My portfolio project definitely did not end up as I had initially expected. My opening has gone through numerous stages these past two months; I changed my idea multiple times, ranging from horror to comedy. But, throughout the entire process, I always prioritized creativity and originality; it was really important for me that my project would be different and individual in its own way. I didn’t want to make something predictable or expected.
Since the beginning of the academic school year, I was sure that I was going to make a suspense or horror film. I thought it could be easily executed and did not require much acting; however, I quickly found that picking something because you think it is easy will never get you results that you are proud of. I racked my brain thinking about a cool, unique idea for my horror movie: from cults to yoga zombies, but all of my suggestions were not very realistic or unique. I noticed that I never actually watch scary movies and that I tend to not enjoy horror as much as other genres. It came to me that I should probably pick comedy, a genre that I actually like and would be able to use my real-life experience by having watched those kinds of movies before. Off the bat, I already had many more concrete ideas. I landed on a specific idea that I really liked and immediately decided to start planning for it. I did my research, planned my entire storyboard, made the script, bought the necessary props, learned to use a DSLR, designed and put the costumes together, briefed my actress, and redecorated my entire room. Everything was ready and set for filming. And then, the very first day of filming was the day that the COVID-19 pandemic began affecting the United States.
My opening was technique and dialogue-driven, so I needed an actress that I could no longer invite to my house and filming equipment that I was supposed to borrow from friends that were isolating themselves. From that point forward, I came to the realization that I was going to have to turn everything around and start over for I was to only use what there was in my house to film. Thankfully, my mother agreed to be my actress after the rest of my family members refused, but she did not want to speak or have any lines in the opening. Conveniently, my sister found an amazing classical song that was in the public domain called Zigeunerweisen by Pablo Saraste. It was originally 9 minutes long, but my sister and I were able to arrange it to 2 minutes. It is a very intense song and I got the idea of making my film opening about an artist experiencing an intense burst of inspiration. I thought it could be very unique but at the same time convenient since my mother is already an artist, I paint and am familiar with artistic practices, and we have all of the props needed in my house. This was by far the most passionate and excited I had been for one of my project ideas. I was absolutely sure that this was the one.
I split the filming into 2 days. One that required my actress and another for B-roll of the location. Filming took many hours, but we got very high-quality footage in the process. I spent about 3 whole days editing the project. Since the music I chose is so fast and energetic, the opening required a lot of footage, and a lot of editing; however, I think that in the end, this served me as a strength for I think it maintains the interest of the audience throughout the entire 2 minutes. I spent the next few days retouching some of the editing, creating some foley sounds, animating my production company logo and picking an appropriate font for the film.
Overall, I think this experience has shown me how creativity is a process and that adapting to new challenges can actually make you a better creator. I would not have made the portfolio project that I made today, if I had not been faced with coronavirus limitations. I would not have created my opening the way I did, were it not for all of the worse ideas that I discarded or my failures while trying to execute them. I have noticed that many of the obstacles that I had to overcome while making this film opening, actually ended up making me a stronger camerawoman, director, and writer.
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