Today began the next and last phase of my highschool career. The first half of this week will be spent mostly on research. I have chosen to watch a few of spiritual documentaries in order to get a feel of the tone I want to use when creating my own documentary. The first I have chosen is called "Rejoice and Shout," a documentary made in 2010 on Gospel music's 200-year history. The second is called "Drunken Glory," and is easily one of the wackiest religious groups I've ever learned about. Both of these will be incorporated into my documentary at some point. I met with Karey Walter, who teaches photography at Lovett, to discuss the direction of my film, as well as things I need to keep in mind while filming. She also helped me think through the kinds of questions I want to ask the people I'm interviewing, which I realized is extremely important. If I don't have important and thought-provoking questions, the interviews will be a waste of time -- the time that I don't have. Late last week, I met with Matt Nelson, the associate Minister at Peachtree Road United Methodist, who gave me more resources for research as well as contacts of other people who could help me on my journey. He also told me the schedule for the next few weeks for meetings that would be beneficial, and that I could sit in on. I have a meeting tomorrow with the leader of worship at Passion City (basically a celebrity) and I am very excited. Some of the questions I plan to ask tomorrow:
What lead you to start pursuing singing/music?
Whats your experience with the revival generation?
How has it, in your opinion, evolved over time?
What are the different styles / rituals of the church and how does that effect what people believe?
Is there a direct correlation between age and type of church they prefer?
Tuesday April 5
I have essentially been anticipating this day for a while. I thought yesterday would be this day, but I was mistaken. Today was the day it all hit me -- the amount of work that lies ahead... just looming over my head. I woke up and drove to Lovett to find Mr. Z, which is when my first problem occurred. He said that he hadn't gotten it set up yet, but that if I came back around 2:00, he would have it ready for me. So I drove over to Peachtree Road United Methodist Church (PRUMC) to sit in on a worship meeting; however, there were only 4 people there. Mr. Nelson, the associate minister at PRUMC said that a lot of people were out of town this week so it would be a little slow. He then suggested that I come next week when everyone is back, which I will do. The meeting begun with worship and silent meditation which lasted somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour. The rest of the time was spent talking about their schedule for the next week; the meetings they had, etc. After that, I stuck around a bit to do some filming of the sanctuary and of outside of the church -- which turned out to be super beautiful because of the time of day/lighting. After I got some good shots, I went back to Lovett to pick up the mic from Mr. Z. I am very excited about the mic because it's something that will make my interviews much more high quality. Unfortunately, I had to go to Radio Shack and get a new battery for the mic. I went home and decided that I needed to watch more documentaries to truly figure out the approach I wanted to take in mine. Because I have never made a documentary, I have decided to watch more than just those in a religious/spiritual genre. I watched "Jean Michel Basquiat--The Radiant Child," a documentary made in 2010 explaining his life as an extremely successful artist. It definitely helped me figure out how I wanted mine to be. However, the highlight of my day was my interview with Ji Lee, the choir director at Passion City Church (PCC). I walked into the Passion building through the office entrance, and it was like my own heaven. It had an extremely contemporary interior, similar to that of the actual church structure itself. I met Ji at the front, and we walked to a quieter room to set up for the interview. While I was setting up, we made small talk about our lives. We talked about highschool coming to an end, where I was going to college, my religious background as well as hers, etc. I began the interview and our conversation flowed. I learned so much from her words and it was truly an amazing conversation.
Wednesday April 6
Today is one of my less busy days. I have reserved this day for editing the footage I have so far and beginning to make the introduction to my documentary. So far, I'm really happy with the way my camera is performing. Here are some pictures of the footage I took yesterday:
I LOVED filming the stained glass windows. They created beautiful shadows onto the floor.
So after about two hours of editing, I was the most calm and unstressed I had been this whole project. I realized that editing clips gives me a sense of power and authority that I don't normally feel like I have when I'm interviewing someone or doing research. I can control how the video looks, sounds, flows, etc. But like almost everything, theres a downside to editing. It takes a LOT of time and focus. When you speed through it, or don't really pay attention when editing it usually turns out pretty bad (learned from prior experience). And to add on to that, I'm a little frustrated at the moment. I feel really uninspired, so I've decided to get some inspiration tomorrow. I am going to the High Museum tomorrow morning to see the Basquiat exhibit, as well as a few other smaller ones. I know that I will get something out of this experience. I am bringing a notebook with me for sketches and any ideas that may come into my head. I am ready to be inspired :-).
