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Coming up with something for the final project was the most stressful.  I had originally decided that I would work on making a robot from scratch.  That idea had been in mind since the beginning of the class and I thought that if I would be able to make one, I would be very happy and proud of myself.  But of course, that did not happen.

But as I was running around my apartment like a crazy person, I remembered an idea I originally had for the first project.  It revolved around a character that had many faces (something along the lines of Todd Solondz' Palindromes or Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There.  In my mind, this character would talk about how during his/her lifetime he/she never got a chance to see his/her dreams come true ever since he/she was a little kid.  The dream is that of seeing actual flying cars.

The reason I wanted this project to come into fruition is because I felt that this character was essentially me and well, possibly everyone.  I know that in my lifetime, I probably won’t get to see flying cars and that sucks.  The title at the end: “Want a flying car...?” is basically me telling myself off.  Why should I complain about not having a flying car if I’m not really doing anything about it?

I had already written the script in hopes that I would someday make it.  When the time came, I did a rewrite.  I originally shot the last scene at the beginning.  It was a way to pay homage to a cool idea at the beginning of the semester from Joey that I tried to emulate.  My procedure was different of course.  I took the camcorder and put it on my dashboard.  What I had in mind was to tape the camcorder to the roof or hood of the car and drive around, but a lot of people told me that was the stupidest and illogical thing ever, so I decided to try something else.  I looked online to see if I could maybe buy suction car mounts but they were very expensive and/or took too long to be delivered.  Ultimately, I bought duct tape to put the camcorder on the dashboard, but that didn’t take; it simply wouldn’t stick.  So I tried to put as much tape as possible to keep the camcorder in place.  Then I drove up and down 1-35 and got stuck in traffic during the course of filming.  “Cars” by Gary Numan was playing throughout my driving that in about 20 repeats of the song, I had to just stop it.  I have to say, though, that I really like this sequence.

I had originally wanted to have as many people as I could, but I found myself running out of time and the only people I could muster were my two supportive co-workers.  Thanks a lot, Jessica and June.  You guys rock!

Filming proved to be a little difficult because they would often laugh or look at the camera, ruining the takes, but they worked well.  I was impressed with June because she just let loose and I was surprised at how naturally she delivered the lines.  Besides not hiring professional talent by posting something on www.austinactors.net, I also did not have a crew and again my sound was a wreck.  I tried to make fun of myself by inserting the lines: “Sound recording is actually very important...” and then cutting the sound off. 

I started editing and tried to see when I would cut to each of them.  It didn’t take long.  The difficult part was finding the right photographs for when they start naming the different technologies.  Google is your friend.  I even stumbled upon a quote from Calvin & Hobbes that fit perfectly.  The music was not arbitrary.  I knew what songs I wanted.  Originally Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” was to be used, but I opted to use “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol.  I tried to incorporate “Drive” by Cars, but it didn’t really fit anywhere.  And of course, “Cars” by Gary Numan was a must. 

The opening credits with the TV was my homage to David Lynch’s opening shot of Mulholland Drive.  I tried doing this, as well, in Janus’ Black Box when we go into the box at the beginning and come out of it at the end.  Though I really have no reason for it to be there (since it has no narrative relevance), I feel that television has been a big part of my life and is one of the reasons why I do what I do. 

My intention for this final project was to try and incorporate everything that was dealt with in class - a culmination of everything that preceded this, including the themes of science, dreams, fantasy, genius, the trip to the moon, scientific innovations, technological changes, Todd Haynes’ Poison, gender, sound, the television, Nobel prizes, Frankenstein, The Fly, and Lawrence Wechsler’s “Inhaling the Spore” from Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder.

This is a philosophical conversation of the self and about how far technology has taken us as of now...

For more on flying cars, visit here.

Read the script here.