CHAPTER 3.1

CHAPTER 3.1

Lou’s Point of View

2 weeks after...

“Cut! Retake!” I shouted in an annoyed voice.

“Retake?” Gedie complains.

“Fix your acting if you don’t want too many retakes!? That’s what you all can do but you can’t give justice on your role.” I hastily answer her with giggle since I’m tired. Exhausting...

2 weeks after the first day and our teachers gave heavy workloads and tasks. We are currently here doing a shooting for a movie trailer in our Filipino subject.

-Flashback-

“10 – Locsin, you have a project since next month, there are activities and I don’t want to interfere for you to enjoy it.” Our Filipino teacher said. The apathy is visible on each student’s faces. We haven’t been for a month, there is a project right away.

“I will divide you into two groups. Group 1 will be the left and group 2 will be the right” He added. Our adviser changed the seating arrangement. Before I was in the left column but now, I’m in the right.

“The movie trailer you’ll going to make is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 3 to 5 minutes duration. The most creative, cinematic, and fascinating movie trailer will be receiving a certificate. From director, editor up to the casts. Good luck Locsin! Class dismissed!” and the teacher left the classroom.

My group talked about who would be the director and I’m pretty sure, they will make me a director for this project.

“Lou for editing!” Cecil suggests.

“YES! He’s editing is so fantastic!” Frankie reacted

“Who would be the director? I can be an assistant director since I’m the editor.” I said.

“Alright. Me, Syrel, Caye, and you, Lou will be the director!” Adeleine replied.

“Woah. That’s a marvelous idea!” Joshua dowelled.

“When will be the shooting?” Vincent questioned.

My groups stared at me waiting for my final settlements to be declared.

“Okay okay fine!!! Let’s begin later right after dismissal!” 

“Alright!!!” everyone acknowledged.

-End of Flashback-

Today is the last day of our shooting. I’m sluggish since I haven’t slept earlier because of this shooting and besides, my body clock is still adjusting.

We removed some scenes because this is just a trailer. We’re not in the middle either.

“OMG! The other group is done! Already edited!” Syrel screamed while looking at her phone. I turned hostile

“Just let them be. Don’t mind them! We’re going to finish this no matter what!” I yelled annoyingly

“Okay back to work! Double time!” I roared and they came back to their positions quickly. The good thing is I have subordinates so we can finish this as soon as possible. If I don’t have, It’s impossible to finish this despite other activities I’ve been doing for a week.

Around 6 in the evening when we concluded our shooting. They went home because of exhaustion. I was left alone here in the church. Our house is just a walking distance. I’m checking the clips if there’s no problem and so far, so good. The angles are great and the quality is magnificent. We used 1080p and 60 frames per second.

To be a director is my dream. I love making videos since when I was a kid. This is my passion. This is where I make myself happy. I love watching movies especially, Hollywood Movies with different CGIs and Visual Effects. I’m amazed at their craft movies and it’s not boring to watching. They don’t let their movies look like cheap.

I began walking to our house. When I got here, I went straight ahead in my room to open my laptop and I started editing. 

A few hours later, I didn’t notice that it is currently midnight.

“Mmmmp!!!” I stretched. It’s tiring. Same day shoot, same-day editing.

I snapped the render button but there are lots of effects I indicated so I decided to open my Adobe Media Encoder software to make rendering and exporting do their job at the same time.

I left my laptop open because I’ll wake up in a few. I lay to my bed and I gently closed my eyes. 

~*~

*toooot-toooot-toooot*

I opened my eyes as I hear my alarm clock. Gosh, I’m still sleepy. I want to sleep more but I don’t have any choice because today is the deadline for the movie trailer submission. 

I looked in my laptop and thankfully, the rendering and exporting process is done. Good thing, it was exported well! I get my flash drive to copy it. Our teacher wants it to be transferred in a flash drive so he can easily copy it to his laptop.

Since the copying process will take a lot of time, I decided to take a bath to not waste a single time.  

