From VHS Cameras to Glamour

I forgot to properly introduce myself. Oops.

My name is Kristina, and I like making films and videos and whatnot. I don't remember exactly when I started to become interested in film, but I think it started when I was in elementary school. Maybe even younger. I stole my mom's old video camera (okay maybe it wasn't old but it's not like she was using it) and I just recorded things. I don't remember what I recorded, and I think I'd rather not remember; but I know I always had this camera with me (I think I may have recorded over some important footage like a wedding, but eh, no one has noticed yet).  I didn't take it outside with me because one, my mom didn't know I stole it so she'd see I had a camera with me and two, I would have felt judged amongst my tiny friends.

Going into middle school, I started to make simple slideshows with music in the background, and then I decided to make a Youtube channel. To be honest, remembering my old Youtube channel makes me cringe. A lot. I think deciding to be part of Youtube at a (very) young age helped me with learning how to edit videos and also helped me go through a process of finding my own style. I mean, I haven't found my style yet, but I have come a very long way since my first Youtube channel. 

Fast forward to around seventh grade, my friend and I decided to make a lyric video. Instead of just typing the words, we decided to use Photobooth and lots of paper and markers. We took pictures of ourselves with the words, and it took us (mostly me -- I ended up doing most of the editing) until around six in the morning (from what I remember). This video is very important to me, because during the process of making this two minute video I learned a lot of new things to help me make much better videos. The eight hours I used to make this video let me explore movie-editing programs. I started to fall in love with the hours I spent filming and editing. 

I never really thought of film as something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Film was always something I did on the side. Throughout the course of my life, I've always jumped from hobby to hobby, except for film. I'm just starting to realize that I've always been interested in film. I actually wish I realized that sooner. 

So.

Basically, I started filming things from a very young age, and I started to learn how to edit as well. Over the years, I have made short videos, and now here I am. I'm going to make a short film. It's not a short video anymore. It's a short film. 

So official.

Summer time Stress (and creations)

Alright, creating a screenplay wasn't as stressful as I thought it was going to be. I started the summer with reading Syd Field's Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. I think I was unintentionally procrastinating, maybe because I was scared that my idea wouldn't work.

One night, around three in the morning, I decided I had to stop running away from my responsibilities, and I had to face my fears of possible failure.

I opened up a new blank document, and I stared at it for a while. I left to go stress eat, then I came back half an hour later. I typed something up, most likely some gibberish, then I erased it. I remembered that the book told me to "get to know my characters". In other words, I had to write full biographies on all of my characters. I had to write down everything -- their family life, their romantic life, their personal life, and even parts of themselves they didn't even know.

I started with Samantha, who at the time was not named yet, and I just regurgitated everything I had on my mind. She had a brother, who died as soon as he was born. Her parents were distant because they both had to work a lot. I started to write down arbitrary facts about her that did not even appear in the screenplay. She has very low self-esteem, and also goes to random coffee shops and keeps a journal full of her personal reviews of these coffee shops.

After finishing up Samantha's character, I realized that I knew what I wanted for my next character.

When I was writing Vanessa, I knew she would have to be very confident. I wanted a character that was completely opposite of Samantha. She didn't really get to know her dad, but it's not like she cared. She is content with her childhood. Though she has a close relationship with her mother, their distant family don't really keep in touch with them. It doesn't bother Vanessa nor her mother, though. She is always the one people come to for advice. Vanessa is a very "go with the flow" type of person, but also always keeping control of any situation she is in. I wanted Vanessa's and Samantha's personality to be contrasted, and then I wrote about the third and last character, Angela.

Angela isn't like Vanessa or Samantha at all. Samantha and Vanessa are the two extremes -- low and high self esteems. Angela, on the other hand, is completely average. She's quite boring, actually, mostly because she refuses to try to do anything about it. The only thing she actually talks about is how boring she is. Anyway, if I were to say anymore, it would kind of give away the movie.


After creating these three very different characters, I realized that I saw a bit of my personality in each of these characters. Sometimes I'm Samantha, when I have my bad days, and I also like to personally review every café I go to. Other times I'm Vanessa, who just goes with the flow and is confident and is okay with everything happening around her. I'm like Angela when I complain... I complain a lot.

While reading Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, I remember the book saying:

"Ask yourself -- if you were in that situation, what would you do in your character's place? This is not to say that you are your character. You may have certain things in common with your character, but I'll say it again: You are not your character." 

That passage stuck with me while I was writing the screenplay because in past creative writing experiences, I always limited the character to myself. I guess I had forgotten that creating a character means that the character gets to be anyone. 

So yes, I guess these three characters and I do have things in common, but we are all very much different.