Although it didn’t get me to the freedom land, some people asked me to share with my personal statement. As someone who has gone through the college application shenanigans I know firsthand how confusing this stuff can be. So here’s a story about me and my friends filming a commercial for our social project.

Grannies on the silver screen

Although I really do enjoy the “Eureka!” moments of solving a complicated math problem or trying to understand the proof of a particularly subtle theorem, I always have been keener on getting involved in projects where my creativity can be put to use in real life situation rather than in an abstract reality of the mathematics.

So when I got an opportunity to shoot a commercial video with grannies, you bet I took it!

My friends and I had an idea of organizing a hobby club for the elderly in our city. We needed money, for which we participated in a national business incubator. Organizers asked for a commercial video presenting our idea, and that’s where I came into play.

I was given full creative freedom and control on this project, from developing the video’s idea to shooting and editing. It was an opportunity that I could not refuse because I got a chance to try myself in a role of a producer, writer, operator, editor, and director!

About forty frames of drawings on a storyboard, and I got a story of a pensioner who had come to our club and was happy to change his dull life in front of the TV at home.

Next comes the production - three locations, two days, but the main part was filmed in the local public library. Special thanks to the administrators who were kind enough to provide space. However, once we got there, I faced the hard truth of life - nothing ever goes according to plan…

Firstly, the “set” was completely different from what I had in mind. Secondly, our grandparents, who we initially invited to film, could not come! Luckily, one of our grannies called her friends who lived nearby to volunteer. But time was the biggest concern because we were shooting on a weekday, and we were risking big, as we had to finish everything by the time library closed at 6PM, and if we didn’t finish today, we would miss the deadline. Tick-tock…

I had to come up with something on the spot, which was quite an experience, to be honest. Although I was used to putting myself in stressful situations, this was different because I had to consider other people’s time. Also, I needed to be careful cause whenever I lead a project, it often happens that I get carried away in the process and almost begin giving combat orders, which older people probably would not have appreciated. But, well, I got people’s respect for it cause that’s what gets everyone working and the job done in time. Anyway, telling everyone what to do is what a project lead must do, isn’t it?

I had to make decisions and had to make them fast!

There is one particular shot worth mentioning from all the bits I filmed that day. The entrance to the library had a wide staircase with beautiful paintings on the walls, which I instantly knew I had to use, so I filmed our main character going upstairs. Besides being visually appealing, it greatly added to the story, building anticipation for the following sequence. I was so happy with the fact that I could use the environment and take advantage of the situation.

5:56 on the clock. We did it! Heading back home.

Although I had to make tons of compromises, the video turned out great! It even had visual effects. Even though I spent two hours on just a one-second sequence, it was totally worth it, and hey, thanks to that, now I know how to do a screen replacement in After Effects!

But the real feeling of accomplishment and joy came to me earlier when I got our grumpy grannies to laugh by saying a flattering compliment at the end of our shoot: “You should accept an offer to star in a movie if you’ll be getting any from Hollywood.”