Term 2, Week 3: Life as a 201

So here it is. Second term of film school. That first term really went by fast. Theres a certain level of pride one gets taking the next step in this adventure called film school. The whole "im not a freshman anymore" kinda feeling. But what does my second term have in store for me?

One thing I've noticed during the first few weeks of film school is the emergence of the different quirks, styles, preferences and personalities each student has with their work. Its really great seeing 10 different minds trying to create a unique and gripping concept and story. I for one, really didn't notice what my style was until someone really pointed it out. Now that I think about it, its not just what I want in my own work, but its also apparent in the movies that I really love.

It's my love for character development.

Every time I write a new script, I always find myself going out of my way to make sure the audience really knows about each character. Their backstory, their likes and dislikes, their mannerisms, things like that. Seing as that we are only going to be shooting short films in the school, I've been finding it difficult to limit my scripts to around 6-8 pages. I feel like even with a nice concept and story, it really dosen't feel that complete without the viewers really coming to grow and care about these characters. Although, thankfully, this term in my script writing class, we get to develop a feature length film. Maybe that would suit my writing style more.

I've also noticed that my love for character development also probably spawned from my love for video games. Especially those games where you really get to know the character.

For the second term in film school, our end of term requirement is a little different from last term. Everyone in my batch will submit a script but this time, the mentors will only choose 3 or 4 to be developed. Not only that but if your script does get chosen, you as the writer, cannot be involved in the creative process of that film in any form or level. Aside from that, the mentors will also choose our crew positions depending on our personal preferences and also based on our performances during the previous term. I for one think this is a great way to train us in how it works in the real world and the differentiation of roles. Like I said in a previous post, I'm really loving this style of just throwing us straight into the fray and letting us learn from the experience, just like how an eagle teaches its young to fly. I really think that it separates those who WANT to be a film maker and those who are just around to have fun.

Scripts and roles are going to get chosen tomorrow, Monday August 23.

Heres hoping my script gets chosen.

P.S.: I miss Manila. Dearly.