25150 kilometers.

25150 kilometers is the approximate distance between me and my partners – if you find the shortest distance across Earth’s surface between Kaohsiung American School and Bio-med Science Academy.

Overcoming distances has never intimidated me. This time, however, I was paired up with two strangers from the other end of the world; my job was to write a script and draft a storyboard, and their job was to create a movie based on our plans. During the process, we were expected to frequently update our progress with each other and give each other feedbacks.

Part I. Getting To Know Our BMSA Partner

I’ve taken a special liking to Aaron Glamm and Nicko Horvath while scrolling through their blogs. Aaron Glamm, a current freshman at BMSA, enjoys video games (Hearts of Iron 4, Fallout New Vegas and Counter-Strike), playing board games with his family, and watching Star Trek. Nicko Horvath takes an interest in ceiling fans, goes to the ceiling fans section in stores, watches videos of ceiling fans, and makes videos of ceiling fans. The way they spoke about their favorite things was so natural that I started to marvel at how different people from two places can be.

In order to let Nicko and Aaron get to know me, I sent them a 3-minute introduction video. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to receive their introduction video due to their technical difficulties.

Part II. Book Selection

Grace and I were the first to email them and send them our introduction video. 14 hours later, we received Aaron’s reply, who kindly thanked us for contacting him.

I thought it would be best if we could hear about their opinions before selecting a book that our video would be based on. After a short discussion, we came up with The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a fictional story of the friendship between Amir and Hassan. Because our partners were two boys, I believed that they wouldn’t have much difficulty casting or looking for settings. The special friendship in the book was also a very powerful topic to develop in their movie.

Photo credit: Waterstones

Part III. Script

This collaboration project has always reminded me of the game of charades; what we were trying to convey in the beginning turns out to become something completely unrelated in the end. My greatest fear in this project was the same reason that the game of charades existed. With that concern in mind, I made sure that every sentence I wrote was clear enough so no one would misinterpret them. I would read and edit my sentences over and over again so that there was only one way for interpretation.

For me, the most difficult part of drafting our script was abridging the story and eliminating the many scenes that I wanted to see being made into a movie. Taking into account that Nicko and Aaron were as equally busy as we were, I understood that they probably couldn’t manage to create a one-hour movie in a week. Still, it was a pain to cut off many of my favorite moments in the book.

Part IV. Storyboard

I have had lots of experience with filmmaking in middle school. Still, I had to dig out my old movie storyboards and do some research on storyboard formats. I especially enjoyed comparing the storyboard exemplars to famous movies, marveling at how accurate the storyboard designer could portray a scene so vividly and realistically.

Due to my not-so-good artistic skills, Grace and I divided up the work; I was responsible for the descriptions and notes, while she must take all the credit for the wonderful illustrations. Grace and I worked efficiently together, finishing the storyboard in less than two class periods.

Unfortunately, Nicko and Aaron were only able to give us our feedback on the script after we finished the storyboard, thus we didn’t have time to make changes to the script according to their needs. Thankfully, most of their feedbacks were positive and there was only one dialogue that needed to be fixed.

The storyboard marks the end of our responsibility. I would occasionally check-in with Aaron and ask him if he has any questions about the scenes. Words are not enough to describe my excitement towards watching their final product.

Part V. Acknowledgments

Firstly, this across-the-globe collaboration would never have existed without the inventors of the Internet, Robert E. Kahn and Vint Cerf. I am more than thankful towards these two inventors, who shortened the distance between me and my partners.

Grace has been a creative and valuable partner for the past month, as we accompanied each other on creating the scripts and storyboards.

I would also like to thank Mr. Williamson, who gave us clear guidelines and encouragements whenever things didn’t go as expected. He taught us the art of collaboration and the value of patience.

Last but not least, there is absolutely no way that I could have completed this project without a wonderful pair of partners, Nicko and Aaron. Aaron always replies to my emails within 24 hours, giving me ideas and/or suggestions whenever I need them. Words are not enough to express my gratitude towards these two.

It certainly took a lot of effort in order to navigate the more than twenty thousand miles and twelve time zones that separate us. Between the 36 emails between me and Aaron, I clearly knew that we are not looking for perfection, but progress. This project was about fitful progress and postponed due dates, but it was a cherished process that I am willing to look back on in the future.