The Errors of Our Ways (Reflection After Filming)

Overall, our first film day was not what I expected. It was pretty underwhelming with the lack of progress we made. After filming, we came to the classroom to find that not only did we not have enough film to meet the 2-minute requirement, but our product was genuinely really bad. The plot was confusing and clips didn't come together in the way we thought they would. We were very underprepared through the entire process, and we all reflected on this when we met in the classroom again.

And the sad thing is, when we tried immediately brainstorming for a new plot... none of us had any ideas. It was only when we all sat in shameful silence that we recognized the value of outside input, not just from our teacher but from our peers.

I have friends who are also writers and creators of fiction, who I promptly asked for advice on our story. I gave them the premise of our film (two LGBTQ partners meet in a bookstore), and they gave me even more vague ideas for a story than even we had.

The first person I asked gave me the obvious input, that there isn't much that can be done to avoid stereotypes when covering the LGBTQ community in film. They pointed out that in the few LGBTQ films that exist, similar topics are frequently used (discovering sexuality, discrimination against their identity, conflict because of confusing identity, etc.) and can be hard to avoid. The second person suggested that a healthy LGBTQ relationship not be the main focus of the film, and to try to present their relationship in a more subtle way. While the advice was needed, it didn't give us any direction for what we needed.

After deliberation, I approached another writer friend of mine (lets call her J) with the same concept. She immediately spewed a plot from the top of her head. J suggested we make one of our main characters obsessed with the other, so there's intention behind their meeting and their relationship can have conflict and development. I told them I'd consider it, but in reality I wanted to wait to we began filming the next day to discuss the idea with the group.

We realized that we had to meet for another day of filming. Again, scheduling conflicts arose, but overall everyone (except our editor) was able to show up to contribute. There will be more about my experience in the next blog, about our second day of film!