Suddenly He Sees!

Final contemp video to showcase is IN DA HOUSE!:

In Blindsight

This is the story of a blind guy who miraculously gains the ability to see! It's based on a real story that we made up in our heads, although it's possible that this actually happened.

Behind the Scenes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually this is pretty much commentary.

• My original idea for the film had the same tone as a Will Farrell / Adam Sandler movie, plus an episode of My Name Is Earl. Sorta turned out like that not really? And ironically, I'm not a big fan of Adam Sandler, but I can totally imagine him blind.
  
• The first scene was gonna be in a super market, but shooting in a house is about 6x easier. Also, we could film at night even though it's supposed to be morning (which is what happened).
• That cereal box in Thomas's grocery bag is open. Haha Let's assume his character was munching on his way home.
• Thomas walking home was the second scene we shot.
• The idea of running Thomas's hand against the wall was from the movie Daredevil.
• WHY THE HECK did we choose the house with mirrors all over the walls?? It's like those carnival mirror mazes in there!! (But not really I could easily find my way around.) That explains all the weird angles we had to get. Look closely and you might catch a glimpse of the camera or light in the reflection.
• We were supposed to film a quick scene showing how Thomas and Jonathan met a la flashback, but we didn't have the time.
• Thomas had to change his shirt because that scene was filmed out of order on different days and he wore different shirts. Yeah, in the movie it really makes no sense at all.
• Jonathan is naked because "underwear" was a requirement for the film. Wait, why did we have him take off his shirt too?
• The first person views were filmed by me and Craig. Bonus points to whoever can figure out which one of us filmed which scene.
• Originally we were gonna have scenes of Thomas physically showing Jonathan all the cool stuff in the house, but Jonathan wasn't there at the time, so we shot the scenes with me as the body double. Yup, Thomas was telling me about the stuff as I stood to the side with just my arm in the frame to make it look like Jonathan was really there. Not sure where that footage is now.
• "I can see clearly now, the pain is gone" (song by Johnny Nash) was the required song lyric for the film. However, Thomas messed up and followed with the line "I see all my obstacles!".
• And again, Thomas had to change his shirt to match later footage.
• The VERY FIRST scene we shot that wasn't in the movie was Thomas running into the girl's bathroom because he doesn't recognize signs after he got sight. Yeah it was at an early stage and we weren't really sure where the movie was going...
• The chase scene music used to be the theme from Benny Hill.
  
• If you watch the sky during the chase scene, it gets dark quickly because the scene took so long to film. (We were gonna refilm the end of it but didn't have the time.) Actually almost EVERY scene was annoyingly difficult to shoot because daylight savings always turned the lights off fast and early.
• They watched Saw II before they watched Saw I, not sure how or why that happened. In other words, they saw Saw II, then saw Saw too. (HAHA.)
• Thomas was supposed to break down after an un-shot scene (yes another) of him running to the library and realizing he can't read the books because they don't have braille (which is why he mentioned it as his "favorite activity" in the beginning).
• In the emo montage, the orange and yellow toy Thomas is playing with was in one of the body double scenes that got cut.
• We filmed a scene with Thomas and Jonathan making up and becoming "buddies" again, but Mr. Z hated it, and it WAS admittedly corny. So out it went.
• "Float On" by Modest Mouse was TOTALLY going to play at the happy end scene, but it had to get booted down to just the credits.
• HOLD THE PHONE... I accidentally uploaded some of the audio for the never-used make up scene! It's at 14:45, the very end of the clip. Hehehe that's awkward.

Ahhh I'm gonna miss that class.

Thanks for everyone who helped with the film!!

Credits on the Vimeo page!!

Senior Year Miss List

It's never too late to talk about Whitney, right? Well I guess maybeso if I try to remember everything I want to... but not too late for the eager reader! I'll be fine if you just read parts you're familiar with. So here... we... go!

I'm gonna miss trying to park awesomely in the Whitney parking lot.

2
I'm gonna miss 2nd period art with Ms. Agrums, barely making it to class on time, saying "Hi" quietly to Steffi (the only other "advance" artist), trying to paint when most of the lights were turned off for 2nd year slides, having my own shelf thing that slowly got more and more cluttered, watching the other 2nd year-ers do what I did last year and totally owning me in the face, going into the classroom at lunch and after school to finish my procrastinated pieces, and listening to Mrs. Agrums's zany lectures and stories. They weren't zany because of the content - they were zany because of her.

3
I'm gonna miss homeroom which gave me time to watch awesome Comiclub/IFF whittles and shirtless Pauls, and it also gave me time to study for some Jeans tests.

I'm gonna miss 3rd period Civics and Econ with Jeans. I USED to like Jeans, but then he got annoying. I'm gonna miss doing all those projects we did (they weren't torturous so much as time to work in a group with friends! but yeah sometimes they sucked), and I'm gonna miss doing really well in, like, two projects, acing econ tests because they matched Perry's review packets, sitting in the mecca of fun of CraigAnumCindyJaneJaydee and still being able to talk to my other friends outside the lil circle, being on the winning side of a debate, hating on the Jeans as a class, and... board freaking. Definitely gonna miss board freaking.

Break
I'm gonna miss snack, walking there and trying not to crack up FOR NO REASON AT ALL, then seeing Marina's face and laughing anyway. I'll miss having a todo list that would send me on little missions to do something (hey much like a MMORPG...), and I'll miss having absolutely nothing to do. I'll miss seeing everyone come back with a forever steaming and forever shrinking breakfast burrito that's only delicious to the most hungry. I'm gonna miss Michelle telling me we'll be late for Delgado, and then me telling Darren we're gonna be late for Delgado.

