Little Jane's Big Project

It is a chilly afternoon, and I am standing in my living room with a kindergartener. A young brunette with green irises, she lives in the same neighborhood as me. Today, she accosted me on my way home from the campus and requested my help with her project. Seeing the determined passion in her eyes, I agreed, and together we went back home. Upon reaching home, I gave my mom a tight hug and told her about little Jane, who accompanied me back. I asked my mom to check in with Jane's mom and left to get freshened up, leaving Jane with my mom.

Entering the kitchen for lunch, I saw my mom and grandma talking to little Jane, who was explaining something with wild gestures. Smiling, I grabbed my plate and sat down. The warm aroma of the meal wafted through my nose, and I couldn't wait any longer, so I started eating. There is no comparison for a warm homemade meal. After finishing up and placing the plates on the rack, I told Jane, "Let's get started," and watched her take the plate of cookies and follow me into the living room. I asked her for the details of what she wanted for the project and her ideas. That was all it needed, and she burst out with a rough idea of creating a short film for her Creative Art project.

From what I was able to gather from her long rambling, she is a passionate young filmmaker looking for an adult to help her make a short science film and also record behind the scenes of her creative process to show at her school. I had a pretty solid idea to further refine her plans, and it is all because of a pretty excellent medium writer you all may know; Doc Sherwood. So, we finalized the plans to make a futuristic sci-fi short film set in a dystopian world, keeping it simple and kid-friendly.

Together, we planned intricate set designs in a corner of my backyard garden and rented a few costumes to bring the vision to life. As I was setting the shuttle made of cardboard, I saw Jane documenting every step of the process in her heart-shaped pink notepad. I let her arrange the scene while I finalized the script of pre-production, filming, and post-production. Letting little Jane record behind-the-scenes while sharing her initial concept and script-writing process, I was sure that she will have a solid future in film-making.

The most difficult part of this process was creating a compelling story and building a believable world on a limited budget. Coming out of my thoughts, I saw Jane skipping around with a camera in hand, filming the now complete three sets for the film. The lack of crew members was another hurdle, but we managed to coax the two other kids; Max and Alice, with cookies to help us. Donning the costumes, the filming process began. Three hours later, we were done with the filming. Max and Alice bid us goodbye, taking the cookies with them.

After cleaning up and returning the costumes and props, we got to the final part: the post-production. I helped Jane with editing, adding visual and sound effects, and I must say, it came out great. Handing her the CD with the film, I asked her to stay for dinner, but she was excited to show her hard work to her parents, so I agreed to drop her off. She gave me a hug, thanking me before running to her mother.

Now, laying in my bed at night, I think the behind-the-scenes vlog that Jane made will definitely give her teachers a deeper appreciation for her creative arts project. It may also inspire her classmates and push them into film-making, where they will bring their own creative visions to reality. I am pretty sure she will get an A on her project, but let's wait and see.