ok last one

Okie last one I promise. Then we actually have to make decisions, and I have to stop reading about films and start making one.

Annie Hall (1977) —  Woody Allen

I DO NOT SUPPORT WOODY ALLEN I DO NOT SUPPORT WOODY ALLEN I DO NOT SUPPORT WOODY ALLEN!!!!!!

ok anyways 

Annie Hall is the gold standard. The film that basically said “what if we just didn’t have a fourth wall at all” and won four Oscars for it. The movie begins unconventionally, with Alvy breaking the fourth wall as he speaks directly to the audience about his childhood and adolescence, mixing jokes with bittersweet observations about life.  From the very first frame, Allen establishes that there are no rules.

What’s brilliant is what the fourth wall break actually does structurally. The film’s strengths lie in its postmodern techniques, like the fourth wall breaks and fantasy inserts, which add layers without overwhelming the core romance.  Allen uses the breaks not to be clever but to be honest.  Alvy talks to us because he literally cannot stop processing his relationship out loud. The camera is his therapist.

It’s super important that if you’re going to break reality like this, you do so right away, so that the audience is prepared to suspend their disbelief. Annie Hall does that in its first scene as Woody Allen talks directly to the camera, telling jokes. This lets us know right away that this movie will get as meta as it wants.  That’s the lesson for us. Establish the grammar of your world early. Once you’ve set the rules, you can break them as much as you want.

American Psycho (2000) — Mary Harron

did u know im utterly insane

Okay. Different kind of dark comedy. Much darker. Significantly more axe murders.

American Psycho is a 2000 American psychological black comedy film co-written and directed by Mary Harron, based on Bret Easton Ellis’s novel of the same name.  It follows Patrick Bateman, a wealthy Wall Street investment banker who is also a serial killer, or possibly isn’t, and the film is genuinely committed to never fully answering that question. The film cleverly uses music as a narrative device, with Bateman often discussing his favorite albums in detail before committing acts of violence. This juxtaposition of pop culture and brutality serves as a critique of the era’s hedonistic lifestyle and reflects Bateman’s fractured psyche. 

The fourth wall here isn’t a camera glance or a direct address, but rather an internal monologue that we’re constantly pulled inside. The thing that makes American Psycho so original is the amusing voiceover monologues of Christian Bale, which are, in fact, a reflection of his inner demons.  We’re not watching Patrick Bateman from the outside. We’re trapped inside his head with him.

The entire society that surrounds him is as self-centered and vain as he is, and equally addicted to greed. That’s the real horror of this film,  and a lot of the comedy derives from watching the excess.  The business card scene (where grown men in expensive suits have what can only be described as a breakdown over whose card has the better font) is one of the funniest scenes in my personal cinema history and also a genuine horror movie scene.

bloggin on da bus

 Back at it. Two more texts. Fully locked. Let's go. 

I also on da bus to STN YAYYYY

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015-2019) — Created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna

Okay, so bear with me on this one because Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is technically a musical romantic comedy, but it does something so specific with fourth wall awareness that I had to include it. Also, another rec from Quinn, so give it up, ladies and gents, for his taste in media. 

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is an American romantic musical comedy-drama that premiered in 2015 and ran for four seasons. Created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, the show follows Rebecca Bunch, a lawyer who moves from New York City to West Covina, California, to pursue her ex-boyfriend from high school summer camp. That sentence alone should tell you what kind of show this is.

Where Fleabag breaks the fourth wall through direct camera address, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does something different and arguably weirder. It breaks the fourth wall through the songs themselves. Rebecca's songs present moments of true spontaneous self-expression, but in these meta-moments, isn't the spontaneity highly constructed? Rebecca has to break into song to express herself; she cannot integrate self-expression into her everyday life. The songs are her fourth wall. When she can't say something true out loud, she sings it directly to us, in a production number that the other characters can't hear or see. It's the same mechanism as Fleabag looking at the camera, just with choreography.

The show has a long history of breaking the fourth wall and then having characters insert a ridiculous in-universe explanation for their odd word choices. The show is constantly aware of itself, constantly commenting on its own genre. In the finale, when Paula confronts Rebecca about her habit of spacing out, Rebecca says, "When I stare off into space, I'm imagining myself in a musical number. That's how I sometimes see big moments in my life, as musical numbers. And because I do that, so does the show." The character acknowledges that the show exists because she imagines it. That's as meta as it gets.

