WRITTEN

I have always felt a special connection to filmmaking. My childhoods were spent making various iMovies with friends and cousins where I became an actor, a director, and an editor all in one. So naturally as I entered my freshman year, I was thrilled to find that there was a Freshman Film Course. And then I met Maddy. We had a blast in that class, and knew without a doubt as we continued through high school that we had to do another film project together before we graduated, no matter what. Entering into this Grad Project, we had a million ideas; it was daunting, but extremely exciting. We spent the first few days brainstorming, and through everything, we kept coming back to the same thing. Our community is so special, and filled with such incredible people, and we wanted to show that. The nostalgia which overwhelms the senior mind took ahold of us, and we pieced together this glimpse into our world as a time capsule for ourselves, for our friends, and for Cambridge as a whole. 

We knew that we wanted to show real students lives beyond the classroom, not limited to the type of videos the school itself makes. We wanted it to be through our eyes, with our own style packed into each shot. We wanted it to feel, no matter when you watched it, that you were really there in the CRLS Class of ‘26’s senior year.

Since this project was being planned while we were executing it, there was a lot of time management and organizational skills required. Often we had to step back and write down our thoughts and our process, adjusting the structure and timeline of everything as the project ebbed and flowed. Keeping ourselves motivated could get difficult especially in the throes of senior fall, but we pushed each other and held ourselves accountable, not letting time go to waste. We began carrying cameras everywhere, getting in the habit of simply filming everything around us. Specifically, I strengthened my skills in leading our subjects, intstructing on what we wanted to see from them.

 After around a month of gathering footage, we began to edit. Neither Maddy or I had ever edited on Adobe before, so there was a lot of learning involved. We researched and received helpful assistance from Ollie, and slowly but surely were able to hone our skills and become naturals at it. We entered into a routine of filming out of school, editing in school. We struggled initially with our multitude of SD cards and having footage on various different computers, with a few minor issues in losing certain clips. Eventually, we were able to consolidate it all to one computer which we worked on each day, which proved to be a lot more organized and effective.

It was truly such an enjoyable experience to be able to record my friends and peers in their natural environments, and it was so rewarding watching it come together in Adobe. When Maddy and I reached an uninspired spell or disagreed on something, we were always able to bounce ideas off each other until we ultimately landed on the same page, something which proved invaluable. Even when it was tiring, the promise of a true documentation of the joys of our fleeting senior year always motivated me.

I feel so lucky to belong to a place with such a heart, and a place that allows me to creatively express it. Our friends were incredibly supportive and helpful throughout this process, and I feel as though I gained so much as a filmer, an editor, and an organizer. I feel more confident in my abilities to tackle large creative projects, especially collaboratively - something I hope to do in the future - as I am familiar with the dedication it takes. I am very proud of the finished product, and honored to be part of a legacy of CRLS students documenting their time here.