Finished Filming and Editing Skateboards and Monsters

 So yesterday I spent around four hours with my friends filming Skateboards and Monsters, a lot less than I predicted it would take. We ended up not filming in the 7-Eleven as they kicked us out as expected, but I'm kind of glad they did because we improvised an even better scene that didn't require a convenience store and therefore also allowed us to film without masks on and preserve the accuracy of the era we were filming in. Everything was filmed on the VHS camera, and I used a steadicam grip to film basically all the skate clips where I'm tracking the characters. It was really fun to film, and overall not insanely difficult to do considering the annoyance of the camcorder and the last-second improvised scene.

(P.S. the improvised scene was not completely out of the blue, we just rewrote the scene so that it didn't have to be inside)

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the link to the film opening yet, but here are some stills from the video you might enjoy:

Filming Skateboards and Monsters Tomorrow

 Tomorrow I'm meeting up with my friends Mateo Escobar, Jake Urrunaga, and Zachary Ulman to film the project. 

I will finish up my storyboard in the morning, which shouldn't take long since I have the screenplay, and then we'll start filming at around noon and hopefully we'll finish at around 6 PM when the sun starts to set. We'll start filming at the local 7-Eleven and then we'll be heading towards the Harley Davidson Dealership after we're done with the store scene. 

I'm unsure about how we're going to film the 7-Eleven scene, as we'll have to wear masks which will ruin the 90s aesthetic. Additionally we don't know if we're going to be able to film in there in the first place, so we might have to improvise something if something comes up or we just might take a long time trying to find a convenience store to film in.

In regards to my actors, I don't know how good they are but hopefully they aren't terrible. They're pretty good at skating so I'm hoping they'll give the film an authentic feeling as opposed to using someone who has never skated before. They seem pretty excited for tomorrow so I think things will be okay, they really want to film some skate tricks on the VHS camcorder.

Screenplay Done

 Today I met with my friend Virginia Monasterio to write the screenplay for my film Skateboards and Monsters. For the time being she used my name in place of the third actor in the film, as we don't know if my friend Zach can help film on Wednesday. This is what we wrote:

Film Update

 Two things: first, I have developed my plot with my friend Virginia Monasterio (or at least part of it), second, it seems I may not be able to use Adrian from the skatepark in my film opening (but we'll see if anything comes up).

So the other day I was hanging out with my friends Joseph and Virginia, when suddenly she went on a tangent about a screenplay she was writing. She went on and on for about half and hour, detailing a very intricate plot for a retro 60s film about a wife and her husband who was being drafted for the Vietnam War. After she was done, she went on another tangent about another screenplay she had written, just as detailed and just as gritty as the last one. 

I asked how long it took her to think of this and she said "like half an hour."

Me, not having a single word of a screenplay or an idea of an actual plot for my film, asked her for help for which she gladly agreed. I told her my general idea about a group of three teenagers going to the hobo hole to skate and all of a sudden there as some cheesy ass monsters blah blah blah. She liked the concept, and helped me build from there.

She told me that these three characters could be life long friends, with all three of them celebrating their last year of high school, and for this, they decide to go to the hobo hole to have one final adventure before they part ways.

It's not much, but its definitely a much more substantial plot than I had before. We will talk about it more over the next couple of days, but one concept I want to have engrained now is friendship and love. It sounds corny, but as an honorary indie kid (joke) I like to romanticize little things so maybe I can do this through the story of this film. On another note, I feel like I want a long shot of a character in front of the chip aisle. It just looks cool I guess with all the different color chips, I just felt like mentioning that lol.

So the second thing which I mentioned at the beginning: Adrian, the actor I was talking about in my last post. Apparently he is going to Tennessee during spring break and he won't be able to film until the end of the week, which is unpreferable, but I might have to if I can't find any other skaters to act in my film. I will see how this turns out, as I am planning on filming Wednesday during the break.

Finding Actors for my Film

 Originally, I was planning on having my friends Jake, Mateo, and Sebastian help me with my project as I need three actors for my story. However, it has come up recently that Sebastian will be away for spring break, so I most likely will not be able to film with him unless its by the end of the break. This was very troublesome news, so I talked about it with some of my friends and one of them recommended a great idea. At the skatepark that we go to, there is a skater named Adrian who apparently loves to act and has been in lots of Aftershock segments for CBTV, so it seems like a perfect match. Furthermore, he gets to skate in the video, so how could he resist? I will ask him later today when I'm out of school if he can be in my film.

Breakout Rooms 2: Electric Boogaloo

 Today I actually went to school, which was quite a change of pace from the past two months, and we went into breakout rooms once again to meet up with our classmates and discuss our projects. As everyone went around, it was nice to hear peoples ideas and enthusiasm towards their film opening. I was paired with a very helpful group which gave really good insight on each others films. It was relieving once again to see that I was not the only one who was still lost with the project, and we all gave each other actual help. When I pitched my film, they all really liked the idea, but they could clearly tell I did not have a solid plot, and they recommend I create some sort of underlying theme/story other than the main "skateboards and monsters." That gave me the idea of "running away from adulthood," which would be symbolically represented with the monsters of the film. My classmate Shannon also recommended that I watch a show called "Mid 90s," as it bears the same aesthetic as my film opening, so I will check it out over the break. Overall, today's discussion helped develop a deeper plot for my film.

