A story of Self directed learning – Aswathy Movie Making

The story is very simple
She came with a dream of “want to make movies”. Initial few days did not took out the camera, one day shared “itching to do something with my camera”.
She came up with an idea of “a day at Aarohi” – took the brief, created the movie, got feedback, worked again just like that.
Few kids got together and created a movie out a story – just like that
Again they created a story and again shot a movie, with more detailed planning, screenplay, and shoot schedules, just like that.
The campus was converted into a movie studio – A story, scriptwriting, shooting schedules, shooting location, permission letters, actors scheduling, costumes, dialogues, lighting, daylight shoot, evening light shoot, props, moods, and the end, Just like that!
She created a few more movies, just like that
In between, shot a few more movies, travels and shot some movies, just like that
In between, done an online course in scriptwriting to polish her skills of scriptwriting, just like that.
She got introduced to deliberate practice, diligently made plans, and started working, just like that.
Likes screenplay, directing and editing movies, just like that
Done an online course on the screenplay and applies in the work, just like that
Eager to learn from anyone, just like that
Eager to teach anyone, just like that
Learning drumming, keyboard to add value in life, just like that
Likes cubing and want to be fast, just like that
Learning computer coding as a hobby, just like that

Thinks, dreams, plans, try, fail, try, explore, create and enjoy, just like that! Drumming, Archery, Cubing, Coding, Playing TT are just some of the interests, wants to develop just like that – and does it meticulously daily – plans every hour by self. Takes part in community sessions, part of most of the friendly mischiefs among peers, participates actively in community sessions, just like that.

She says “I am LIVING filming! Burning to do what I want to do – more energy, possibilities, and go deeper and deeper to create wonders! I am still not happy – want to take it to the next level! Not fully satisfied! Half satisfied, half not satisfied! I am not satisfied, looking for more!

And she got deeply into film making – created her own curriculum

-Watching movies: different languages and cultures, pick a word and count the times its being repeated, who says it the most, ask 50 different questions on the storyline.

-Reading: books, articles, poetry, directors blogs, movie reviews, read about science, history, inventions, Hollywood culture, issues, politics, geography

-Writing: short stories, observations, conversations, write from different POV like butterflies, ants, abstract writing like a word collage, dadaism poems, mixing different, non-related stories.

-Making a video: finding different people of all ages to critic it, debate on it

-Drawing: composition, color, larger surfaces like designing a set, do wall painting, paint the floor of a room

-People: psychology, listening to story(ask questions), observation

-Fashion: trends, evolution, around you, cities, movies, write observations of what people are wearing around you every day

-Watch the behind the scenes of movies

-Connect with other friends for movie reviews/ discussions, with different people and engage in conversations on different topics,

-Continue the film club.

-Review movies on historic mentions, costumes, set designs

-Debate with others on really obvious facts like the color of a leaf isn’t really green or water isn’t actually a liquid.

-Listen to interactive radio channels on Spotify, podcasts, debates

-Edit different movies to one video

-Analysis of advertisements and random 5 mins of movies

And Self Assessing

The format: [Task][More details of what I did]: [How useful I thought it was]

Rewatching Movies(Arrival, Trainspotting, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Euphoria): 50%

Shooting(One day – diagonal angles): 70%

Articles(Screenplay, Asian films, Cinematography, Making, Irony): 85%

Behind The Scenes(Aliens, Arrival, Euphoria): 80%

Observations(Fashion, Conversations): 60%

Conversations(Write theme and conversation): 80%

Storytelling effects(Psychology, Science): 85%

Film Club(He Took Off His Skin For Me): 85%

Emotion(Talk With a parent): 60%

Prepping For Debate(With a peer): 40%

Podcasts(Science of Storytelling, Cause Great Story): 70%

Camera Analysis(Arrival, Whiplash, Contagion, Parasite, Untraceable): 90%

Fashion(Vogue, Vogue.in,

Personal Blog): 75%

Things I want to continue:

Read Articles / Blogs / Behind The Scenes / Fashion

Observe Conversation

Podcasts

Camera Analysis

Watch Movie / Series

The week was definitely helpful, everything that I did was different from how I generally look at filmmaking and that created more depth to the learning process. But I feel like if I continue learning at this level, I won’t reach where I want to be and I’d like to start working and doing stuff to get there. For the next week I’d like to focus on my plans of what to do next and plan the weeks after that based on it. I’ll be doing some things from what I was doing this week but otherwise I won’t be focusing on filmmaking. This is the plan that I’ve made for the next week.