Thursday April 7
Today began with me going to the High Museum to get *INSPIRED.* I originally went to just see the Basquiat exhibit (my favorite artist on the whole planet), but kind of got pulled in and stayed to see Vic Muniz and the contemporary exhibit upstairs. Basquiat is one of the most influential artists of his time. Some think his art looks childish and unprofessional, but I think it's absolutely brilliant. His art form was way ahead of his time, so people really didn't understand it which made a lot of people angry, but entranced most people. I think this museum visit was a success because it helped me realize that this documentary doesn't need to follow any guidelines. I really have been given a lot of freedom to experiment with this documentary and thats exactly what I'm going to do now. After the museum, I went home to work on finishing up editing clips that I took yesterday, and then I also started looking at the clips I took at the High (might be incorporated into my documentary just for visuals). At 1:45, I began my meeting with Jon Jones, the director of student ministries at PRUMC. I've known Jon ever since 6th grade when I went through confirmation. He's an extremely personable person and I know he's always there when I need someone to talk to. The word I would use to describe my interview with him is personal. Because I've known him for so long, he was extremely honest and comfortable when saying his thoughts and responding to my questions. At the end of my interview (off the record), Jon asked me if I planned to talk to Bill Britt (the senior minister at PRUMC). I said that I had thought and asked about it, but I wasn't sure if it would be possible. He wondered what Mr. Britt would think of my project, and ultimately he said he wasn't sure if he'd be too thrilled about it. I asked him why and he said because it seems like I'm pro-contemporary. I denied that and told him that this project wasn't to prove that one is better than the other, I'm simply trying to see both pros and cons of traditional and contemporary churches.
Friday April 8
I woke up this morning very excited that it was Friday. I'm ready for the weekend because it has been a pretty stressful week. I began this morning by doing some screen/audio recordings of black choir groups from the 1960's. I want to incorporate some history involving the evolution of worship into my documentary because I think it plays a huge role in the series of events. I made notes while editing my clips about the general order of my film:
"the revival generation" title
soft happy music in intro
do frames of panning of both churches
put videos of driving in between
voiceover of me explaining what the revival/268 gen is
old worship clips/audio
interviews/giglio vid
personal millennial interviews about age and type of worship (correlation?)
come to a conclusion/wrap up
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I'm glad that I have at least the general layout planned out. Obviously my documentary won't be as general as that short list, but this gives me a good idea of the things I still need to do. During my lunch meeting today, I learned a lot about the editing software I'm using. One of the issues was in my interview with Ji, we were in a really big room that echoed a lot. He showed me how to fix that (to the best that it could be, it's still kind of hard to hear). Below is my progress:
Monday April 11
My first week of senior projects is over! Last week was a very productive week; I learned a lot, and stressed out a lot. This next week will be full of hours and hours (and hours) of filming. My goal is to get the rest of the filming out of the way so that I can spend the last two weeks editing and perfecting my documentary. I am beyond excited to share my hard work and knowledge with the rest of the school. I noticed this week that no one really knows anything about my senior project -- and that's a blessing and a curse. I am their source of knowledge for this subject, so I know it has to be nothing less than amazing.
Yesterday, I went to PRUMC to interview some students in the youth group for my film. I asked them about worship preference, technology, and their experiences with the revival generation as millennials. I will do the same thing again on Wednesday when I go for the girls bible study/small group. I made sure not to tell them anything about my project before I interviewed them because I didn't want to sway their thoughts -- I wanted their responses to be personal. I have yet to upload the footage but it's something I'll get around to either end of this week or next. As of right now, my documentary is about 10 minutes long. My goal is to make it 20-25 minutes.