The series is a comedy at its core. But the levity comes through even in serious moments, including Rebecca's suicide attempt, because the show never loses its comedic footing even when it's dealing with genuinely heavy material. That balance, comedy as the container for darkness, not the escape from it, is exactly what we're going for.

Parasite (2019) — Directed by Bong Joon-ho

 Parasite is a South Korean dark comedy thriller about a poor family, the Kims, who systematically infiltrate the household of a wealthy family by getting themselves hired as unrelated domestic staff. For a film that ultimately delivers such an outraged, sorrowful, and incisive message about class inequity, Parasite begins with surprising levity, with a twist on a classic heist. 

The film's tone shifts wildly throughout, from focusing on the relatively comedic hijinks of the ambitious Kim family in the first half to the tense, unsettling introduction of a character who lives beneath the wealthy Park family's ornate mansion, ushering in the darker tone of the film's second half. 

Much of Parasite's appeal is that Bong's humor keeps the class allegory from ever feeling self-important. He's making you laugh at the con, at the Parks' obliviousness, at the absurdity of class performance, and then the film reminds you what's actually at stake for everyone involved. Although the exposition and rising action are driven by dark humor, more sinister, threatening elements of horror and mystery dominate the film's second half. From celebratory to morbid, elated to appalling, the film's sudden shifts in tone effectively capture and hold the audience's attention by establishing a menacing mood.

The most defining trademark of Bong's films is their sudden tone shifts between drama, darkness, and black or slapstick humor. Bong himself claimed: "I'm never really conscious of the tone shifts or the comedy that I apply, I never think 'oh, the tone shifts at this point or it's funny at this point.'"  

For our film, dark comedy isn't about making dark things funny. It's about using humor to get the audience somewhere they wouldn't go otherwise. And then pulling the rug. Parasite does this better than almost anything ever made. We should be so lucky.

Works Cited

Bloom, Rachel, and Aline Brosh McKenna, creators. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The CW, 2015–2019.

Bong, Joon-ho, director. Parasite. Neon, 2019.

Framke, Caroline. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's Brilliant Use of the Musical Form." Vox, 22 Feb. 2017, www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/22/14691900/crazy-ex-girlfriend-musical-fourth-wall.

Lim, Dennis. "Parasite: Notes from the Underground." The Criterion Collection, 24 Nov. 2020, www.criterion.com/current/posts/7158-parasite-notes-from-the-underground.

Lee, Taila. "Bong Joon-ho Exposes Harsh Realities Through Humor and Horror in 'Parasite.'" The Paw Print, 14 Apr. 2020, woodsidepawprint.com/lifestyle/2020/04/14/bong-joon-ho-exposes-harsh-realities-through-humor-and-horror-in-parasite.

McDaniels, Emily. "Parasite: Genre Hybridity and Class Consciousness." University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Fall 2023, www.uww.edu/documents/colleges/cls/Departments/Film%20Studies/RF%202024%20McDaniels.pdf.

i could've made ferris bueller, john hughes could not write this blog

 when u lowkey just research da films

ok i guess i do research 

Let's talk about the two texts that basically created the blueprint for what we're trying to do. 

Fleabag (2016-2019) — Phoebe Waller-Bridge

wow shes even looking into the camera here wowwww

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag is still considered by many to be one of the best comedy shows of all time. There are many reasons why the series is so genius. But the factor that allows Fleabag to rise above all other comedy series is the titular character's frequent breaking of the fourth wall. 

 Fleabag is very aware of the audience watching, and she almost continuously breaks that fourth wall, looking into the camera and making eye contact, pulling weird faces only for the viewer to see, and talking directly to the viewer, which allows her to "confess" her very personal thoughts only to them. Not only does this lead to the development of a very intimate and personal relationship with the audience, but it also shows an awareness of the audience or, to go even further, a preference for the audience. Fleabag consciously decides to share her raw internal monologues and her sarcastic commentary with us, instead of with the other characters.

