What a Relief!

The main part of my capstone is done!! My presentation was this past Monday night, during which I debuted my short film, "Lawrence County: A Community Rooted in History." This project involved me creating four TV packages throughout the semester and then combining them into a film. The four areas I focused on in the history of Lawrence County were the Native Americans, Lawrence County Beginnings, the Civil War and Underground Railroad, and the Industrial Revolution, particularly in New Castle.

In the end, I realized there was also a couple more parts I needed to add to the film as well. I don't think I've spent so much time editing before, but it gave me a lot more experience editing with Final Cut Pro...I learned so much. Also, I decided to create a cool DVD menu to go along with my film, so I figured out how to work DVD Studio Pro, too! However, the most important part was I decided to produce the film like I would produce a TV show for the County Line. I realized they were a lot of similarities.

I needed to make the whole film flow to begin with and tease what I was going to show at the beginning like an "All Tease" at the start of a TV news show. After much thought, I chose to use bits from my interviews in the introduction that sounded interesting, but didn't give too much away...plus intriguing images that would make people want to watch my film. Also, I bought a royalty free music bed from Music Bakery, which I weaved in and out of the film. Adding theme music to the film definitely gave it some color.

The last week before the project, I was frantic trying to make last minute adjustments to the film, finding and adding in the music, sending out invitations, and coordinating with local historians, who brought some of their artifacts to display. Finally, Monday arrived, and everything was set!

I started my presentation with a quick synopsis of the film and why I chose this type of project. I explained how working as a TV reporter at TCL and interning at Newschannel 5 helped me realize that I like having the time to be more creative with my storytelling. I would love to work for PBS, the History Channel, the Travel Channel, or the Discovery Channel...shooting, writing, and editing documentary-type style films. After explaining my journey through the process, I showed my film.

I had 32 people show up to my capstone, and more wanted to come but had conflicts! My professor was impressed and said I need to submit the film to a number of contests like the BEA and the Iris Film Festival. I'm definitely going to submit it to as many contests as I can! I also really appreciated my family and friends for being there. Once I figure out how to best compress my film for the web...I will post it here, so everyone can take a look!!