If you ever decide to visit the Har-Ber High School’s Television Productions room, you will pass by an array of film posters hung up in the hallway. The posters range from music videos, to horror films, to comedy, to parodies of The Office. As a senior, I made it my goal to create a poster worthy film; I can proudly say that I have finally accomplished that goal through the creation of Sugar Bear, a film I wrote, directed, cinematographed, and produced on my own.
We often have weird conversations while brainstorming for film ideas. One idea leads to another, and another, until we’re talking about something completely unrelated to film. Somehow, we got onto the topic of dating sites, and I asked the question, “What if you met someone online and met up with them in real life but it ended up being your sibling?” My teacher, Mr. Sherman, replied, “Write the script.” However, I wanted to push the boundaries of this idea and take it one step further, but I also wanted to keep it within the ratings of the audience. I walked into class the next day with a freshly printed script and an ambitious plan.
Sugar Bear is about a boy, Timothy, who chats online with an unknown girl about meeting up for a night of fun. Neither of them have ever seen each other in photos or in real life. As they’re chatting, his sister, Olivia, barges in and yells at him for always leaving the toilet seat up. He quickly closes his computer, trying to hide the fact that he’s chatting with some girl online. She tells him that he is annoying and will never get a girlfriend, and they have a typical brother-sister fight. Olivia leaves, and Timothy gets back to chatting with the girl. They say their goodbyes until later that night, and Timothy starts to make his way to the motel, stopping by the store on the way. In the end, we find out that the unknown girl was actually his sister, and they scream in disgust and shock.
As high schoolers, we have minimal acting experience; great acting does not come naturally. It’s up to me, as a director, to guide my actors into execute the best performance possible. Before accomplishing this film, I had little experience in being a director. I’d helped with directing other projects with other people, but I directed this film completely on my own. Parker Weiser, the actor of Timothy, had never acted in any film prior to Sugar Bear. However, I chose him to play Timothy because I felt that he had an awkward vibe and would portray the character the way I had envisioned. Because he had never acted in a film, I had to guide him heavily when it came to a couple scenes. For example, during the hype-up car scene, I had to guide him into how he should act when talking to himself, but to make it natural as well. Of course, it was difficult to not laugh during that scene, and we both had to overcome that obstacle in order to complete that scene. Nevertheless, he nailed his role as Timothy and I couldn’t imagine anybody else in his place. Olivia, the sister of Timothy, had little experience in acting in films, prior to Sugar Bear, but not much at all. I guided her during her scene when she had to yell at Parker. At first, she wasn’t angry enough and it didn’t seem natural, but eventually I was able to teach her to channel her inner angry self and played her character exactly as I anticipated. Aside from these minor scenes, the morning motel scene was the most difficult to direct. Both Parker and Olivia have their own significant others, so making them lay in a bed “naked” was easier said than done, but they were able to overcome the unfamiliarity and play their parts. There is a scene where Timothy kisses his sister to wake her up in the morning, and this was very challenging for them because nobody could be serious. Not only that, but we had to get the kiss from three different camera angles. I had to teach Parker how to act as if the girl wasn’t Olivia or his sister, but rather the girl his character chatted with. The ending part of that scene concludes with the two screaming, and this was very difficult to direct. Because we were in an actual motel with people in other rooms, we didn’t want to have to shoot the screaming scene more than once. We didn’t want to get kicked out, so I had to direct them very specifically in how they should react to seeing each other. I learned that telling actors to feel something is significantly different than telling them to simply do something. Nonetheless, we did a perfect take the first time, and the scene turned out to be a success.
Shooting this film was more strenuous than I expected it to be. We had to carry a ridiculous amount of equipment with us everywhere we went. I had never taken so much equipment with me to film before, then again, I had never taken a film so seriously before. I wanted it to be a success, so I was willing to do anything--even casually carry loads of camera equipment up the stairs into a motel room that was on the second story. We decided to film the motel scene after school, and before we knew it, the sun was down by six o’clock. Thus, we had to set up a couple lights to create the impression that it was the morning after. This was very hard to achieve because I had never worked with lights before, and these lights were the real deal. The first shot of Timothy in the motel was the most difficult to accomplish. I had to stand on the bed over Parker and Olivia, while moving to my right and keeping steady. Did I mention that our Gimbal was at half battery when we got to the hotel? We were in a time crunch to get that shot, and because it was the first shot of the bed scene, Parker and Olivia had a hard time getting it right the first time. Not only did I have to operate the camera, I had to direct them at the same time, and try to get everyone to be serious. We needed four total shots to complete that scene, but it took us four and a half hours from start to end to get those four shots. This was due to my determination to get the perfect shots I envisioned, and the lack of experience my actors had. By the end of it, my arms were exhausted from operating the camera and resetting up lights. During Timothy’s hype scene in the parking lot, we filmed at night as well. Because it was outdoor, we couldn’t bring any lights with us since they required outlets. We had to drive around and work with our environment to find the best spot for lighting. Eventually we found a place under a lamppost that gave us a decent amount of light. The scene before the hype scene included Timothy buying condoms, and this scene was challenging as well, not because of the camera, but because it was in a Walmart. We didn’t want to get in trouble by filming in there, so we had to film that scene as quickly as possible, while hiding from the employees. Being the cinematographer of my own film was truly an amazing experience. I learned how to transform my visuals into reality, and turn words into actions.
The editing process of Sugar Bear was extremely tedious, specifically for the opening scene. Because I wanted the online chatting to show on screen, I had to go through many steps to achieve this effect. I had to text each line to myself, screenshot the text messages, crop and convert the messages into PNGs, and only then was I allowed to start editing them with the video. I had to place an overwhelming amount of keyframes, while staying consistent with each text that came after another. Then I had to add the text sound effects, to complete the whole chatting effect. Moreover, I used a couple of Marvin Gaye’s music to add humor to the scenes, like when Timothy was shopping for condoms in Walmart. I liked the idea of transitioning from regular music to music playing in a store, so I had to figure out which combination of sound effects would create that store-like sound. Although I got frustrated at times while editing my film, I learned a great amount of new editing skills, and it was all worth it in the end.
Through the entire production process of Sugar Bear, I learned numerous new skills and gained knowledge about everything that goes into the moviemaking world. I learned that directing a film is more than saying, “Lights, camera, action!” I learned through shooting this film to never settle for anything less than perfection, not matter how many tries it takes for the perfect shot. I learned how to endure and be patient when obstacles are thrown at me, and how to solve the problem rather than dwell on it. I never thought that I could create a film from A to Z completely on my own, and I’m extremely proud of the way it was executed. These past three years of film have impacted my life in unexpected ways. It’s become something that I will always be passionate about, whether I’m watching, writing, acting, shooting, or editing, it’s grown to be more than the class I took in high school. I’m doubtlessly blessed to have received the opportunity to express myself through the art of film, and the creation of Sugar Bear will be an experience I’ll never forget and a film I’ll always be proud of.