But there's more to it than just looking at the camera: it is precisely during these seemingly intimate and revelatory fourth wall breaks that Fleabag is at her most performative. She's not just confiding in us, she's performing for us. The camera is both her most honest relationship and another way to run from herself. 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) — Directed by John Hughes

Stop aura farming, Ferris. We see you

An American classic. A teenager fakes being sick, skips school, takes a Ferrari through Chicago, and spends the entire movie talking directly at you about it. The film stars Matthew Broderick as the slick-talking Ferris, a charismatic high school slacker who lives in Chicago and skips school with his best friend Cameron and his girlfriend Sloane for a day, regularly breaking the fourth wall to explain his techniques and inner thoughts. 

What's brilliant about Ferris is what the fourth wall break is actually for. The majority of Ferris's monologues are about his tormented best friend Cameron, and they supply insights into Cameron's character that we wouldn't be able to get otherwise. Ferris is essentially our guide into someone else's story. Ferris is honest with the audience. When he speaks to us, he speaks the truth. The same can't be said for the other characters in the movie. Ferris may lie, cheat, and steal his way through his day off, but he always seems to keep it real with us. How thoughtful awwwww. 

Through his direct addresses, Ferris is portrayed as a self-aware character, always one step ahead of the adults trying to catch him. This storytelling device simultaneously amplifies the humor and deepens our understanding of Ferris as a character.  The audience becomes his accomplice, and we are in on every joke. 

Both texts show that a fourth wall break is only as good as the reason behind it. Fleabag uses it to survive grief. Ferris uses it to make us accomplices in joy. Either way, the camera look has to actually mean something. That's what we're after.

Works cited

Bramesco, Charles. "How Fleabag's Fourth Wall Breaks Became the Show's Emotional Core." The Guardian, 18 June 2019, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jun/18/fleabag-fourth-wall-phoebe-waller-bridge.

Hughes, John, director. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Paramount Pictures, 1986.

Petski, Denise. "Why Ferris Bueller's Fourth Wall Breaks Work So Well." ScreenRant, 12 Mar. 2021, screenrant.com/ferris-bueller-fourth-wall-breaks-analysis.

Waller-Bridge, Phoebe, creator. Fleabag. Two Brothers Pictures, 2016–2019.

bang bang film gang lets get started

4 seniors who are existentially questioning their existence make a film. Oh well. 

So we're making a dark comedy that breaks the fourth wall.

I think of dark comedy as a genre that lives in this little pocket where nothing is okay, and everything is hilarious because of it. 

The defining characteristics of a dark comedy include: a look at taboo subject matter, humor derived from pain or discomfort, and characters who are aware, on some level, that they're trapped.

That last one matters a lot to us because breaking the fourth wall means the character knows they're trapped. In a movie. Which they can never escape. Which is bleak, honestly. Interesting...

Fourth-wall breaks specifically work because they shatter the parasocial contract between the character and the viewer. The character isn't supposed to know you exist. When they do, suddenly the audience's expectations are shattered. The audience becomes an active participant in the film they're watching. 

As for dark comedy as a genre, the defining move is using humor not to escape darkness, but rather to walk directly into it. Taika Waititi, a director who has mastered the approach, has described his style as writing "really uncomfortable moments of drama that make you so uncomfortable you want to laugh", specifically distinguishing this from comedy writing, which he says he's not attracted to at all. Put simply, the best dark comedies aren't written by people trying to be funny. They're written by people trying to be honest with the audience and themselves.

One of my favorite films is Jojo Rabbit, directed by Taika Waititi.

It somehow manages to balance the incredible despair of the Holocaust with a funny coming-of-age story

of a kid finding who he wants to be in the world. 

 

Waititi himself said it best when defending the genre: "The world needs ridiculous films, because the world is ridiculous." Thanks for da insight, Mr. Waititti. Actually, wait, I take that back, I did not like Thor. Do better, Mr. Waititti

The combo of dark comedy + fourth wall breaks is particularly interesting for us in the best way. You're laughing, and then you feel bad for laughing, and then the character looks at you like they know you feel bad, and then you're in an existential spiral at 2 PM on a Tuesday. Banger scenario, I might add. 

This research will genuinely help us understand WHY the genre works, not just what it looks like. We will also try to make the 4th wall-breaking feel intentional and not just gimmicky. The character's awareness of their situation is the darkness, and it's wholly enveloping. 

