True Life of a Senior

Aleena Kanner

Mr. Daszenski

1/19/2010

Our project for the film festival is the movie “True Life of a Senior”. It shows the behind the scenes of high school seniors living in 2010. In this documentary, you will meet four seniors living in different communities showing their similarities and differences of their senior year. It was interesting to see how seniors who grew up in different areas from each other all had many of the same goals to reach in their lives.

Our group consisted of Sofia Alcalay, Marisa Green, Aleena Kanner(me), and Elaina Epifan. We split up all the roles very well and it was able to get our film done more efficiently. I was the camerawoman. I shot the scenes of the film and did all of the camara use. I found it challenging to get the low angle shots, since we only had a hand held camera. I realized if I were able to have a tripod, the film would have been easier to shoot. I think I definitely did well considering the use of the handheld. I could honestly say our groups MVP was Elaina Epifan. She did all of the editing and was able to put the pieces of our project together which in the end turned our project into a great outcome. The inspiration for our film was the real television episodes of True Life. I feel as if the film turned out the way I hoped, it covered the basic plan of what we wanted to portray and was able to get our point across.

One of my favorite scenes in the film is the ending of Silvana’s segment. She talks about where she sees herself in the future and how she just wants to make sure she will be happy throughout her entire life. She talks about leaving Great Neck and her friends next year. This part of the film shows the bittersweet part of senior year. Silvana’s words represent how every senior feels at the end of their senior year.

Since our film was a documetary, it was hard to use so many cinamtic elements. We tried our hardest and were able to incorporate many of theses elements. We used many types of long shots especially during the interviewing segments. We used tracking shots as we followed our interviewee while they were speaking. Also, close ups helped when we filmed because it added depth to our film. We used high angle shots especially during Silvana’s basketball game. Lastly, we switched from interviewee to interviewee by using different transitions such as rolling, dissolving, and iris shots.

I feel that our film was a very successful creation. It came out better then I ever would have expected and I never imagined it to come out so realistic looking. If I were to do anything differently next time, it would be to spend even more time planning the film. I have never made a film before or even had much experience with a camera and I learned a lot while making this film. I learned that it takes a lot of planning and time before you are able to start filming. At the same time I was also learning about filming, I also was able to have fun while doing it which is what counts the most.