I HAVEN'T BEEN ABDUCTED BY ALIENS!
Wow, guys. Just wow. I haven't updated this thing in ages, which is a shame, since it's such a great resource and has so many wonderful people!
Anyways, I'm a junior in high school this year - it's a big year, and I'm quite busy. A few months after my last blog, I was the only student director in the one-act play festival at Dover Little Theatre, which was completely awesome. It was my first time directing, but I had a great cast, and the issues about respect and stuff because of my age that I thought would happen, well, didn't. =P So that was good. (Of course, I know that they still call me "Little Sarah" behind my back...but that’s okay. Hee.)
I've been volunteering at my local television show, Jefferson Highlights, for the past few months, and I LOVE it. I'm learning a lot from Art Benito, who runs the whole thing - he worked for NBC for forty years, and has graciously taken me under his wing. He's taught me so much, and I know that if I ever get into film school, it will be because of him! =) I've even directed a few episodes so far, which is incredibly exciting.
I finally got into the video class at school, but it’s our teacher’s first year of teaching video and studio production…so, yeah. It’s an interesting experience, and it’s teaching me a lot about time constraints and not making things more complicated than they need to be. When you only have about two and a half hours spread over the course of three days to make a short film, you learn not to be a perfectionist. Also, I’ve embraced the wonders of storyboarding, which I hated to do before, but now save so much time.
A friend of mine is working on a horror script, and he and a bunch of guys want to make it a feature. *facepalm* Personally, I would rather make a really good short than a craptastic feature, but I’ll take on any project at this point. The whole process is going along kind of shakily - every day I’m like, “Have you finished the script? Do you want someone to read it so far? Have you settled on locations? Who’s doing the preliminary storyboards?” and those lovely gentlemen simply look at me like I’m slightly insane. How is it that men dominate the film industry when they can’t get anything organized by themselves? ;)
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go read about forty pages in The Canterbury Tales, because AP English is kicking my ass.
-Sarah
Hi guys! I have a little bit of everything going on right now. Things are a little crazy, because midterm exams are this week. Ahh! Quite stressful. We have half days, though, so I have time in the afternoon to do other stuff. I'm filming a little video tomorrow based on a poem by Emily Dickinson, so that should be fun.
My school recently started airing our morning announcements on the televisions in each classroom as a live broadcast from the studio classroom. I know it's not a big deal, because other schools have been doing that for years, but I live in Cow Town where there aren't even any sidewalks. =P A senior guy named Craig sits there and reads the announcements, and sometimes we have a "weather guy" who stands outside and shivers. Anyway, I'm not usually involved in the production of the morning show, because I'm not in the video class. However, I recently filmed an advertisement for my drama club fundraiser, and they've been airing it on the show for the past couple of days! It's just a little 45-second spot (with sock puppets, none the less) but I'm kind of proud to have filmed the first non-Craig-and-lame-weather-guy video of my school’s morning show. I’m thinking of asking the studio teacher if I can film at school events, maybe do some interviews with our administrators, etc to expand the show a bit more. Next week I’m auditioning at Dover Little Theatre to be in ‘Dear Ruth’. My dad is auditioning, too – I hope we both get in! I haven’t been in a production with my dad for ages, so I’m looking forward to this audition. This will be my first straight play outside of school (the rest have been musicals), and I’m looking forward to a more “adult” environment. Sometimes I just need a little break from people my age. Maybe I’m just weird.
Another thing I have noticed is that a lot of people in the network have about a billion years of professional experience. It's a bit intimidating, actually. I feel quite young and insignificant.
