critical reflection

  For my portfolio project, I created a short film entitled “The Goalie.” My short film centers around a student-athlete whose life revolves around soccer and who is preparing for college acceptances. 

This piece was relevant to me because as a senior who plays soccer, I too felt the pressure of wanting to create a career out of my passion. At the beginning of the project, I really struggled to come up with an idea. I desperately wanted an original, never-before-seen concept that would blow everyone away, but I kept coming up short. The first couple of weeks were particularly slow for me, as this idea did not come to mind. My teacher then suggested to stick to what I know- a narrative I can understand or relate to. After this discussion, endless possibilities opened up for me once I settled on the sports genre. I began to research sports films and decided I didn’t necessarily enjoy the cheesy, motivational ones. A piece that inspired me was “The Lonely Goalkeeper,” which I saw featured in New York Times’ 15 minute short films, in an assignment for this class earlier in the year. After watching that, I gravitated towards the position of goalkeeper as a subject for my film as I think that the amount of pressure that is on them throughout the game is tremendous, and it would be interesting to see how that pressure would affect someone. I also have been dealing with college acceptances, so this piece felt comfortable to write and bring to life. So my target audience was defined pretty well, being late high school-aged student-athletes. Having such a specific target audience made it much easier for me to create all three components.  Gender, social class, and others don’t make a difference- but athletes about to graduate can relate to this film heavily, and that issue is represented well; not everyone will make it into college.

 In terms of actual production, I definitely struggled with my time management. This was an issue I had in my AS level project, and I believed I made some improvement. However, I was often overwhelmed by the fact that I felt so behind in the process that I just pushed myself further back. I stressed over topics that could have been solved with some simple brainstorming sessions. Far too often I set up unrealistic expectations with myself and become frustrated that they do not work in the way I wanted them to. This limited the development of my plot, and it didn’t end up delving as deep into the personal aspect of the story as I had planned. That being said, I enjoyed the way my short film turned out. Being so reliant on a character-driven story, I wanted to make it as visually driven as possible. For example, I loved the shot I have that begins with Alex’s friend dribbling the ball at a midshot, following her and quickly panning left to follow the shot she takes on goal that Alex blocks. Or, the composition of the shots with the friend shooting, keeping the ball and the goal directly in the middle third. I think my target audience will appreciate my use of quicker-paced editing to represent the quick pace and intensity of the game, as well as the use of rock music. I wanted to bring to life the passion of the sport. Using my Steadicam helped give the footage a little edge, but I wish I had thought more in advance to maybe have brought some different lens or perhaps a mic. The postcard also embodies the genre well, as my research in my blogs showed several sports films posters featuring the main character engaging in said sport, like the Rocky films. I got a cool action shot of her but kept the rest of the postcard youthful to appeal to my target audience. The official Instagram page, more than anything, appeals to the high school-aged audience. The posts are meant to engage comments and have interaction with one another. The diction is focused towards people my age and I tried to implement ‘relatable’ student-athlete content. In the highlights of the page, I also included some polls for the audience to interact with. That being said, I wish I had put in more time to the social media, to have created more posts and come up with more ideas that I know I personally would have liked to see on an account. I think I focused so much on the actual short film that I didn’t prioritize this component as much as I should have. 

I think I created a good brand, one that represents my target audience well, and moreover shows the struggles of the athlete and how common they are. Like I mentioned previously, my film represents an important event in athlete’s lives. So many people work so hard their entire lives, building up to this one moment, only to get rejected from the school and team of their dreams. It is a crushing experience, as not only do people hustle academically for it, but in their sport as well, for years and years. It takes determination and drive, but sometimes that in itself is not enough. I believe that I represented this situation fairly well, though the film doesn’t show much of the afterthought. It does show the initial pain, regret, and anger of the rejection. The clips in red represent Alex’s complete and utter frustration with herself, as she replays all the moments she could have done better, wondering if that would have changed something. This is representing self-doubt, something many athletes struggle with. I wanted those who relate to my story to feel less alone, as it can be difficult to see others succeed around you when you couldn’t, like the main character’s teammate does. 

Overall, I am pleased with the work I have presented for my portfolio project. I think I developed exactly the brand I was intending to, representing my target audience and their issues well. While I wish I would have spent more quality time preparing and executing some components, I think it came together nicely. I definitely could improve my next projects through time management and efficiency. However, I am still proud of my work.