Another thing I have been thinking about today is dialogue in my film. I want to incorporate myself into this because I want to talk about how the things I'm learning are affecting me and my beliefs. I didn't think I'd want to have myself in it (I still really don't want to), but now I think that is necessary. Here is an image of the progress I've made:
Tuesday April 12
Today, I spent a lot of time slumped over the computer working on cutting and editing my film. This is an extremely tedious task, and I will be so so glad when I am done with editing these clips. Around 1:45, I left my house to drive down to midtown, where Passion City Church is located. When I got there, I did a few basic shots of the front entrance, and then I went inside to met Ji Lee at the front desk. Passion is weirdly strict about having people walk around the building without supervision, so Ji walked me around the church while I filmed. We began in the main offices, and worked our way around the huge building. We made small talk as we walked, and she told me about what it was like being a part of the choir at Passion City. As we walked around, I noticed some of the people who worked there. Every single one of them were in their mid-to-late twenties or thirties, and dressed in extremely trendy clothing. The people I usually saw while walking around PRUMC were older, dressed in button-downs, slacks, dress shoes, etc. It was a very interesting comparison to make because it fit the feels of the churches completely. PRUMC is older and more traditional, while PCC is newer and more trendy.
After touring the place with Ji for about an hour and a half, I asked if it would be possible for me to film inside one of the services this weekend. She said unfortunately, that she didn't think I would be able to because the door-holders have been told to stop anyone trying to film in the services. However, she did say that I could film in the student gathering services. So this Sunday, I will be going to PCC around 7:30 to meet Ji, and I will stay there majority of the day. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because not everyone gets this privilege.
Wednesday April 13
Today was another one of those days. I started my day by waking up at 9:00 for a 10:00 appointment with Dr. Howgate, in which we discussed my project. She was mainly there to just talk through things and so she really helped me figure some things out. After that, I headed to Lovett to watch a few of my best friends sign to TCU and Georgetown. I'm so excited to see them start a new part of their lives!
After the signing at Lovett, I went to Starbucks to work on my blog and do some editing and just little stuff that needed to be done. I uploaded the rest of the film from yesterday and began looking at that, deciding what I would put in and what I wouldn't. Overall I had about 15 minutes in total of filming from going to Passion yesterday, which is an insane amount to edit. I knew that this would take me at least a couple days. This went on until about 5:00 and then I went to a Flywheel class because I needed to relieve some stress that had been building up. After that, I felt a lot better, and I went to Genki with some friends -- I felt like I had done enough work editing today. Overall, I had an extremely productive, but not so exciting day. Tomorrow will be a day of voiceovers and more editing...
Thursday April 14
Like I said yesterday. today was a lot of tedious editing and voice recording. There's not much to say other than I got a lot of work done that needed to be done. Below is a screenshot of some of the voice recordings that I made today.
However, everything is not how I want it quite yet. I definitely have some re-arranging to do. Luckily, I'm mostly done with all the filming. I may do a few small things next week, but for the most part it's all done. This is extremely satisfying and it takes a huge weight off my shoulders. Tomorrow I plan to only work for a couple of hours because of the amount of work I'll be doing this weekend. This weekend is my last weekend of filming. I have an interview set up for Saturday, and then on Sunday I'll be spending almost all day at Passion City, and then I'll go to PRUMC at 5:00 to film at MYF.
Friday April 15 - Sunday April 17
I chose to combine these two days because essentially all of this would've been on the same day if my schedule allowed. On Friday I only did a couple hours of editing in the morning and took the rest of the day off because my day on Sunday was going to be packed. So all weekend, I kind of prepared for how hectic my day Sunday would be. Luckily, I was able to move one of the interviews I had lined up for Sunday to Saturday. This was one of the interviews that was more for personal benefit rather than film/put into my documentary. I met with a door holder/volunteer at Passion City. He told me about his experience and a lot of background information about PCC that I needed to know.
Sunday morning I woke up and headed down to PCC around 11:30. I parked in the deck and hopped on the shuttle to meet Ji Lee in front of the student doors. I arrived around 12, and there were so many people. I had my tripod in my left hand and my camera in the small backpack on my back. I felt people looking at me and I immediately began to feel uncomfortable. I stood by the student doors as I texted Ji saying that I was here. A few minutes later we found each other and hugged. I felt a little more at ease now that I was with someone with authority. She brought me inside and introduced me to some people so that they knew what I was doing. This goes back to something I talked about a little earlier about PCC being weird about their privacy. She said that she introduced me to those people so they wouldn't ask me to leave -- something that would never happen at PRUMC. Anyway, I went inside and set up my tripod and camera and began filming. This service was for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. I thought that it would be a pretty normal service, but for some reason I got a lot more out of it than I usually do. I listened intently to the message, sang some of the worship songs, and even met some new people. I stayed until around 3 after I helped clean up trash in/around the room. I really loved this day because it was surprising and exciting -- something that I hope to see more of.