More research coming up

I have STN this week

I am exhausted

yet

WE MOVEEEEE

Works Cited

Brew, Simon. "Jojo Rabbit: Taika Waititi interview." Den of Geek, 18 Oct. 2019, www.denofgeek.com/movies/jojo-rabbit-taika-waititi-interview.

Plunkett, Suzanne. "What Is the Fourth Wall, and Why Do Characters Break It?" MasterClass, 7 June 2021, www.masterclass.com/articles/fourth-wall-explained.

when u just up scheduling #yup #film

 There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says, "Zach London must go on a whatsapp call at 5:42 PM on a Friday to make a schedule for his project." And whoever said that is stupid, because Zach London went on call at 6:42 PM. Do better, China.

me n gang on da call

 

We decided on a strategy for the schedule, splitting up the workload into 2's. 2 weeks Pre-Production, 2 weeks production, 2 weeks post-production. No one's ever thought of this before. We want to have a good idea of what we're doing before we all leave for STN, so we can hit the metaphorical ground running once we get back. We want to start filming by the second week of March, which will also free up Spring Break for us to do any filming we would need during the week. By the end of March, we should be fully editing the film, finishing it up by the first week of April. 

You can now bet on whether we finish this project on time on Kalshi, Polymarket, Hard Rock Bet, or wherever you dabble in a little degeneracy! I'd take the under; we seem to be pretty locked. 

da official schedule

Week 1 - 2/17-2/21

    - Decide Project Type

    - General Planning and Scheduling

    - Brainstorming Story

Week 2 - 2/22-2/28

    - Case studies

    - Genre Research

    - Develop key plot details

Week 3 - 3/1-3/7

    - Half of week consumed by STN

    - Pin down plot points

    - Begin scripting when we return (3/4)

    - Decide on brand identity for social

Week 4 - 3/8-3/14

    - Finalize Script

    - Plan shooting locations

    - Shot list

    - Plan shooting times

    - Create social media posts

Week 5 - 3/15-3/21

    - Begin shooting

    - Start title graphics

    - Begin posting on social media

Week 6 - 3/22-3/27

    - Wrap shooting

    - Sort footage

    - Postcard Design

 Week 7 - 3/29-4/4

    - Finalize edit

    - Announce distribution plan on social media

Week 8 - 4/5-4/10

    - Write critical reflection

something something start of a new beginning

 IT MAY NOT MEAN NOTHING TO YALLLL

BUT UNDERSTAND NOTHING WAS DONE FOR MEEEE

ok i make a film

We're starting our portfolio project for A-level, and our doc group is running it back. Expect the lock in of a lifetime at Panera again. Unsurprisingly, the team decided on the short film option for the project. I'm actually very excited about the prospects of this film. As Seniors in our second semester, we're kind of already on our way out, with this project serving as our last hoorah. I want to put everything I have in this film, and, hopefully, the effort shows. 

Sorry to get a bit serious, ya boy has to get a grade.

We threw some ideas around about what we want the film to be about. We went through vampires, high school drama, and love stories. Really, the whole 9 yards. But we decided to maybe perhaps kind of sort of do a more meta film. Quinn's dying love for the show "Fleabag" may influence this film more than I'd expect, and now I have to watch the show. 

Wait shes British like you Cambridge

We're nowhere close to settling on an idea, and because we all leave for the Student Television Network

 Convention in a week, we probably won't be until after. But, enough of this scheduling talk, let's leave that for the next post. 

How it feels to make art with your 

friends AGAIN

da critical reflection

 “Faith” attempts to answer the question of Why? Why is there any of this? Why do we connect? Why do we feel? Why do we love? Why do we believe? 

A simplistic title card

In “Faith”, we highlight the voices of religious leaders and followers. I feel as though our doc gave them a platform to explain their faith, highlighting the culture of community they respectively have.  One of our main objectives was to explore the interconnectedness of faith. Despite differing philosophies on the purpose of life and where we go after we die, each religion shares the same goal: to connect. "Faith" highlights this connectedness between religions, positing that the meaning of life is simply to live. As we explore this idea of religions being similar, we start to break the norms of what society sees each religion as. By platforming these religions, giving them a space to explain themselves, and building connections between them, we smash stereotypes of these religions and give them room to breathe in contemporary society. The biggest thing we can do to prevent learned hate is to teach love, and by shining a positive light on these religions and their morals, I believe we did just that. While I do believe that we did a good job of showing the interconnectedness of faith, I wish we had portrayed some of the issues facing the subjects in our story today. For example, I wish we could’ve tackled Anti-semitism a bit, and why faith is an important part in uplifting people’s spirits. This would’ve furthered our goal of exploring how faith heals. 