*School*

I walk quickly going to our classroom. I can’t mask the excitement shown on my face. I hope they will like my edit. To be honest, I’m not aspiring to win. All I want is to pass this subject.

I’m grateful because they trust me in the first place. We don’t know each other very well yet but they didn’t think twice for me to edit this movie trailer.

I was outside of our room when I saw my classmates unsettled. They looked nervous and it seems like they’re waiting for me. I look into my watch and it’s 7:15 in the morning, a bit late.

I entered our classroom and they were exhilarated to see me.

“MY GOSH Lou I thought you’re still asleep!” Syrel said energetically but I just smiled at her since I’m still sleepy.

“So where is it? We want to watch it now!!!” Vianca is such a pesky person. Argh!

“Shucks!? I forgot my flash drive because I am rushing?!!!” I said seriously and they looked at me with matching big eyes.

“REALLY???!!???” Syrel’s eyes widened and she couldn’t believe my answer.

“Just kidding! HAHAHAHA. Later let’s watch it together!” 

“You’re such a nuisance, Lou! I was so nervous!” Syrel said while she’s touching her chest. Nervous is evident in her face. We sat at our chairs and I noticed that the other group is higgledy-piggledy.

“Hey, how’s the edit?” Shyra stressfully asked.

“Yes, it’s done!!!” Ritchie replied.

“We’ll win! Our hardships will be fruitful!” Sherwin shouted.

“Go Group 1!!! We will win!” I laughed because of what they’re doing. Is this a big deal for them seriously? Is this a pageant or something?

A few moments later and our Filipino teacher came. He’s carrying his Bluetooth speaker and laptop.

“Do you want a projector for bigger viewing?” He asked and my classmates respond. Everyone is busy with the things that they’re doing while I? I’m sluggish. What the heck.

Our teacher finished setting up the projector. I became energetic when he calls my name.

“To all the editors, come in front and proffer your flash drives,” He said. I stand up carrying my flash drive and gave it to him.

“Is there no virus here?” he doubted.

“Yes, it’s a hundred percent clean!” I said. He inserted the flash drive to his laptop and he started copying the file.

“Woah! The file is too large! Almost two gigabytes! For sure the quality is beautiful” he became shocked by what he saw the reason why group one look at me.

“What resolution do you use?” he asked.

“1080p Sir. Then the frame rate per second is 60 to make the video smoother.” I responded. Gio looked at me with a serious face.

Our video finished first copying even the file size is too big that’s because of the transfer speed of the flash drive I used. 

“You looked wasted Lou!” I heard Syrel said to Gedie. IT’S EXHAUSTING AND TIRING, TO BE HONEST! Imagine, as soon as I got home, I sprang editing. The most difficult part is putting up effects and color grading.

“Okay. Copying is done! Let’s start watching!” My heart pounds contradictorily. I don’t know why I’m feeling nervous right now.

Group one was the first to be watched. The pride and confidence of the members of Group 1 are obvious on their faces. 

They are already shouting at the introduction of their video. Tsk. Their production intro was taken from Youtube.

“GO GROUP 1!!! WE WILL WIN AMONG THE REST!!!” Group 1 chanted.

To be honest, the quality is not that good. I think they only used 480p resolution. Color grading doesn’t fit the theme of the movie trailer. The sound is good. It’s loud but scattering. In fairness to the cinematography, I love the angles.

Their video ends rapidly. The duration is estimated at 3 minutes. The movie trailer looks cut or they do it intentionally since this is a movie trailer only?

“That’s for Group one. Let’s dive in with Group two’s work.” And he clicked the enter button. All my groupmates are silent. They look nervous.

“Wow!” reacted by Sir.

“I love the color grading and the shots!” sir complements that makes me smile.

“Vincent’s acting is breathtaking,” Sir continued.

“I love the background music! So intense!” Since he brought the speaker, the music gave us chills. It adds tension. I edited the music and boost the bass whereby if you’ll watch it with speakers or bass-boosted earphones, it has drum-roll effects. 

