Where have you been?

California 

   So to be completely honest, I’ve been so busy in the last week that I haven’t been able to focus on this project and let me explain why. For the last couple of months, I have been training with Cypress Bay Television to compete at Student Televisions Networks National Convention competition. For the last 8 months we have been practicing every Saturday for 8 hours to write, film and edit a short film to a specific prompt. 

   Well. . . let’s just say it all payed off. The field trip was a span of 5 days and on the first day we traveled and got to explore the city of Long Beach, California for a bit since the next day it was our biggest competition day. How STN works is that you get a prompt for whatever category you are competing in whether it’s Short Film, Documentary, etc. you can get any type of prompt such as “Rise and Shine” or “Silver Lining”. Our prompt this year was “I Remember Everything” with the line of dialogue “I’m telling you, they just walked in and gave me this”. After the most stressful 8 hours of my life, we submitted on time for our competition and we celebrated, we went to dinner at Buenos Pizzeria Place and then reviewed our film. At first we were very scared because me and the director realized we made a mistake so we both believed we were not gonna place at all after spending so much effort and money into this competition. 

    For the next couple of days we tried to forget about it and move on by going to workshops and learning about new equipment and schools at the convention center. Then on Saturday we competed again for Silent Film which was our last day before closing ceremony, our prompt on that one was “Do you hear that?” (I know right, the irony is crazy). Once opening ceremony started we basically swept in all categories as we had 5 first place winners in individual teams and 4 honorable mentions in individuals. Once they started to announce the crazy 8s, we were scared and nervous nonetheless but we ended up winning first place in the nation, making history to be the first team ever in CBTV to compete for the first time and win for the first time  in Short Film Crazy 8. I will forever be so grateful for everything I learned on this trip and how much it has changed me as a filmmaker. 

So how is this relevant to my project?

    During this trip I learned that every decision I make can be interpreted in any way shape or form and sometimes that can be a good thing and sometimes that can be a bad thing. The main issue with had with our film is that because we were rushing so much to finish we forgot to put in a clip that was crucial to the story line. Regardless of our placing, we felt the story didn’t make sense with out it but my friend Matias made a really good point on how the judges could’ve interpreted which made me realize that sometimes I don’t need to overthink about every single little thing I do with my films. What I mean by this is that  yes as a director it is CRUCIAL to make wise choices with everything but if the shot isn’t perfect or one line of dialogue isn’t on point or not everything in the film is a “cinematic masterpiece” then that is okay. 

     I’ve learned to understand that I am still growing and learning as a filmmaker but I also need to recognize that I do have talent and that I am worth to make it into the industry I just need to keep going and keep creating in order for me to presume my dream of becoming a big time hollywood director.