General Plot Idea

 I am still working on the story to my film, but I have a pretty general idea and framework of how I want the film to go:

A group of teenagers park off-road to skate to the hobo hole; here, the credits would be shown. As they reach the summit, they would sit down and drink some Monster Energy drinks (get it, pun. hehe). It would cross fade into a long shot of the group from far away sitting together. The shot would zoom out until you could see the entire location with the title being drawn across the screen in sharpie font, jittering like a stop motion video.

I'm thinking at the beginning of the film should start though with a foreshadowing of the monster. Like in my film The Other Plane from eighth grade, it starts off with the villain revealing interest in the main character, as seen from inside another dimension. This immediately sets up the film to be interesting and foreshadows the conflict before the film starts. This way, I can introduce the characters and such in another tone, acting as a contrast which is emblematic of the film's theme.

So Who Is My Target Audience?

 My film Skateboards and Monsters is targeted towards teens, primarily between the ages of 14-19. The film is most appealing to this audience due to the fact that many of them like the indie/alt genre/aesthetic. Especially on TikTok, it is very evident that this demographic likes to watch videos and short films regarding teenage life such as skateboarding, going out with friends, or subjects which reflect independent life as a growing adolescent. My film strives to reflect such themes pretty clearly, taking on a rebellious theme, portraying adolescent life, and using several pop culture icons such as the skateboards.

Camcorder Test/Moodboard

I finally digitized the footage from last Sunday onto my computer. Here are some screencaps of the most defining visual elements and themes which I would like to reflect in my film— pardon the graffiti:

At the top of the highway overpass by the hobo hole

Views of the highway overpass near the hobo hole

Going to the Hobo Hole

After making some last-minute calls, I had planned to go to the hobo hole for 4:30 PM today with my friends Mateo Escobar and Jake Urrunaga, both of which are avid skaters which have offered to participate in my project Skateboards and Monsters.

Before going over to pick them up, I had to do two things: A, find a way to fit a giant ass ladder into a car to take to the hobo hole, and B, somehow convince my parents to be on board with it. I managed to convince my parents after some insightful discussion, and after some trial and error I managed to get the 8 foot ladder in my mom's SUV (barely). I was now on my way to get Mateo and Jake. 

I had picked up Jake by 4:00, but had to wait on Mateo until about 5:00 before we could leave as a group, as he had to clean his parents' cars. After Mr. Mateo Escobar finished giving the cars a good scrub or whatever you do when you clean cars, we were on our way to the legendary hobo hole. We got there at around 5:20, and we parked by the the Harley Davidson dealership which is also very close to the hobo hole. The reason being that we didn't want to look super suspicious with our giant, bright-orange ladder as the three of us walked across the aviation field carrying it on our shoulders. Ultimately though, people just really didn't give a shit about three teenage boys with a bright-orange ladder walking under the highway overpass. Did I mention we still had to walk past a bike trail where everyone still saw us?

After Mateo and I carried the ladder all the way to the base of the hobo hole, we took a short break as Jake pulled up with our skateboards. I had brought my VHS camcorder that I planned on using for the film opening, and filmed a little vlog as we waited for Jake. I gotta admit, it's obviously not as good as using my 4K iPhone camera, it's fun as hell to operate. Looking through the eyepiece and using the optical zoom felt very reminiscent of my childhood, and playing back the footage, the look of the video was pretty steezy, as the cool kids say. I am excited to use this to film my opening.

Continuing our little journey, we climbed the steep-as-hell 30 degree incline with our giant ass ladder and finally reached the summit. After setting our stuff down, we went to check the hobo hole. It was fuckin' closed. Least to say, we were kinda disappointed, but no matter. Eventually, a group of college students climbed the summit to chill by the hobo hole as well, just to be met with the same fate as us. Shortly after, a group of what seemed to be middle schoolers or freshmen approached the hobo hole as well, and soon enough it was me, Mateo, Jake, the college students, and the middle schoolers/freshmen chilling up by the hobo hole like a bunch of cool-cat indie kids. 

We all just kinda sat there and vibed. It was nice.

Location Scouting: The Hobo Hole

 For my rebellious skater kid film, I'm hoping to find a location to match this aesthetic. Luckily, I believe I know a location: the hobo hole.

Legend has it, if you go to Markham Park and walk across the aviation field, you will find the bottom of the highway overpass. Here, if you approach the summit where the bridge meets the ground, you will find a hole which takes you into the inside of the overpass, hence, the hobo hole. Pretty cool, huh? 

Also legend has it that I went there two year ago with my friend group after hiking outside the perimeter of the park. It's a pretty cool looking place: graffiti everywhere, a sick view of the cars as they pass by, random furniture which people have brought and destroyed, and an amazing view of the sky. This is definitely the place I want to feature in my film. 

This weekend I will try to go with my friends to scout the location, just to see what's changed after these years, and if we could possibly film there. We're probably gonna bring a ladder so we can get into the hobo hole safely. I don't remember if the climb is dangerous or not, but I remember that I was the only one who could enter it last time so maybe we might need it. But the entrance might be locked which is another thing. I'll work it out.