The church

Faith engages with audiences by explaining both Judaism and Catholicism, as well as a non-biased look at faith and religion as a whole. This allows the audience to learn new ideas and decide for themselves the importance and role of faith in their lives. However, a way that I thought was going to be successful in engaging turned out to fall a bit flat. “Faith” relies heavily on anecdotal stories from Talmudic and Biblical texts. While we, the creators of the doc, thought we did a sufficient job explaining the relation of the stories to the central idea of faith, when showing it to our classmates, we found out otherwise. They relayed to us that they didn’t quite get the relation between those stories and the concept of faith. We needed to be clearer and more explicit about the relation between the two. 

Synagouge

We also successfully engaged with the audiences through a sense of branding. The flickering blue theme of the intro, outro, and lower-thirds graphics creates a sense of cohesion across the piece that viewers find pleasing. It allows for the piece to be instantly recognizable, as well as drawing the viewer in with appealing visuals. 

Research played a huge part in the production of our documentary and its ultimate look and feel. The research we did formed the basis of our theme and vibe we were going for, and allowed us to play with conventions of the genre.

The biggest thing we wanted from this documentary was for it to feel important. I personally took inspiration from religious speakers and their sharp, bold, focused statements as well as their long stories and anecdotes. That's how I wanted this to feel. Clean, slowly developing, and flowing. We wanted this to feel like one big sermon explaining faith. In the documentaries we watched, verite filmmaking with shaky b-roll was a common theme. However, this was the opposite of the vibe we were going for. We wanted this to feel larger than life, ornate. We also wanted this to feel like a documentary you could find when scrolling through the TV channels. We stuck to standard sit-down interview shots, using the rule of thirds and having the subject look at the interviewer just off the screen. The motion graphics sequence at the beginning and end was also a bit of a challenge too traditional documentaries. We were a group that loved to learn, but specifically through YouTube creators. Incorporating this motion graphics sequence, an aspect typically found in more amateur docs that have their work premiere on YouTube, allows us to break standard conventions while also providing needed information. 

We utilized background music to emphasize tone and a narrator to push the story along. In documentaries we watched, like in Abstract, music highlighted a certain mood. Our music did the same, switching between ornate, melodic, heavenly music to a more sinister, dark vibe. The docs we watched didn't have a narrator, but we felt the dense subject matter we covered warranted one. 

Our research helped make the doc into a cohesive, wonderful piece that’s cohesive and works to leaves the viewer with moral quandaries of their own beliefs.

where is the panera lemonade that kills you

 Panera is my home, and I live here now. 

There's a certain calmness that washes over oneself when they spend 36 hours in a Panera Bread over the course of 2 days. Editing this doc brought me to nirvana, if, of course, nirvana was the chicken and cheese sandwich I got 4 times at Panera.

Hello Beautiful 😍

After Aneesa and I interviewed her mom, we made our first pilgrimage to the holy land of Panera. We had over 4 hours to sort through. We started to also look at music from Epidemic Sound and Bulletproof Bear.

Some calm structuring at Panera

We were very tired after finishing around 3 minutes of the doc, so we decided to come back the next day and really lock in for real for real. 

                                                                  12 HOURS LATER...

                                                                Hello, I am back in Panera. 

Nico, ever the theologian, came in after filming mass with a great idea for structuring. Meanwhile, just like apostles before me, I was struck with a vision for the opening. I was watching YouTuber and journalist Johny Harris a couple of days prior, and one of his video intros particularly caught my eye. You can watch it here.  In the intro, Harris uses animation to demonstrate his points. I thought this could be a unique way to introduce our story. While interviewing the professor from NSU, she mentioned a pretty interesting metaphor for faith as a concept. She told the story of 3 blind men, all with their hands on an elephant. Each man grabs a different part of the elephant, therefore feels it's a different animal. They may never know what the animal is, and they may never see it. But they know something is there. We thought this was a beautiful image to portray, and certainly a memorable one to start and end the doc. While Nico and I structured to story, Quinn got to work on the elephant in the room. 

