Project Icarus Journal #3

By trying new things and exploring different activities I have found many passions all of which seem to fit in the same category.  Ever since I entered Menemac I found myself loving to make funny videos.   I loved the simplistic challenge it offered.  A comedic video does not require any tricky shots or Michael Bay style explosions or a millions of dollars.  It just required funny quirky characters,  a creative imagination, and few good jokes which I had access to all without any cost.  I found this to be very true as  I began filming and found how simple my shots were yet it was still enjoyable to watch because of the characters I made and the jokes I used.  In my whole sitcom editing was to a minimal and mostly just included transitions and has no special effects.  The reason is because the genius and quality behind my sitcom is behind the writing and the acting.

In my life I have typically learned that I am very lazy for the most part.  It is hard to motivate myself to do anything that does not have a short term reward.  Something has to be truly fun and creative for me to be motivated towards learning or doing it.  When I found myself typing out the Sitcom script I found myself enjoying every line I typed out and visualizing it coming to life in my head.  Epic scenes poured into my head of how I was going to film and I just wanted to get the project  done.  I didn't care about grades or rewards I just wanted to finish the project to see some thing that I crafted get done.  I thought about the project at all times and wrote out lines and drafted, re drafted, and even found researching to be fun.

As I was working on project Icarus I learned about the comedic art of writing.  How character development  is the most crucial part in writing.  In  a sitcom, the characters need to be unique.  Each character needs to have their own personality and jokes that match them.  For example: in Seinfeld George is kinda cheap and low on confidence whereas Kramer is somewhat overly confident and weird.  They each have completely different jokes that are made for them and their characteristics are easily recognized.  I also learned about the drafting process.  I often had to trash good jokes because they did not match with the characters or the story.

For half of my life I thought school was a nuisance.  I thought that if I ever found the inventor of public education I would inflict some pain.  But, as I entered middle school it was like an epiphany.  The reason we had school because it is the only I can get a decent job and help advanced society for the better.  Without schooling I would probably just end up as some crazy nut who didn't contribute anything to society or do anything good in my life.  The purpose of school is to help guide us through the hardships of life and help us to find a passion.  I learned this to be true through project Icarus because I would never have found passion for film without school.