Monday April 18
Today was another day full of tedious tasks. I started off by putting my camera memory card into the computer. Right when I did that, a message popped up saying "Your computer disk is full". GREAT. So I spent the next hour getting an external hard drive so that I could delete essentially everything on my computer in order to make space for my videos. After doing that, I was able to upload my new videos (yay!!!). This made me really excited because these are some of the best videos I think I've taken this whole time. I think it had to do with the lighting in the room, but also because of the subjects. While watching these, I can see some of the passion (and lack of passion) in these kids eyes. These kids are the future of our generation, which is very exciting, but also a little terrified. I watched a few kids switch back and forth between texting, snapchat, and instagram, the whole time. It was so sad to watch.
But on a happier note, I got to see some extremely energetic and eager middle schools who love the Lord! During worship, I watched this one boy who had been standing alone the whole time. He didn't seem to care that he was alone. He threw his arms up and danced around as he sang the worship songs as loud as his lungs allowed. THIS is why I still have faith in this generation.
Tuesday April 19
Today I woke up and got right to work. I knew I had a lot of editing to do today -- something that I knew would take at least 5 hours. It took me about an hour and half to just WATCH the footage taken this weekend. But, like I said yesterday, I think this is some of the best looking footage I've ever seen (EXCITING!!).
So at the end of the day, my fingers were tired from the constant typing and cutting and pasting; and so was I. I hadn't charged my computer all day, so I just kept working until it died. However, right when I was about to go to sleep, I realized that I hadn't written my blog//logged my hours for today. I found it weird that my computer was completely shut down, but I didn't think anything else of it. It finally turned on, and I logged in with my username and password. I clicked on the iMovie icon and the screen came up. I realized that none of the new footage was where it had been just an hour earlier. My face turned bright red and tears began to fill my eyes. I know my work did not delete. I know it didn't. It couldn't of. ALL of my work from today had been deleted. I began to hyperventilate. I shut my computer, and crawled into fetal position. It was time for bed.
Wednesday April 20
So, as you can see I'm a bit emotional from the events that occurred last night. Today will be a day of deja vu. I will be editing the footage I edited yesterday, ultimately redoing everything I did yesterday. This is extremely frustrating, but it has to be done. I hope this will not take as long as it did yesterday, because I don't want to get behind schedule.
So, after redoing all the work I did yesterday, I was finally back on schedule. Essentially, I don't have much to write for today, because it was practically the exact same thing as yesterday. I really hope this doesn't happen again because it put me a little behind schedule!
Thursday April 21
Today was a day just like any other. I got up around 9:30, and began to work. I still had more editing/cutting of the film from over the weekend that I needed to get done. This definitely took much more time than I anticipated, but it's good because I took a lot of footage that I think I will end up using. Finally, things are falling into place. The whole order of my documentary is finally making some sense -- I thought all hope had been lost.
Today was a very good day for my mental health. I realized that everything will get done, and my documentary will turn out the way I want. I have been putting in the hours to make sure that this happens, and now I realize how much it's all paying off. I'm very excited to be done with this project so that I can help others learn about this very relevant subject!
Friday April 22
My first order of business today was to drive to a place called Aperturent, which rents out different camera equipment. I went there to talk with someone I had talked on the phone with about a different tripod. I had already gotten one from Karey at school and it was good because it was easy to take with me. But I wanted a bigger one that wasn't necessarily as portable, because I knew it would be more steady and I would produce better film with it. So I went and talked with a few people working in the shop who helped hook me up with what I wanted/needed. This weekend will be my last weekend of filming, so I need to make sure everything is exactly how I want it to be.
After that, I went home and began to finish editing/cutting the film from this past weekend, and a few clips from this week that I had taken. I try to set up time at least once a week to talk to someone about my project. This way, all these ideas aren't just floating around in my head. So my sister, who is a sophomore at Auburn, came home this weekend. She has always been someone who's there for me whenever I need her. So I briefly showed her what I had so far in my film, and then asked for her thoughts. She was very insightful and her feedback was extremely helpful. She told me to change the order of some things, delete some irrelevant clips, and then she also helped me think about what my filming this weekend would consist of. Overall, this was very helpful and I'm so glad I got her help.