The Elephant in the room

Quinn addressing the elephant. 

A few more hours of structuring and all that jazz at Panera, and we had almost a final product. I stepped outside Sunday night and seethed at the fresh air. Take me back. 

Well, on Monday we were! Call me bread cause I be at Panera ykwim. 

This time, we were really focused on cleaning up anything we needed. The night before, I kind of cleaned up the structure and color graded alongside Quinn, really just leaving the b-roll to put on. We also needed to write narration for the piece. 

Nico and I writing the narration

Frankly, Shakespeare could not have come up with what Nico and I wrote (dead for a bit). Aneesa recorded, and I plugged it in and leveled, and mixed it.  Finally, after finding a couple of images, I clicked Command M on my keyboard and exported. 

There is a valuable lesson to learn when you're the hare, but an even more valuable one when you're the tortoise. Basically, what I'm saying is I submitted at like 11:55.                       

 

Banger doc who wanna watch

I LIKE MAKING MEDIA

who up producing they doc right now

        

ISSSA PARADE INSIDE MY CITY YAAA

How it genuinely feels to make a banger documentary

Let's cover the production of my Faith documentary. Oh, I almost forgot. Guess what the title of the doc is. Guess. No, really, Guess. I'm waitingggggg.... Just guess ughhhhhhh. 

Ok fine 

ready 

3

2

1

"Faith"

Original right

Bang Bang doc gang, let's get started. 

On Friday, November 7th, the crew filmed Shabbat service for b-roll. We were kind of locked in there and got some insane shots.

    I made Nico Jewish for this shot

See, it's a nice shot because of the depth ooo woww

Speaks for itself, honestly

   

The next day, we got back to the grind. We headed back to the Temple to interview a Rabbi and a teacher. 

Who up framing they interview shots correctly

We used my Sony A74 and Quinn's Lumix S5 to film. We used Hollyland Lark M2's lavalier microphones for the interviews. I was the one asking the interview questions for the Jewish portions of production (surprise surprise).  The two pictured gave us great info, and the Rabbi especially gave us great insight into the Jewish perspective on community. 

Fast forward a couple of hundred years to the establishment of the catholic church, and I guess like 5 days to November 12th, where God themselves blessed this production. As I kind of alluded to in my frankly amazing piece of literature called the post before this one, we had a lot of issues trying to secure an interview with a pastor. I guess God was hesitant to be interviewed for an AICE Media A-level project. Big if true. We called around to see if any pastors were available, and one church nearby said that one of their highest-ranking pastors was going to be out of the office(church, which I guess could be the big man's office). However, they mentioned he was coming to our school for a prior engagement he had. 

I don't think you comprehend how insane this was. We thought our whole doc was going down the drain, and this man just happened to be coming TO US.  

When we heard he was coming to us

We got our stuff together and interviewed the hell out of him. Wait, I don't think I should say that about a pastor. Hmmm. Interviewed him... well? We interviewed him well! He gave us great insight into some biblical stories about faith, specifically the story of Aberham and Isaac.  

The man himself.

That day, we also interviewed the Assistant Professor in Political Science and History from NSU. She gave us amazing info on the psychology of it all. She also explained some of the facts about religion and religious thought. She really gave the context behind the whole doc, and I seriously do not think the piece would work without her. 

Yes, the irony of her background looking
like Heaven isn't lost on me

A Jew and 2 catholics step foot in a church. This is what happened on the 13th, when Nico, Quinn, and I went to interview our second pastor, Father Saul. 

Father Saul gave a lot of the same info as Father Omar, but he did have a good point about morality and Faith in general. In fact, his piece about faith was so good that it's the opening sound bite for the main portion of our doc. That day, we also got b-roll of the empty church. 

Cross 

Here, my friends, is my second encounter with the divine during this production. On what was an otherwise empty day at the church, one woman sat alone in a garden. 

Wow

She provided the perfect visual representation of sitting with one's faith. How lucky were we that she was there? 

Our last interview was with Aneesa's angel of a mother. She provided a voice for the community as a member of the church.

And to round out production, Nico and Quinn filmed Sunday mass on the 16th. This gave us a great representation of the community that the pastors were talking about. 

While they were doing that, I was editing. See, this, my friends, is what we in the industry call "foreshadowing." 

WE MOVEEEEEE