PROJECT 2 -- getting in

November 8, 2004

Challenges, Changes, and Communication...

Joe was surprised at what I did with my first project, especially because I did it all with Windows Movie Maker. He said this time, he wanted me to try out something new, something called Adobe Premiere Pro. On top of this, he told me to include at least three visual effects. “No problem,” I said. I had started early on this one, and knew I would have a perfect project in no time.

My first idea was to haunt the Driskill Hotel. My sister, Amy, and I planned to dress up as ghosts and start up our own little legend. We even had a story: I was a “gruesomely-murdered groom,” and she was the “suicidal bride.” It was perfect. The Driskill, on the other hand, was not. They would not allow me to have a camera, and they would not do any interviews. We thought we’d sneak in and do it anyway, but it was difficult finding a good time that fit with mine and my sister’s busy schedules. I decided to give up, and go with a whole new project. The new plan was for me to break every single superstition I could think of, and then see what happens. I would walk under a ladder, break a mirror, spill the salt, find a black cat and align my path to wherever it crossed, and anything else I could think of. To start, I interviewed my grandmother, an extremely superstitious woman – won’t even leave the house on Friday the 13 th. The interview was good, but when it came to actually breaking the superstitions, A) I was to scared to do it, and B) so were my friends. We couldn’t fake it for the video, and we couldn’t think of a creative way to do it differently. So again, I scrapped the project.

Through all of this, I was also applying to get into the College of Communication, specifically the RTF department. It was an exciting and stressful part of my life, so I thought, “Why not do a movie on that?” I wrote a story outline, spent some time fleshing it out, and then made a shot-by-shot plan. Thanks in large part to a friend of mine, Lauren Collins, and all her free time, the filming was done in two days. I had no idea how out of shape I was, until I went through all that running, and all that dancing. For the next few days and long nights, I edited. I included a few visual effects, more than three anyway, and finished my project at noon on presentation day. I would have made it to class on time, had it not taken two and a half hours to compress.

A quick note for those of you watching this: the sound is terrible. It’s good some parts, but for some reason gets totally blown at certain points. Joe and I tried and failed countless times to fix it. So, I’m just warning you. Please try to bear with it.