Monday April 25
I can't believe this is the last week to work on my documentary! It seems like time has flown by, and it's really hard to believe that the school year is coming to an end -- and that I'll be at college in about 3 and a half months! This week will be crunch time. Like I have said many times before, I want to make sure my documentary is perfect when I show it so that my classmates can see the importance of this topic. Yesterday was (I think) the last day I would be filming for my documentary, so I made sure to do everything that needed to be done. There may be one or two more hours spent this week on just last minute filming at PCC or PRUMC, but that is unlikely. Yesterday (Sunday), I spent the majority of my day at PRUMC. I woke up at 9 to get to youth at 10, and then went to the contemporary service at 11:15. It was interesting because even though this is a contemporary service, it still felt much more traditional than the services at PCC. I left PRUMC around 12:30 and went to lunch and took a little break for a couple of hours. I went back to PRUMC at 4 for my mission trip meeting, and then stayed after to interview a few more students. I left around 7 after small groups had ended.
Today was another tedious day. It began with me opening up my computer to the text box that read "Your storage disk is full." GREAT. So I spent the next couple of hours dropping more files into the trash, and transferring the ones that I didn't want to delete to my external hard drive. I never realized how much space this video would take up. So FINALLY when I was done with that, I was able to import the videos I had taken yesterday.
Tuesday April 26
I am very frustrated today. My computer simply doesn't have any more space on it, and there isn't even anything left for me to delete. Literally, the only thing on my computer is my documentary. I am beyond fed up with technology and I want to smash it into a million pieces. But, I have to conquer this obstacle somehow. So, I think what I need to do is transfer my whole project to my other computer which has much more space. This task will be tricky and it will definitely take a lot of hours, so I think I will be well over my required hours this week.
Wednesday April 27
After HOURS (not an exaggeration unfortunately) of trying 100 different things to get my documentary off of one computer to another, I finally figured it out. But, that came with more HOURS of reformatting, recutting, reediting, etc. So finally, it has been transferred onto the right computer, and I'm able to add more video/audio to my film ONCE AGAIN.
However, todays editing has been interesting. I've cut a ton (and I mean A TON) of film out of it to make it more relevant and personal. I have decided that this "documentary" really isn't a documentary, because of all the personal aspects in it (I hope that's allowed). This film has shown me so much -- it's kind of shocking. It's helped me reflect and reevaluate, and I think it's helped me help others do that as well. I'm very excited to show my classmates this film because I've put an unbelievable amount of hours and hard work into it.
Thursday April 28
Today was more cutting and editing of the final video!! I am getting more nervous and excited everyday to show people what I have made. Today I worked on editing the sound of most of the clips to make sure they're all on the same level since some were shot with a microphone and some weren't. That took a little longer than I anticipated, but that's okay because it's really just the final touches.
Tomorrow I will finish cleaning it all up, and then I will also finish my script and start rehearsing for next week! I want to make sure my presentation is perfect, so I plan to run it by my parents/friends a few times this weekend to hear feedback.
Friday April 29
Today is the last full day of senior project work! It's crazy that I've been working on my film for a mont, but I couldn't be happier with the final product. I'm a little nervous about presenting in front of the whole highschool, but I'm also excited to teach my classmates about something thats important to me. Today, I spent my day doing some final touches, and then also starting to write my script for my presentation on Tuesday and Thursday.
I plan to go through my presentation a few times this weekend, and then maybe once or twice Monday and then I will be set!
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I'm glad that I have at least the general layout planned out. Obviously my documentary won't be as general as that short list, but this gives me a good idea of the things I still need to do. During my lunch meeting today, I learned a lot about the editing software I'm using. One of the issues was in my interview with Ji, we were in a really big room that echoed a lot. He showed me how to fix that (to the best that it could be, it's still kind of hard to hear). Below is my progress:
Monday April 11
My first week of senior projects is over! Last week was a very productive week; I learned a lot, and stressed out a lot. This next week will be full of hours and hours (and hours) of filming. My goal is to get the rest of the filming out of the way so that I can spend the last two weeks editing and perfecting my documentary. I am beyond excited to share my hard work and knowledge with the rest of the school. I noticed this week that no one really knows anything about my senior project -- and that's a blessing and a curse. I am their source of knowledge for this subject, so I know it has to be nothing less than amazing.
