Behind the scenes.

After the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, my original short film plan for my junior year of high school had to be altered. Crossroads is the result.

Crossroads is a short film about a dog who loves her ball. It conveys how easily one can be distracted from the important things in life, and yet find redemption. Gracie, the dog, played her part perfectly, with lots of encouragement from treats.

My role in the project was writer, director of photography, and editor. I had some guidance and feedback from my media instructor, Ethan Jahnke, otherwise I pretty much headed the project alone. I created storyboards for the project to visualize my ideas and then went straight into production since I did not have much else to do. I practiced with some drone shots, which provided nice establishing shots. In the edit, I found my project to be too short, so I included stock footage of deer, creating another element to the story. The choice was helpful in building suspense and making Gracie’s choices even more significant.

The finished product was done before summer began, and helped to build my confidence as a young filmmaker. Through the project, I learned the importance of coverage, as well as flexibility in an edit.