Group one’s faces became dismayed because of what we’re watching right now. Even Gio who’s not blinking because of the movie trailer.

Our video is over. Group one claps including our teacher and my groupmates.

“Louuuuu!!! That’s amazing!!! So cinematic!!!” Syrel praised the video.

“Well hehehe” I answered shyly.

“Lou did you edit this? If so, you have a potential! Just continue it!” it made me happy and my face became hot.

I saw Gio with no reaction.

“I hope I let you guys do a full movie of this since you can pass a high quality like this!!!” I and my groupmates laughed.

“Next level editing. Okay, we lose!” Shyra said and smiled at me

“O my gosh IM AN ACTRESS!!!” Vianca screamed that makes me laugh again.

“So I think there is a winner!” He clapped again and he brings out an envelope. Inside of envelope, there are papers and he wrote something to it and he signed it individually.

“For best DIRECTORS, yes best DIRECTORS, congratulations Syrel, Adeleine, Caye, and Lou!” I and my groupmates stand up to get our certificates.

“Just leave a message if you want!” Sir suggested.

“Lou, you go first!!!” Adeleine told me that’s why I started to speak. I’m still shy and I can’t believe this.

“Well thank you to my groupmates even y’all are hardheaded and stubborn! Hehe” I said. I looked to my groupmates and they’re smiling at us.

“Thank you for this opportunity. Another great experience has been made!” Caye said.

“Thank you to all of my groupmates. You guys are the best! Sorry for being irascible hehe” Adeleine added.

“We’re not expecting to win since all we want is to have a grade. Thanks to those who trust us. to those who gave justice to their role, job well-done everyone!” Syrel postscript.

“Am I the one who gave justice to their role?” Gedie asked aloud.

“NO!” Syrel answered in a snappy way that makes everyone laugh.

“Okay, for best editor, to be honest, both groups are good but there’s one who standout of course. They showed creativity, Hollywood cinematography, and some visual effects. The best editor is no other than... Homber Lewis Verdetto!” I smiled because of what I heard. I get another certificate. I cannot explain how happy I am today and I didn’t expect this.

“Message again!” 

“Editing is one of the hardest parts of Video Production. You should be patient, creative, imaginative. I started editing around 7 in the evening and I finished at 2 in the morning. Imagine, how hard is it to produce a movie trailer like this. I used 12 bitrates to make the resolution the same. Color grading is hard also. I need to visualize first what will be the outcome of this trailer but also thankful to those people who trust me to edit. Thank you!” As I’m saying it, I cannot hide my smile.

“When did you start editing videos? It seems like you’re a pro!” Sir asked me. He’s still amazed by my edit.

“Actually I have been editing for a long time through the phone. Last year we had a movie trailer project in Filipino subject also. Noli Me Tangere to be exact. My classmates decided to let me direct and edit that project...” I explained. I saw Vianca smiling at me. She was one of those I directed before.

“So what software do you use in editing videos?” the teacher asked curiously.

“I used Adobe Photoshop for graphic photos. Lightroom for photos’ filters and color enhancement. For videos, I used 2 software. When it comes to sequencing, I used Adobe Premiere Pro. For visual effects, Adobe After Effects. I’m currently studying how to use Blender for compositions and CGI” I answered but they didn’t seem to understand what I said.

“Oh wow. At a young tender age, you have the knowledge and you can use professional software. I hope someday, you’ll be successful and you could create Hollywood Movies” Sir said genuinely. I got touched by what he has said. It’s sincere.

“Best Actor, Vincent Laspoña!” Vincent went in front to get his certificate. He’s the main role of our movie trailer.

“I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to those people who trust me and my acting skills. And I, thank you!” we laughed because of what Vincent said. He feels like he’s in a beauty pageant.

“Best Supporting Actress, Gedie Mae Ramos!” Gedie stands and went in front to get her certificate and she bowed like she won an award in Oscars.

“I deserved this!” 

We had a picture-taking together with my groupmates and especially our Filipino teacher. I notice that Gio doesn’t accept our victory.

TO BE CONTINUED...