4
I'm gonna miss 4th period CalcH with Delgado, usually arriving on time with just a few seconds to spare. Yeah at times it was boring, but I'll miss switching back between intense note taking and intense drawing -cough-. I'll miss all the "group work" assignments that usually had 10 problems (30 minutes to solve each one mind you), I'm gonna miss when Delgado made her eyes bigger than her head, borrowing books from every-so-kind people, feeling really good about a MATH test I just took, looking out for lights off in Palmieri's room to know if we're watching a movie, mustard colored sweaters, and wondering what the heck Delgado's HUSBAND is like.

5
I'll miss 5th period English class with Palmieri, watching all those movies, doing pretty decent on those quote analyzation quizzes, getting time to "work on college essays", failing the comps but some how still get a passing grade, having no due dates, watching the class panic after finding out about a quiz (then realizing I'm just as screwed), and listening to a very talk woman speak in a coincidentally high voice.

I'm gonna miss 5th period (2nd semester) English with Mr. Dalley, all them craaazy lectures. I'll miss Dalley's ridiculous expressions, Paul Marshall impersonations, cynical criticisms of our lives, and recomposed perspectives of the world we once knew. His shocked face should totally have a staring contest with Delgado's big eyes. I'm gonna miss working on twenty group projects at the same time, the 10 point quizzes that were difficult and easy at the same time, listening to Paul and Jaydee taking insulting swipes at each other, hangin out with those two along with Jenny/Darren/Julie in the back of the room, doing presentations that include dancing and fat jokes, and having an English class that's fun yet interesting.

Break
I'll miss lunch time, eating under those tent things on the rocky tables, playing iPod in those big speakers a few times, getting front row seats to a bunch of shows near the quad, having absolutely nothing to do and having too much stuff to accomplish by the end of lunch, appreciating Wednesday and Friday for the hour long lunches. I'll miss all them Comiclub meetings where I talked a lot, and them VietClub meetings where I ate a lot. I'm gonna miss those pep rallies, seeing everyone in the school excited about some frivolous stuff, then singing the alma mater with anyone next to me.

6
I'm gonna miss 6th period contemporary media with Mr. Z, conceptualizing ideas, gathering actors props and equipment, and turning all our hard work into a kickass film. I'll miss getting to know all those juniors JonathanJoshStephanieSarah (along with CraigDiana of course), I'll miss the tense moments when Mr. Z was pissed, watching movies to study the directing, brainstorming and getting silly ideas like robin hood in tights (or something??), spending the whole period to just write scripts, being so frustrated when it was crunch time and stuff wasn't working out, avoiding mirrors while filming, getting bizarre shots that turned out great, creepy zooming in of little kids talking, nonsense conversations to test different types of mics, film festivals to show off our accomplishments, and everyone being satisfied with a final product.

7
I'm gonna miss Track and Cross Country, I love the teams so much. I'll miss going to practice reluctant to see coach, running so hard until someone barfs (then running some more), having little conversations with random teammates about anything, guessing whether or not Borah will beat Kimberly, running my butt off in a 400m dash, then trying to beat it, seeing everyone's face when I took roll, dilly dallying before practice just to see how everyone else is dilly dallying, practicing with blocks, drinking Javier's magic elixir that tasted like cereal, Cliff bars and "Gatorade", the holy tree of stretching, the holy bleachers of roll, comforting an injured teammate, getting tired from just plyos, pacing wall to walls on my watch, saving a bottle for Paul to recycle, being bothered that Paul took my bottle when I wasn't done, Kai-bai-bo's and dares, ninja and other ninja, pantsless James and shoes flying in the air, and Ellie poop stories. I'll definitely miss pasta parties (!!!) with "Angelic climbs", "Jaydee Ga Ga"s, truthordare with shirtless Lihans/Henrys. (I kinda threw XC and track together.)

I'll miss the actual meets too! I realized that I just talked mainly about practices.

XC - I'll miss arriving at a course. It has just such an epic feel to it, I look all around and think "alright, this is the place I'm gonna run on the place I'm gonna conquer." I'm gonna miss the immense amount of tension and anticipation that always built up, as if we were going to fight war and knew we would come back dead. Everyone ran the same 3 miles too, and I'll miss the irreplaceable bond that could only be felt through pain, determination, and love.

Track - I'll miss the family love, similar to XC's but a bit quirkier. I'll miss visiting the throwers who always seemed so chilled, and then running back to warm up for the -insert event name-, latching on my spikes, and handing off the baton with "STICKS" and a couple laps. I'm gonna miss all those people who helped me put my spikes on. I'll miss running in a relay race, finishng my leg dead tired, and almost tearing up to yell and make my teammates run even faster.

Both XC and Track - I'm gonna miss the downtime between races where I got to hang out with everyone else and ask the dead tired people how their race was. I'll miss screaming my head off as I cheer for the runner to push them just that much more. I want to make them run faster, and I feel as though my voice would give them that boost of strength and energy to out kick anyone close. I'll miss when my teammates did the same for me.

Man I could write a much longer post about just these two sports, but I don't have time so I did my best to keep it short. All in all, I'm gonna miss running for my team.

FINALLY...

I'm gonna miss my class of 2009. Every single person. Even if I thought you were kinda weird, I'm gonna miss you. I'll still miss seeing everyone's face that gave me a sense of familiarity with my life. Thank you.


So there you go, guys! My Whitney mental closure. Tomorrow I start college at CSUF- along with my new Miss List for next year.

Chatroom

Wow I haven't updated in a long kanga while! Oh hey, "kanga" should be an actual usable word. It could replace the F word. That would kanga rock.

HAHA sounds stupid. Speaking of which!



By 9th grade versions of Caroline, Frances, Kevin... and kinda Brandon. Published during a period of Stinson's class (note, not during Stinson's period, although that's debatable).

I found these while cleaning out my room. The epitome of good times.