Post 15

I had another great day today. As soon as I woke up I got a text from my lead actor that he had to cancel last minute on the filming that day. My actress was already pissed at me for being disorganized, so I asked my actor to take a little bit of the heat off me. Then I went to school to start editing. Ms. Eep was not here so it was a little awkward saying hello to the substitute and just sitting at a computer for a couple hours. Then I finally had everything coming together. I had 7 scenes, all edited and in order making about 9 minutes of the film. I saw the project autosave. I was watching it, and even though I hadn’t done any of the artsy editing like filters or music, it was surprisingly pretty entertaining to watch. I was proud of it. Then about three quarters of the way into watching the system crashed. I was thinking ok, that’s fine. I just saw it auto-save, I can get it back. Nope. I re-opened it and for some reason everything I had done that day was gone. So I said enough is enough. I am going to get lunch. Maybe if I shut off the computer and pray it’ll come back. I came back to edit, turned the computer on, and I was locked out. It was password encrypted. So I went up stairs and did blogs, after achieving nothing for all the work.

post 14

I am starting to feel claustrophobic. That’s not exactly what it is I guess, but it is the closest way I can describe it. I still need to work on my research paper, which I could not be much further behind on, am a week behind on filming after the fiasco with my former camera operator, am trying my best on editing but I have no idea how to make some of the audio stuff work. I am sure Ms. Eep will help me with that at least. I am more concerned with my actors; they’re starting to get a little aggravated because the filming has gone so much longer than expected. I can’t blame them. It is even worse that they’re doing it out of the goodness of their heart, but a person’s goodness can only go so far. I feel bad stretching that, but coordinating three people’s schedules is pretty hard, especially when you have to take the heat for the other actor when they cancel last minute. They are both so nice and doing such a good job, they actually are great actors, and perfectly cast for their parts, I just feel guilty about being disorganized and messing up their schedules. Plus this is just SCORE, I guess I need to buy prom tickets by the end of the week. That’s a hefty penny. Then I need to find time to go out and get a tux, sail for New England’s trying to get to Nationals, keep my new girlfriend happy, I already feel the walls closing in.

post 13

I started editing on Ms. Eep's computer stations. It is very entertaining to be in her room. Some of the things she says to her class cracks me up. Like when she says how she does not listen to her kids right in front of them, or how she gets in fights with other teachers about principles like home work, and of course all the stories she tells about skipping class when she was in school. I almost regret not having taken art classes in high school. I’m starting to discover this secret society of artists and film makers. I guess some people just legitimately enjoy making and being a part of films. I no longer think I am one of them. But today I was just sitting there editing, and all of a sudden the kid sitting next to me, who I may have talked to once before, I didn’t know what his name was, but he starts asking me a bunch of questions about my film. He starts offering me all this copyright free music, sounds and MP3s I could use. He even offered to help shooting if I need it. I feel like I’m discovering this whole new part of the school I had never seen before. It makes me feel a little better about losing one camera operator, especially now that I see there are a lot more out there. I still have twenty more words that I have to write. Almost there. Almost done. Here it is.

Post 12

I did not only lose a camera operator, but I also lost all the equipment she brought from Cape Ann TV. She brought it back to Cape Ann TV just so I would have to check it out again under my name in case something happened to it. Of course this was also a Friday, so despite my constant calls to Cape Ann TV I could not get in contact with them due to their not opening until Monday of the following week. Then I waited until the following Monday, only to find the woman I needed to talk to for the equipment was off that day. I called again the following day, finally talking to the women I needed to talk to, and found out the wonderful news that the "easy class that would only take an hour" that my camera operator described that I had to take to be able to log out equipment, was not until the following THURSDAY. So at the earliest, I would not be able to start filming again for another week and a half. Another one of my friends gave me the suggestion to ask Ms. Epp about camera equipment I could use, and thankfully she remembers me from that one art class I took in eighth grade and never return, she was extremely helpful and supportive, allowing me to equipment in a single day. We began to film again the next day, with our new camera man who had volunteered to help.

Post 11

After I talked to Ms. Edgerton I was trying to piece together the scraps left in my project. I ran into a mutual friend of myself and my camera operator in the library, and so I asked her to try and reason with my camera operator, and maybe we could work something out to keep her on board. Our friend talked to her, and eventually my camera operator ending up getting angry with our friend. Some how she may have calmed her down, and convinced my camera operator to come here and sit down calmly and act like adults to figure out the problem. That didn't happen. My camera operator came in, saying she was done, and that it was not up for discussion, insulting me, and starting screaming at me to the point I could barely even get a word in. I can see any horror movie, I have gone toe to toe against 300 pound football players without blinking. This was terrifying. I thought I was going to have my face ripped off. At that point I did not want to keep working with my camera operator because I was concerned for my safety, not that I could have convinced her to stay otherwise. Then my friend Gibby tells me later that he thought the scene she had made was so hilarious he recorded it on his phone. Thanks for helping me out Gibby. But after I lost my camera operator I lost a lot more, including everything they had connected to Cape Ann TV.

