The Sunset Lifeline: Towards the Finish Line! [Set-Up]

Seniors of Westmoor High School have a tradition of taking  ‘Film As Literature’ for their English class. This course allows for a different approach to literary analysis, as students explore the structure and themes behind filmmaking. As an aspiring video-maker myself, I was immediately drawn towards everything it had to offer. This was, until now. For the past month, I’ve been grinding nonstop on the final project for this course: creating a film. I believe I have a lot of experience in this field, but to be honest I was not prepared for the challenges that awaited me.

Given one entire semester to brainstorm, storyboard, write a script, film, edit, and present our 20-minute fiasco with the class, I thought that being assigned groups of 10 individuals would ease this seemingly daunting process. What I was not prepared for, was the degree of conflict that would occur in coordinating a film. The second semester of senior year is supposed to be one of the most fun times a high-schooler can experience, so it’s understandable that everyone would want to hang out and create memories with their friends before going off to college. It is also understandable to have conflicting schedules, as we all have responsibilities and priorities.

The problem is how many challenges are created in attempting to schedule opportunities to work on the project, a massive responsibility that feels overwhelming. It has come to the point where we scheduled filming on Senior Ditch Day, only for everyone to be busy at the last second. As I sprint towards the finish line, I would like to share some of what I’ve done with the film so far. Unfortunately, the progress has been slower than I expected, but I hope you’ll join me on this journey in creating my first film: Subsist. I will discuss more about the film in my next post. For now, here is a small snippet of what lies ahead.