Yesterday, I went to PRUMC to interview some students in the youth group for my film. I asked them about worship preference, technology, and their experiences with the revival generation as millennials. I will do the same thing again on Wednesday when I go for the girls bible study/small group. I made sure not to tell them anything about my project before I interviewed them because I didn't want to sway their thoughts -- I wanted their responses to be personal. I have yet to upload the footage but it's something I'll get around to either end of this week or next. As of right now, my documentary is about 10 minutes long. My goal is to make it 20-25 minutes.
Another thing I have been thinking about today is dialogue in my film. I want to incorporate myself into this because I want to talk about how the things I'm learning are affecting me and my beliefs. I didn't think I'd want to have myself in it (I still really don't want to), but now I think that is necessary. Here is an image of the progress I've made:
Tuesday April 12
Today, I spent a lot of time slumped over the computer working on cutting and editing my film. This is an extremely tedious task, and I will be so so glad when I am done with editing these clips. Around 1:45, I left my house to drive down to midtown, where Passion City Church is located. When I got there, I did a few basic shots of the front entrance, and then I went inside to met Ji Lee at the front desk. Passion is weirdly strict about having people walk around the building without supervision, so Ji walked me around the church while I filmed. We began in the main offices, and worked our way around the huge building. We made small talk as we walked, and she told me about what it was like being a part of the choir at Passion City. As we walked around, I noticed some of the people who worked there. Every single one of them were in their mid-to-late twenties or thirties, and dressed in extremely trendy clothing. The people I usually saw while walking around PRUMC were older, dressed in button-downs, slacks, dress shoes, etc. It was a very interesting comparison to make because it fit the feels of the churches completely. PRUMC is older and more traditional, while PCC is newer and more trendy.
After touring the place with Ji for about an hour and a half, I asked if it would be possible for me to film inside one of the services this weekend. She said unfortunately, that she didn't think I would be able to because the door-holders have been told to stop anyone trying to film in the services. However, she did say that I could film in the student gathering services. So this Sunday, I will be going to PCC around 7:30 to meet Ji, and I will stay there majority of the day. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because not everyone gets this privilege.
Wednesday April 13
Today was another one of those days. I started my day by waking up at 9:00 for a 10:00 appointment with Dr. Howgate, in which we discussed my project. She was mainly there to just talk through things and so she really helped me figure some things out. After that, I headed to Lovett to watch a few of my best friends sign to TCU and Georgetown. I'm so excited to see them start a new part of their lives!
After the signing at Lovett, I went to Starbucks to work on my blog and do some editing and just little stuff that needed to be done. I uploaded the rest of the film from yesterday and began looking at that, deciding what I would put in and what I wouldn't. Overall I had about 15 minutes in total of filming from going to Passion yesterday, which is an insane amount to edit. I knew that this would take me at least a couple days. This went on until about 5:00 and then I went to a Flywheel class because I needed to relieve some stress that had been building up. After that, I felt a lot better, and I went to Genki with some friends -- I felt like I had done enough work editing today. Overall, I had an extremely productive, but not so exciting day. Tomorrow will be a day of voiceovers and more editing...
Thursday April 14
Like I said yesterday. today was a lot of tedious editing and voice recording. There's not much to say other than I got a lot of work done that needed to be done. Below is a screenshot of some of the voice recordings that I made today.
Friday April 15 - Sunday April 17
I chose to combine these two days because essentially all of this would've been on the same day if my schedule allowed. On Friday I only did a couple hours of editing in the morning and took the rest of the day off because my day on Sunday was going to be packed. So all weekend, I kind of prepared for how hectic my day Sunday would be. Luckily, I was able to move one of the interviews I had lined up for Sunday to Saturday. This was one of the interviews that was more for personal benefit rather than film/put into my documentary. I met with a door holder/volunteer at Passion City. He told me about his experience and a lot of background information about PCC that I needed to know.
