“Instructions for a Bad Day” took over seven months to create. It is more than another high school assignment to me. I picked up a camera for the first time at the start of this project and it has become this documentation of growth. As I watch this video back, it is a progression of my ideas and I can see how they have changed to become even better than I had imagined. This video simultaneously documents my life through those seven months. I not only see my skills grow but me as a person. This video was produced during a rough portion of my life. To know that I was creating this piece that inspires me to go on and keep moving was my motivation in my personal life to do so.
I found the poem by accident late one night while I was listening to poetry on Youtube a year before I started production. I immediately connected with it. I fell in love with this spoken word. I listened to it at least once a week. And when I started brainstorming ideas for my first project, this spoken word was at the top of my list.
When I began preproduction, I printed out the poem and underlined and wrote down every idea for that line of the spoken word I could imagine. I wanted each visual part to correspond and mean something to that section of the poem. I didn’t imagine this project taking as long but in hindsight I’m glad it did.
I had a budget of twenty dollars because that was really all the money I had. I used my siblings and friends as talent. The most money I spent was probably on gas to get to the filming locations. The fact that I had no money gave me more inspiration to make it better. I wanted to prove to myself that I didn’t need money and expensive cameras to create a great video.
I had to change up some ideas just because they were too unrealistic for my budget or some ideas were a bit dangerous and I couldn’t pull off without professionals. I had a great idea to smash a mirror with multiple unkind words written on it but glass shards near not just my camera but myself would not be the best idea. So there were those setbacks as well as a couple shooting days got rained out or some talent last minute flaked out. But I rescheduled immediately and got new, more reliable, talent.
This project impacted myself and the rest of my film career. This project has gotten me into an internship I thought I never had a chance in. It’s one of my most prideful projects and it has left an impression on me and how I carry myself. The poem in all about holding your head up and getting through the worst of days. And I will carry this poem and project around with me for the rest of my life.