Film Treatment: Sands

Film Treatment: Sand

Logline: Boy is running through San Francisco attempting to tell his best friend that he likes her. Boy breaks fourth wall.

Girl and boy are sitting on a beach near sunset. They are looking out into the ocean. Girl says “look at this sand in my hand”. She cups the sand and lets its slowly siphon down until there is no more sand. She says this sand is like time it eventually runs out for all of us. The question or not is how we live our lives to the fullest. As the guy and girl leave the beach they part ways.

As the boy walks home he breaks the fourth wall and tells us about his life. His name is Tom and the girl’s name is Kelly. He and Kelly have been friends ever since they were small kids. Flash back to smaller kids on a play ground and they meet each other and are instantly friends after. Tom is a junior in high school and Kelly is a Senior. He and Kelly always enjoy each others company and they spend a lot of time with each other and their other friends.

Show progression of shots to show that the year is going by and then the year is almost over until it is summer time again. Tom and Kelly are on the beach again. Kelly tells Tom that she is going to leave tomorrow for college. Tom is sad but says alright and when they part ways they say good bye to each other.

The next day when the boy gets up his mom leaves a pile of pictures on his desk. Tom looks through the pictures and finds an old picture of him and Kelly. He breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience that he realizes his feelings for Kelly and wants to tell her before she leaves at 12 pm for UC Irvine. It is 11:00 pm and the boy realizes he must go to Kelly’s house fast so that he can tell her his feelings.

Tom runs out of his house and runs down the street. He finds the bus stop and waits as he looks at the time to make sure that he is not going to be late. As he is running he is having flashback memories of all the good times that he and Kelly had together. Tom encounters obstacles on the way and then he doesn’t make it in time to tell Kelly his feelings. He is sad but tells the audience that he tried his best and ended up failing.

Broadcast Critique (how technology contributes to procrastination)

            Preproduction was extremely difficult. Me and max wanted to do something great or special, so we wanted a great idea. The only problem was that we couldn’t think of a great idea. One of our first ideas was the Casey Anthony case, but Mr. Bigue said that was too boring. Then finally we wanted to do a segment on procrastination, but also teachers using technology. I came up with this idea because I know procrastination is a big thing, but also I wanted to include ideas about a RSA segment that I watched about changing education paradigms. Max wanted it to be professional so we only envisioned one interview and voiceover. We decided to interview Ms. Gonzales because we had a conversation about the RSA segment with her before.

            I thought the overall quality of production was pretty good. Some of our most creative shots were the rack focuses, and the narrow depth of field shots. I enjoy isolating one person in a narrow depth of field shot, because it looks better and the person has less chance of noticing that you are recording them since you are farther away. One of the best shots was our interview segment with Ms. Gonzales. It was the first time I used the lighting kit, so I made some mistakes. It would have been better if she was more diagonal to the wall and she was framed more on the right side of my frame. Our audio came out good, but I was afraid that it might be horrible like it has been in the past. This was probably a benefit from using only one camera, and not the 7D that has great picture quality but poor audio.

            Our script wasn’t that great and had to be changed at the last moment. It turns out that we had two different topics that didn’t quite go together all in one segment. My favorite shot of Ms. Gonzales had to be removed because there was no relativity. It was a good thing that the voice over from before still flowed with the new interviews. I thought the voice over was compelling and related to our story. I liked the part about how we are living in the most stimulating era of human kind. I felt that the voice overs flowed well with the b-roll that showed kids doing hw, watching tv, and multi-tasking. The final thought that I want people to take into account are the tips on how not to procrastinate. Procrastination can be a great kid’s kryptonite.

            I thought the editing in our segment was decent. It reflected most of the segment, except for a rack focus shot we did in the beginning of a pencil sharpener. I felt that minimal transitions were necessary, for segments on tv just use cuts. We faded audio at the end, and I felt that transition was essential. The only effect that I used was the gain tool, which I never used before. It is extremely helpful, and I was able to get great audio quality by just boosting the gain.

            Overall I like that our piece addresses procrastination, which all most every teenager struggles with. I wouldn’t really do anything differently except do another segment on technology in classrooms. The most important lesson I can take away is that even if you have great shots, story line matters. If your story doesn’t make sense then it is useless.

Character in Time

The man in this picture is an old man who is 71 years old. The man is fishing on his lawn chair on a platform. He is fishing at dusk, because dusk is one of the best times to fish. The old man is having a relaxing day after driving in his van that is parked next to him. The man is reflecting on his road trip. He then realizes that the moment that he is living in is extremely peaceful. The worries of life are erased from his mind and he is in total relaxation. He examines the beauty of the sunset and reminisces about a sunset in Vietnam. He and his comrade were sitting near the ocean in Vietnam watching the sun set over the ocean. They were both waiting for the helicopter to return them to base after their successful mission. The old man remembers the good times he had with his battalion during his service years in Vietnam. Then as the sun begins to fade he questions life. He realizes that life is beginning to fade away from him just like the sunset, because he is 71 years old. As he stares out into the horizon, he contemplates what he wishes to do before he passes.