post 10

While my operator was filming, and claiming they had done the entire project, I had written the script, made a story board, gotten criticism on my script and altered it, talked to teachers to get permission to use their rooms, and in some cases painting, dealt with Jewitt to allow the project to be approved, made a schedule that would work with everyone involved, divided everything into scenes to decide what would be worn on what day, not to mention gotten excellent and committed actors to play the part and are willing to keep the schedule, in addition to finding the extras to play parts in scenes, and whenever she was spending time filming I was right there directing everything, telling actors what to do, and dealing with the occasional teacher who came out pissed off at us for filming in the hallway. Wow that was a long sentence. And as for being unprofessional, she refused to specify what I had done wrong, and when she finally did she said I wasn't taking things "seriously enough," which is ridiculous after all the work I have put into it. The day after we had that conversation I talked to Ms. Edgerton again, after she helped me out last time I thought she could do some good again. She said all she could do was talk to my camera operator to figure out what was going on. She was not happy, but she said that she no power to do anything. Then I met with my camera operator in person.

Post 9

Everything was flowers and rainbows with the filming. Until Thursday, about one week into filming  I will admit, I was a bit frazzled filming that day. I had just gotten out of my last psychology test ever, and I was fried. Plus I had to make sure everyone was out by three o'clock, between sports and AP registration. Then right after school I had to go around grabbing extras, go to my car to grab props, and get back to Mr. Koughan's room to film. Then I was disorganized filming, mixing up scenes and stuff like that.  So after that my camera operator asked to talk to me, I talked to her quickly, apologized  but I had to go to sailing myself, and she had to go to the AP registration  so I was in a rush to get out of there. That night I asked her if we could change a time on the schedule to make it easier for one of our actors, and that was all she wrote. My camera operator flipped. I was being "extremely unprofessional, ungrateful, and forcing the entire project on her."  That just was not true. I thanked everyone everyday, I made a point of it. I even asked my actors if I had to be sure, and they told me how much I thanked everyone. I had done far more than my camera operator. She was far from "being taken advantage of." She helped me storyboard, got the camera equipment, and filmed.

Post 8

I was in a corner, and if I wanted to have a camera, or someone to film for me, I was going to do something. I called Cape Ann TV for the camera equipment, and I guess there is no simple process like I was lead to believe. I had to become a member, take classes, as well as ensure that the project would be shown on Cape Ann TV. All of this was already finished by my camera operator, seeing how she works at Cape Ann TV. There would be no way I would be able to get the camera in time for filming next week, and so I told her what the people at Cape Ann TV told me. She finally agreed to do the simpler, logical thing and get the camera equipment for us to use. After I told Ms. Edgerton about the goings on, she was very comforting, saying that it was not OK for her to go behind my back the way she did, and because she was her actual adviser she had a decent amount of power, and so she would help me out. The following Monday we did a reading of the script, Ms. Edgerton pulled my camera operator aside and had a conversation and everything was hunkey dory. My camera operator was cooperating, my actors were doing great, we were keeping a schedule and filming everything we needed. It was shaping up very well, and I was excited for the future outcome.

Post 7

I have had quite a chronical lately. It has certainly not been fun. I have been unable to film for a week, fighting Cape Ann TV, my former camera operator, and trying to keep up with my AP exams. It's been great. So this is how it all started. Two weeks into score, filming was set to begin. Then the Friday before I get a Facebook message from my camera operator, who I was told was sharing this score project, splitting her time between filming and editing the movie and working at Cape Ann TV. She was demanding that I call Cape Ann TV, get the camera equipment, because it was "my project." I said that it was just as much hers as mine. She then tells me that she had changed her project at the last minute so that she was no longer obligated to do anything with my film, and was entirely working at Cape Ann TV. I was surprised, because I saw her say to Mr. Jewitt's face, right in front of me, she was going half and half on helping with my film and working at Cape Ann TV. I asked Ms. Edgerton, my adviser on script writing, and my camera operator's actual score adviser. She looked up the proposal and found that she was telling the truth, last minute she had gone behind my back, changed her score proposal, and never told me. So I didn't have much of a choice but to give in to her demands.

