THREE MORE WEEKS UNTIL TAF! Please register ASAP if you haven’t yet and invite your friends. Here’s Jesse’s piece for the LOL blog series and some thoughts on how what we learn at TAF applies to everyday life, projects and pursuing our goals.
Hi TAF! Originally, my friends and I were going to create a little drama that showcased loving out loud to the fullest. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues and some time constraints, the video is still not complete. I hope that we complete and post the video on the blog before TAF 2011 starts! To make up for the lack of video, we created a great trailer that has nothing to do with the actual Love out Loud video, but has some scenes that will be used in the Love out Loud video. Here is the link if you want to watch!
Even though the film is not complete yet, I still can reflect on the process of creating the film. It turns out that the four main themes of TAF all showed up in some way while creating the video: Communication, Ethics and Values, Leadership, and Identity. Loving out loud was also a prominent theme while creating the film. How can all of these themes be seen simply just by creating a video? I am about to tell you!
Communication: TAF’s theme from last year was definitely used while creating the film. Because this film was my idea, I had to call/text/fb message the crew and actors or actresses to tell them what time and place we would be meeting to shoot some film or edit the video. This may seem easy, but rounding up 15 people and trying to fit time into their summer schedule was really hard!
Ethics and Values: It was hard dealing with what was right and what was wrong for the video. For one section, it seemed right for the character to swear, but knowing that juniors may be watching, we edited and forced some actors to do retakes of scenes over and over again! We also got side tracked from the original goal sometimes. The primary value, or goal was to finish the video for TAF Blog and show loving out loud, but sometimes we strayed from that and just tried to make an entertaining video. I don’t know where on the road we are now, but hopefully, the video will present an entertainment aspect as well as a loving out loud aspect.
Leadership: My leadership skills were tested thoroughly throughout the creation of the video. Some of the cast members wanted to make this film a feature film that got thousands and thousands of views. This meant that while filming, everything had to be perfect. Knowing that we were short on time, I sometimes had to boss my friends around change their stubborn mind! (Don’t get me wrong, their stubborn minds created great ideas, but some were just too ambitious for the time we had.) When I reflect on creating the video, I know that I could have led a lot better than I did. Gathering cast members, directing the film, giving my ideas, incorporating other ideas, and organization all could have gone much smoother. Good thing leadership is this year at TAF!
Identity: The major thing I learned about myself while creating the video is that I am never going to make it as an actor in Hollywood. It is just too hard to keep a straight face on when there’s a camera pointing right at your face.
Loving Out Loud: My friends definitely Loved Out Loud while creating this video. If it wasn’t for them, we would not have any video in the making! We have been shooting film for the video for about 24 hours, and to show for our effort, currently have about 5 minutes of edited film. That meant that my friends volunteered a lot of their summer just to help shoot a video for TAF! Also, when it came to getting people to act in the film, it was easy as pie. I have become better friends with the people involved in the video, and that is because we both helped each other out while creating the video. I could bounce off ideas with cast members, or we could just goof off a little. They all were certainly there for me and I was there for all of them. All of the people who were involved in this video are crucial characters in my life that help me get through the tough school year every year. I love them!
I hope I see everyone in three weeks! And make sure to check back to see the awesome video that will be posted before TAF 2011 starts! (hopefully) 🙂
-Jesse Kao