Sunday morning I woke up and headed down to PCC around 11:30. I parked in the deck and hopped on the shuttle to meet Ji Lee in front of the student doors. I arrived around 12, and there were so many people. I had my tripod in my left hand and my camera in the small backpack on my back. I felt people looking at me and I immediately began to feel uncomfortable. I stood by the student doors as I texted Ji saying that I was here. A few minutes later we found each other and hugged. I felt a little more at ease now that I was with someone with authority. She brought me inside and introduced me to some people so that they knew what I was doing. This goes back to something I talked about a little earlier about PCC being weird about their privacy. She said that she introduced me to those people so they wouldn't ask me to leave -- something that would never happen at PRUMC. Anyway, I went inside and set up my tripod and camera and began filming. This service was for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. I thought that it would be a pretty normal service, but for some reason I got a lot more out of it than I usually do. I listened intently to the message, sang some of the worship songs, and even met some new people. I stayed until around 3 after I helped clean up trash in/around the room. I really loved this day because it was surprising and exciting -- something that I hope to see more of.
Monday April 18
Today was another day full of tedious tasks. I started off by putting my camera memory card into the computer. Right when I did that, a message popped up saying "Your computer disk is full". GREAT. So I spent the next hour getting an external hard drive so that I could delete essentially everything on my computer in order to make space for my videos. After doing that, I was able to upload my new videos (yay!!!). This made me really excited because these are some of the best videos I think I've taken this whole time. I think it had to do with the lighting in the room, but also because of the subjects. While watching these, I can see some of the passion (and lack of passion) in these kids eyes. These kids are the future of our generation, which is very exciting, but also a little terrified. I watched a few kids switch back and forth between texting, snapchat, and instagram, the whole time. It was so sad to watch.
But on a happier note, I got to see some extremely energetic and eager middle schools who love the Lord! During worship, I watched this one boy who had been standing alone the whole time. He didn't seem to care that he was alone. He threw his arms up and danced around as he sang the worship songs as loud as his lungs allowed. THIS is why I still have faith in this generation.
Tuesday April 19
Today I woke up and got right to work. I knew I had a lot of editing to do today -- something that I knew would take at least 5 hours. It took me about an hour and half to just WATCH the footage taken this weekend. But, like I said yesterday, I think this is some of the best looking footage I've ever seen (EXCITING!!).
So at the end of the day, my fingers were tired from the constant typing and cutting and pasting; and so was I. I hadn't charged my computer all day, so I just kept working until it died. However, right when I was about to go to sleep, I realized that I hadn't written my blog//logged my hours for today. I found it weird that my computer was completely shut down, but I didn't think anything else of it. It finally turned on, and I logged in with my username and password. I clicked on the iMovie icon and the screen came up. I realized that none of the new footage was where it had been just an hour earlier. My face turned bright red and tears began to fill my eyes. I know my work did not delete. I know it didn't. It couldn't of. ALL of my work from today had been deleted. I began to hyperventilate. I shut my computer, and crawled into fetal position. It was time for bed.
Wednesday April 20
So, as you can see I'm a bit emotional from the events that occurred last night. Today will be a day of deja vu. I will be editing the footage I edited yesterday, ultimately redoing everything I did yesterday. This is extremely frustrating, but it has to be done. I hope this will not take as long as it did yesterday, because I don't want to get behind schedule.
So, after redoing all the work I did yesterday, I was finally back on schedule. Essentially, I don't have much to write for today, because it was practically the exact same thing as yesterday. I really hope this doesn't happen again because it put me a little behind schedule!
Thursday April 21
Today was a day just like any other. I got up around 9:30, and began to work. I still had more editing/cutting of the film from over the weekend that I needed to get done. This definitely took much more time than I anticipated, but it's good because I took a lot of footage that I think I will end up using. Finally, things are falling into place. The whole order of my documentary is finally making some sense -- I thought all hope had been lost.
Today was a very good day for my mental health. I realized that everything will get done, and my documentary will turn out the way I want. I have been putting in the hours to make sure that this happens, and now I realize how much it's all paying off. I'm very excited to be done with this project so that I can help others learn about this very relevant subject!
Friday April 22
My first order of business today was to drive to a place called Aperturent, which rents out different camera equipment. I went there to talk with someone I had talked on the phone with about a different tripod. I had already gotten one from Karey at school and it was good because it was easy to take with me. But I wanted a bigger one that wasn't necessarily as portable, because I knew it would be more steady and I would produce better film with it. So I went and talked with a few people working in the shop who helped hook me up with what I wanted/needed. This weekend will be my last weekend of filming, so I need to make sure everything is exactly how I want it to be.