My Delta
Using camera

Past: Still figuring it out, playing around with a lot of controls and experimenting with different formats and resolutions.

Present: Have a basic understanding of the controls, experimenting to get different moods and feel and deciding on a resolution and format to best suit my purpose.

Editing software

Past: Comfortable with all the basic controls and workspaces, keen on working for hours on something and discovering other effects that I won’t commonly use.

Present: Using more shortcuts and still finding out more, using it for smaller tasks(more comfortable with it and in general, I use it more often.

Scriptwriting

Past: Reading a book and doing exercises and coming up with absurd ideas and things I’ve not thought about before.

Present: Read articles, reading other scripts, trying out different software, and watching analyzing videos.

Watching movies

Past: Watching around 1-2 a week, researching the about the director, identifying similar directors and films, and a little about the story of the film.

Present: Watching around 6-7 a week, 1 movie of different cultures, writing reviews seriously, watching a movie in a similar genre/style to understand it(example identify a director’s film if I’ve watched any of his/her films).

1. When I’m not sure if I have enough expertise in whatever I’m doing, I fear that I’ll not be able to stand out and make really good films which people like.
2. Me hesitating to interacting with people will become an obstacle later on when I have to work in a group.
3. Making a video/film that is very regular and not innovative is stopping me from making videos/films sometimes.
4. Thinking out of the box, putting together things I’ve liked from different films, and taking inspiration from my other interest might help me stand out. Thinking of a stranger as a person that I’ll be working with or potential friends in the future will encourage me to interact and start conversations. Also not thinking about the impression that I make on the other person will help. For making innovative videos/films, the more that I make, the better I get. That will motivate me to take risks and do more.
5. What helps me overcome my fear is thinking about the positive outcomes from whatever I’m doing and figuring out many ways to reach there.

When I’m in a state of fear, I can think positively, think about the positive outcomes that I’ve thought about before and keep looking for different ways that I can solve the problem with the skill I already have.

And self-assessment

• Gratitude: 8 (cause I can use films like an art form to express and convey stuff)

• Humor: 1 (I rarely use because I have no idea how to make jokes)
• Innovative: 9 (I’m always trying to do something new)
• Just: 7 (I’m trying to be just to the film medium and I keep getting better as I make more films)
• Kind: 5 (Sometimes I’m kind otherwise I keeping telling myself that whatever I’m doing isn’t enough. But I think that’s good, in a way because I pressure myself to keep improving.)
• Listening: 7 (listen to what other people are talking about in the film industries and even while working with other people)

• Mindful: 8 (I’m mindful about the details and different aspects when I make films, the angles, composition, cuts, audio, etc)

I get my appreciation when someone notices and sees something I’ve done and they communicate it. I don’t know if I really seek or expect to be appreciated, appreciation encourages me and pumps me up but I don’t really ask for appreciation. Recognition anyone makes a difference, film critics/people who know stuff about the film might be able to give deep and technical insights, the general audience will tell me what a general person watching my film is thinking, some things that a person that hates my film says will make sense so I can filter out the things I can improve on. I think what I want the most is people to feel something and connect to the film I’ve made, I see that as appreciation and recognition. I don’t think that anyone’s comment is worth rejecting. I just need to make sure that I don’t get emotionally affected by it and take it as feedback that will give me insight on what to improve.

Scriptwriting | Challenging Zone:I’ve set a pretty tight time limit to complete the script and set targets that include things that make me go to deeper depths and plan the film like I’ve not done before. I’m making the short film in the genre that I’ve not done before.
Watching movies | Challenging Zone:Right now, I’m watching genres that I don’t generally watch and starting to develop the habit of write reviews. It helps me analyze the movie in a broader sense as well as rate movies which I think I’m not really good at.
Rest of the stuff like coding, painting, fitness, dancing, portfolio, reading, etc:Comfort zone. I’m doing them cause I like to and not necessarily get better and I’ve not really set specific targets.