post 6

Here I go again on my own. I am going down the only road I have ever known.  Like a drifter I was born to walk alone. And I have made up my mind. I am going to waste  as much space as I can writing this ridiculous blog as I can. This busy work is an insult to the intelligence of every student in the school. This has no purpose. I need to start filming soon. I have most of my places set up for where I am going to film, from Liam Irwin’s front lawn to the school, to the down town rail road tracks. Actually there is a car scene too. Maybe I could use the legendary… Adventuremobile? The one and only consistently crookedly parked black Honda Civic which litters our otherwise organized parking lot?  Could its legend make its way to the silver screen? That would be the easy part. I still haven’t figured out how I am supposed to choreograph one of the scenes with all the girls getting ready for prom. What do they do…? Girls are confusing enough, why do I have to write like I know them? I have NO IDEA what goes through their heads. I guess I just set myself up for it though, writing a love story… well, sort of hehe. Man am evil. People who don’t know the ending are going to be so disappointed. I want to make people sob uncontrollably at the failure of a high school relationship. It will be beautiful,

post 5

Fortunately now I have commitment from my main actors. That was starting to scare me a bit. If I could not get actors that actually cared about being in the movie, all my script writing, my storyboarding, and work would be useless. Thank god for people’s sad need for publicity. Everyone wants to be in a movie. Especially my movie, because, you know, I am so popular and everyone loves me.  You can clap now.  I do have a reliable group of random Randies though, that will certainly help when I need extras for the prom scene and the hall scene, and the other random scene where people are in. Whatever. I am waiting for night band right now. I am supposed to be done with high school yet I still live in Essex, and often still do not make it home at night until around 9. They should have built the school in Essex anyway, there is so much more land, and better land, at a better price. Now we have a school that was built too small, that has no budget that has horrible parking, and is on the back side of a hill. Good job administration.  Yet here I am sitting on a crappy, slow, not particularly efficient school computer. If the green team really wanted to save energy it is so much simpler than buying bad computers. At the end of the day, just go around the school and shut everything off. I have it set up like that in my house. I flip a switch and all the major electronics don’t waste any more electricity. Easy, set and done.

post 4

Storyboarding takes bloody forever! I was at Tierney’s house for five straight hours on my last day of vacation and got only half of the script done! Half! Not three quarters, not most, not almost there, Half! The worst part is my drawings are scribbles unless I have someone, or my camera operator, there with me to understand what I’m doing. I can’t even tell what I am drawing most of the time. Thankfully Ms. Edgerton accepted it. The shot list probably helped a lot. That’s a bit more organized, and certainly a lot neater and a lot easier to tell what’s going on than the vomit of a storyboard I put down on awkwardly drawn squares on a lined sheet of paper. That’s right. Indie movie makers don’t have the fancy dancy story board board with nice sheets of clean white paper drawn perfectly to mimic the shot; they use crappy notebook paper and draw some boxes. They then put it in a binder and call it “ready.” I am an artist. I am no sketch artist. I have a vision, it’s not my fault it’s impossible for me to put it on paper. Besides, drawings are an inefficient medium anyway. That’s why I like movies better. They get the same message across faster, more intuitively, and hit closer to home. That’s what my paper is on. Wow that is not going to be fun. I have to write twelve pages on a topic. We haven’t even started filming yet!

Loyd's 3rd post

I am in school all day. Why can’t I just go do some job, get money, then hang out with my friends? Oh right, I have four AP classes that don’t leave the school because I live in Essex and I do not have the time to go home in between classes. More discrimination in Score! Another reason why it should be discontinued! I am in the library right now, just like I would be during my normal E block study hall I had all year. Nothing has changed. How am I supposed to talk about some moving experience when there is none to be had? Just let me do my AP classes in peace and don’t shovel more work on me. Let me enjoy the end of my senior year. I still have another one hundred and ten words to write. Well at least I am good at complaining. It makes these blog posts come out a lot faster. I can just say whatever comes into my mind and I get credit for it. Poop. Doo doo. Fee  fye foo fum. I met with Ms. Edgerton yesterday about my script. It is far from done, but some of her directions were confusing. She said I needed more stage direction and that I should look up professional film scripts but I did and they were had very minimal stage directions. Sure they had what the actors’ movements are, but nothing about cuts or fades or focusing like I was lead to believe.

Loyd's second post

So I tend to write my script late at night. Partially because I don’t have time any other part of the day, partially because I am procrastinating, partially because I am trying to find something to write this stupid blog about, and mostly because I feel more like a writer just writing about tragedies late at night. Maybe it helps me write because I am half asleep and it is easier to make connections, allusions, and symbols that way. Maybe I am schizophrenic. Maybe I cannot think unless all people around me are in bed or quiet or gone or something. I wonder how long I can milk this idea into a blog post.  I also do not really understand what we are supposed to be doing here. Are we supposed to tag our teachers or are we just putting this up on the BlogSpot site until someone finds it? I also had to log in with my Google account to get on the blog. I do not like mixing my home accounts with my school accounts. It makes me uncomfortable. Plus what if someone does not have a Google account? It is discrimination! Score is discriminatory against those who don’t have Google accounts and therefore should be discontinued! There should at least be an option to just continue on with regular classes and allow us to continue our education. I wrote medication the first time by mistake. See that just proves my point. I need my education continued, and should not have to go on score.