Upgrades Needed

At the end of 7th grade, Henry, Kristin, Khodadod (an old film friend), and I made a video entitled Suburban Ninja. It was about a boy who thought he was a ninja, and sought to show off his ninja skills to random people. He failed of course.

I remember this video because it was another turning point in my film history. It was really fun to make, but it lacked quality. My acting sucked, there was always laughter behind the camera, and it didn't seem to flow well. I have trouble watching it because of my acting...



That high pitch voice and the cackling at the end of this clip is Henry by the way.

I was not quite as pleased with the turnout of this video as my friends. I wanted to make a good video with good acting, story, and camera, but at this point, I knew it wasn't going to happen for a while.

Not long after this video, I realized I needed a camera that was actually meant for video, not a digital photo camera. Also, I needed an editor that was better than Windows Movie Maker. I realized early on that it was very limited. Then, my problems were solved. I bought a Sony Handycam for $300, a cheap consumer-grade camcorder. It did the job. Then, my dad got me a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro CS2 from his office. At once, the new editor astounded me. There were so many options, so many possibilities with these two new tools. I was eager to try them out.

Over the summer I filmed two videos with my cousins and brother, and I was extremely happy with the end results. I experimented a lot with Premiere Pro while I was visiting my cousins. I couldn't wait to film again with my friends and try out my new stuff.