectly in line with the script and director. Without my help in finding locations, the film would've never been possible, as location scouting is underrated but very necessary.
Efficiency
My role was most effective during the pre-production phase. While editors and directors worked on the script of the film, I was busy trying to contact and find locations that would suffice for the work we needed to accomplish. For many weeks I was driven in finding all the locations needed for the film. After pre-production, my role became rather impractical. After completing my role in pre-production, I made another project on the side for Olathe's Got Talent. I practiced and learned new skills through the duration of my side project while the skeleton crew worked on the film. I stayed after school and had a voice actor help me with my side project. Although I did not win anything, I enjoyed making the video and I am proud of it.
Strengths
As an e-Communication Student in entertainment class, I am most useful as a film editor. That is is my favorite and most productive role that I could be assigned. I run a YouTube channel with over 300 subscribers in order to refresh and continue to strengthen my experience in film editing.
Recovery
In any job, role, or position it is more beneficial to be cross-trained in different areas, so that you have knowledge in multiple areas rather than just one. I am currently an inexperienced cinematographer and I would like to learn more and possibly become one. Unfortunately since I have never worked with a camera, my knowledge is very minimal in cinematography and I would love to learn more.
Summary
When I went to Cinetopia to watch the premiere of the Feature Film that my class had been working on for over 7 months, I noticed several things. I loved a certain bank scene in the film and enjoyed the originality of the script. If I were to go back and improve or change anything in the film, it would be give more back story on the main characters, and redo the ending of the film because it felt very rushed. I have never took on the role of becoming a Location Scout before the making of this film, so I learned many key points and information such as even public sidewalks can not be used in a film. Be aware, there could always be rules or regulations that keep Film Crews from being able to film in a certain area. I would love to see my class have an activity where "experts" in each role for filmmaking teach or help other students get more familiar with other roles. For an example, an "expert" film editor in the class will work personally or in a group with a sound technician or cinematographer in order to help them expand their knowledge in the editing realm. Vice versa, I would like to see a cinematographer go over the basics of how to use/work a camera during a production to a film editor. This way each student have unlimited possibilities and can fill in an role they are required to do at any given moment.
