Try-Hard: Accomplishing Big Production Look on a College Budget

This project was and in-depth look at the filmmaking process in order to determine what truly makes a quality cinematic experience. The central argument revolving around this is as follows: cinematic excellence can be achieved with bare filmmaking essentials and a compelling story. To examine that argument, this paper goes over the the process unique to the project, including the project’s inception, the production of the film itself, and the conclusions the project drew. The project involved producing a short film using low-end video and audio equipment, which included simple handheld recorders and a starter DSLR photography camera that has video capabilities. The project also relied on unpaid actors and extras, and a general trust system among those involved rather than actual compensation. One of the project’s biggest takeaways was that filmmaking is a major endeavor that is systematic, adaptive, and iterative. It is systematic in that it is a careful and detail-oriented art where nothing is by mistake, adaptive in that all plans and preparation is subject to small or comprehensive changes if called for, and iterative in that it is a repetitive process that requires equal attention to all aspects of the film. The film itself can be found at https://danklapheke.wixsite.com/try-hard