After that, I went home and began to finish editing/cutting the film from this past weekend, and a few clips from this week that I had taken. I try to set up time at least once a week to talk to someone about my project. This way, all these ideas aren't just floating around in my head. So my sister, who is a sophomore at Auburn, came home this weekend. She has always been someone who's there for me whenever I need her. So I briefly showed her what I had so far in my film, and then asked for her thoughts. She was very insightful and her feedback was extremely helpful. She told me to change the order of some things, delete some irrelevant clips, and then she also helped me think about what my filming this weekend would consist of. Overall, this was very helpful and I'm so glad I got her help.
Monday April 25
I can't believe this is the last week to work on my documentary! It seems like time has flown by, and it's really hard to believe that the school year is coming to an end -- and that I'll be at college in about 3 and a half months! This week will be crunch time. Like I have said many times before, I want to make sure my documentary is perfect when I show it so that my classmates can see the importance of this topic. Yesterday was (I think) the last day I would be filming for my documentary, so I made sure to do everything that needed to be done. There may be one or two more hours spent this week on just last minute filming at PCC or PRUMC, but that is unlikely. Yesterday (Sunday), I spent the majority of my day at PRUMC. I woke up at 9 to get to youth at 10, and then went to the contemporary service at 11:15. It was interesting because even though this is a contemporary service, it still felt much more traditional than the services at PCC. I left PRUMC around 12:30 and went to lunch and took a little break for a couple of hours. I went back to PRUMC at 4 for my mission trip meeting, and then stayed after to interview a few more students. I left around 7 after small groups had ended.
Today was another tedious day. It began with me opening up my computer to the text box that read "Your storage disk is full." GREAT. So I spent the next couple of hours dropping more files into the trash, and transferring the ones that I didn't want to delete to my external hard drive. I never realized how much space this video would take up. So FINALLY when I was done with that, I was able to import the videos I had taken yesterday.
Tuesday April 26
I am very frustrated today. My computer simply doesn't have any more space on it, and there isn't even anything left for me to delete. Literally, the only thing on my computer is my documentary. I am beyond fed up with technology and I want to smash it into a million pieces. But, I have to conquer this obstacle somehow. So, I think what I need to do is transfer my whole project to my other computer which has much more space. This task will be tricky and it will definitely take a lot of hours, so I think I will be well over my required hours this week.
Wednesday April 27
After HOURS (not an exaggeration unfortunately) of trying 100 different things to get my documentary off of one computer to another, I finally figured it out. But, that came with more HOURS of reformatting, recutting, reediting, etc. So finally, it has been transferred onto the right computer, and I'm able to add more video/audio to my film ONCE AGAIN.
However, todays editing has been interesting. I've cut a ton (and I mean A TON) of film out of it to make it more relevant and personal. I have decided that this "documentary" really isn't a documentary, because of all the personal aspects in it (I hope that's allowed). This film has shown me so much -- it's kind of shocking. It's helped me reflect and reevaluate, and I think it's helped me help others do that as well. I'm very excited to show my classmates this film because I've put an unbelievable amount of hours and hard work into it.
Thursday April 28
Today was more cutting and editing of the final video!! I am getting more nervous and excited everyday to show people what I have made. Today I worked on editing the sound of most of the clips to make sure they're all on the same level since some were shot with a microphone and some weren't. That took a little longer than I anticipated, but that's okay because it's really just the final touches.
Tomorrow I will finish cleaning it all up, and then I will also finish my script and start rehearsing for next week! I want to make sure my presentation is perfect, so I plan to run it by my parents/friends a few times this weekend to hear feedback.
Friday April 29
Today is the last full day of senior project work! It's crazy that I've been working on my film for a mont, but I couldn't be happier with the final product. I'm a little nervous about presenting in front of the whole highschool, but I'm also excited to teach my classmates about something thats important to me. Today, I spent my day doing some final touches, and then also starting to write my script for my presentation on Tuesday and Thursday.
I plan to go through my presentation a few times this weekend, and then maybe once or twice Monday and then I will be set!
