As I was planning for my Senior Project, I was asked what I wanted to do after Senior Showcase, and even school. I knew the answer was always to write, direct, and edit my own films. “So…do something that shows that” was the response once I shared my feelings towards my future. “Noxious” is a short film that shows that.
Summary
“Noxious” is about a company party that goes horribly when the food and drinks get poisoned, which leads to mystery and suspense as the people there try to figure everything out. I am the writer, director, editor, cinematographer, and sound designer for this film and this is my senior project.
How Did This Project Get Started?
Remember that I want to write, direct, and edit my own feature films once I leave Brigham Young University – Idaho. With that, a lot of things attracted me to the ida of Noxious.
First and foremost, it is a narrative film that I would write, direct, and edit. It fulfills the whole goal of the Senior Showcase and/or Senior Project, which is to show people what I want to do with the skills I have learned here at school, and more importantly, that I can achieve what I want with those same skills.
Noxious was also a challenge for me, which really intrigued me. I knew that I would only have one semester to brainstorm, write, plan, cast, find equipment, shoot, edit, design sound, and put in music for a narrative short film that shows off my skills. Most productions have way more time in the real world. But I didn’t let any of these challenges get to me. I decided to use some of these limitations to my advantage and create a story that actually thrived on that.
What Were Your Goals with “Noxious”?
- My primary goal was to create and communicate an interesting and thought-provoking story. For me, story always comes before how something looks. As Steven Spielberg once said, “I’m more interested in a storyteller that doesn’t know anything about where to put the camera than someone who knows everything about the camera but nothing about the story process.”
- I wanted to challenge myself and take risks. After finishing the script, I knew it would be not only the longest film I would have made at that point, but the one that relied the most on a narrative, and one that I would show outside of class the most in order to showcase my skills.
- I wanted to showcase competence with technical aspects of a film. I believed strongly that I should still be able to showcase my ability to shoot and edit a film combined with the previous goals of writing and directing. Communicating ideas and concepts in a film doesn’t stop with writing and directing. Those are the biggest aspects and the foundation for sure. But I believe a film really comes together and becomes complete in the shooting and editing phases of a film.
What Did You Learn from This Project?
The most important thing that I learned from this project was more of a confirmation that I am able to write, direct, and edit my own films and execute a vision that I have with the skills that Brigham Young University – Idaho has taught me. I am able to show this to others with confidence and say that “I am confident in myself”.
But I also learned more about the production side itself. I learned that time in my future career should be a friend rather than an enemy in pre-production (planning and preparing to go into actual production of the film). I leaned way more about sound design as it was my first time actually creating foley effects for a film. I learned more about casting as it was my first time casting actual actors rather than calling up a friend or something like that.
Finally, I learned that I am not perfect at everything, and with each film or project, you will get better at something. While I got better at sound design, I still have a lot to learn about lighting. While I got better at blocking a scene and having visuals tell a story, I learned that maybe actors need more time with a script when it comes to preparation. All of this is a learning process, and I can’t wait for the next film or project.
So…What Would You Change?
- There’s a reason feature films are given roughly more than a year to work on. While this is a short film, I would definitely give more time to everything honestly. Everything did feel rushed and I do not want that feeling ever again on a film.
- I would have planned out lighting more. There is the excuse that it was a small room and that there would not have been that much space for lighting, but there is also planning that goes into manipulating the lighting you already have.
- Even though this was a senior project/showcase that is supposed to show off my skills, I would have figured out a way to hire more people on the crew to help me achieve the vision. A more experienced cameraperson or cinematographer to help operate the camera would have been a great help.
How Much Time Went Into “Noxious”?
I usually like to take my time with my screenplays, and that probably took the longest time in all of pre-production. I wrote it over a couple hours each day over the course of a week. Yes…sometimes it takes that long to write a screenplay for a short film.
The rest of pre-production took some time with creating shot lists, presenting to mentors, casting actors, obtaining approvals for the location, figuring out equipment, getting that same equipment, and setting everything up. Pre-production took me roughly 20 hours.
Production was different this time than with other productions. Actors had their lines memorized and I knew what I wanted. As a result, production and shooting was done after a day.
With post-production, some new elements emerged than with previous productions. Noxious was actually originally in color before the decision was made that it fit the story and look better in black and white. But with that, black and white is more than just turning down the saturation. You still have to color correct that footage.
Other than the editing of the film itself, sound design took the longest time in post production as I worked with the audio I had and then created new audio and sound effects to bring it to life. Post-production took about 25 hours as a result of all of this.
All of this comes to a grand total of 50 hours.
What about the Technical Stuff?
I knew as I wrote the script and planned everything out that I would be in a small room with some actors and crew already taking up part of the room. I also knew that I wanted the camera to move more instead of doing what I call the “tripod, record, done”.
I do believe you can make a movie with any camera, but not every camera is for every film. With all of this in mind though, the Sony FX3 as the camera for the job.
The FX3 is not only compact, but also a camera that I use handheld with ease. It shoots amazing video, and is being used on film sets nowadays, which I think gives me insight into what type of cameras certain cinematographers use.
Conclusion
If the rest of this post didn’t convince you, I am so happy with how Noxious turned out as a film. I really am. It only makes me more excited for what is to come in life for me as a filmmaker.
I would love to see you at Senior Showcase and hear all of your thoughts and questions. And thank you for reading!
Poster
