Group Project Blog: Blog Post #6

When three film students get together with the intention of making a group art project the results will definitely involve a student film. However, the process that is taken to make that film differs with each project. Our group which involved Paul Prado and Sean McCarthy first decided to create a project that would introduce the audience to a feature film that is inspired by The Eagles song "Hotel California". Since one of our members is a screenwriting major it was decided that he would create the script while the other two helped plan and produce the final written idea. We started off with a script that mirrored the song quite literally and worked toward a film that shared the same themes as the song and more alluded to the ideas in the song. This transition from the initial script to the final one was the most interesting part of the group project experience for me. Typically I am involved in the production of a film and have very little to do with the pre-production and concept of the films I shoot. This was a chance for me to see how writers work and where the ideas these films come from. It was also fascinating to see the different between the two scripts in the action and story but to see the same themes woven into each script and kept consistent the entire time. 

Unlike other groups in the class, our group consisted of three students interested in filmmaking. Sean had come up with the idea some while back and worked closely with Paul to convey his idea in order for Paul to translate that idea into words for a script. We talked through email and made sure that each draft of the script fit into our own ideas about the project. When it got time to shoot the film we all put in our equal efforts. Sean worked the camera while Paul acted and I focused on the script to see if we were getting what we needed. 

I related to the project in almost an opposite way than Sean and Paul. This is only my second semester at USC and since the film focuses on a man having to create a new family and life for himself, I find myself doing and going through the same things here at USC. Being from Colorado and having no one I know attend USC, it really was starting over. I am learning to make new friends away from those back home.