Intimidated by Time and Distance?
When we were first introduced to the project, I was completely baffled. I knew about this project from a long time before, but actually doing this is actually intimidating. NO JOKE. I never considered myself a so-called “social” person, so communicating with someone across the Pacific Ocean would be such a challenge. Ain’t it funny? When someone tells you that she doesn’t like to socialize, yet she always has someone to text? Ok, enough background story. Now let’s get straight into the topic! Let’s just call this project the BMSA-KAS Book Trailer Project, shall we?
When this project was assigned, my mind blew up before I even have a brain storm. Literally. To make this smooth as trailing your hand through the water (I tried), the project basically went like this:
Choose your favorite book among the ones you read this year
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Pull out exciting events from the book
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Write a script for the book + send it to partner
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Create a storyboard +send it to partner
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Partner makes a trailer/short movie
And of course, this process involved communication. Thanks to the technology today, communication across an ocean is less costly and less awkward. How much I wished for telepathy, to avoid all the awkwardness that this project could bring to such an antisocial person like me. Well, that’s such a mean thought of me, isn’t it? Unexpectedly, I chose to be like Miles “Pudge” Halter, the protagonist of Looking for Alaska. I go to seek for a Great Perhaps in through the making of this project. I hypnotized myself. This will be great.
Photo on Visual hunt
How impolite was I, for not introducing my partner properly. For this project, KAS students had an opportunity collaborate with a student (or students) from BMSA, a STEM+M school located in Rootstown, Ohio. My partner, Mario Frisone, is a pretty cool dude who enjoys watching football, exploring chemistry, and reading sci-fi. While he’s completely different from me, I guess at least our love for EDM is mutual. 🙂
Why this Book?
John Green, John Green. While you might recognize him as the student’s favorite dude from all the amazing, humorous, yet educational Clash Course videos, I learned about him through his novels. Besides Let it Snow, I have read all of the books he wrote or co-wrote. My first book choice was actually Room by Emma Donoghue. Considering the fact that there’s already an existing movie based on that book, I decided to change my mind over winter break after I finished reading Looking for Alaska on a plane flight, even though, sadly, not on a flight to or back from Alaska. 😕
I have to say, I relate to this book in an infinite amount of ways, I love the protagonist, all the jokes in it, and how well-craft it was. While writing up this post, I’m not gonna lie, I forgot the protagonist’s name, but I clearly remember the heart-shaking and trembling feeling it brought me. I’m assuming that y’all hate spoilers, so I’m just going to stop here. 😀
Never Knew I Can be a Producer for a CEO!
Script + Storyboard Creation
Being an indecisive person, how I chose my book immediately actually surprised me. My habit of procrastinating, in fact, troubled me more. Writing a script was actually not as hard as I think once I actually sit in front of my laptop and start writing, yet I still didn’t manage to send it to my partner on time. SMH. No wonder why I claimed to have a PhD on wasting time. 🤨 For scriptwriting, I got inspirations from my senpai Kath in terms of using codes to provide instructions for my partner. I pulled out about seven events from the book. In my script, I described the characters, their actions, and included dialogues. To make it look like an actual script (and aesthetically pleasing…vintage and professional), I used the font American typewriter. Below is the script of Looking for Alaska.
Even though I asked Mario to add comments if he had any suggestions or would like to make some changes to the script, he seemed to be pretty satisfied (?) with my script. He merely asked me to change anything besides the characteristics of the characters.
Moving on to the storyboard creation, which was the fun part since I always consider myself an artist. (just kidding) Would you do something manually if you can do it on your laptop? You wouldn’t? Well then, sucks to be you, ’cause I would.
The script has been proven effective for me to finish the storyboard efficiently. I bet you wouldn’t believe me if I tell you that I actually sent my storyboard to my partner ON TIME. Thanks, I didn’t believe in myself too. Surprisingly, creating the storyboard was more fun and relaxing than sleeping, which is my favorite thing to do at all times. (I swear, sleeping is a big deal for Asians, so don’t judge!) Even though I’m not a professional cartoonist or whatsoever, I didn’t plan to perfect this storyboard, but hopefully it’s clear enough for Mario to understand it! He didn’t make any comments on this though, I’m low-key disappointed yet delightful about it. Now, fingers crossed, and the trailer was awaited.
…And FINALLY…the Trailer!!! *drum rolls*
Two months after, I searched for my trailer continuously. That was the first time I understood how it felt to search for a needle in the endless ocean, as described in a Chinese idiom. That was the first time that I cared about something more than PowerSchool. (but technically…this would be part of my powerschool??? 🤯) Anyway, the movie never existed up to this point, and I’m truly ok with the fact that I’m not ok with it. Anyhow, I wouldn’t blame anyone for anything. My partner told me that he is currently finding the funding for his company. Just think about it, how cool it is to help a CEO to craft a script and storyboard!? This might be an experience that would happen only once in my lifetime. 😉