Dylan Cordivari - Capstone

Process Paper:

For this project I wanted to test my limits as a director, actor, writer and camera worker. I wanted to emphasize my leadership skills in a way that would not only help myself but help and benefit others and those around me. When this project started I had many visions that would and would not come to pass, but I never let that stop me. During the capstone process I created and designed my own production company with my own notorious crew of misfits making films and learning how to better our skills. We started out sophomore year as some friends with basic knowledge of film and the heart to keep learning. By the time I got to senior year I was looked up to in film by a lot of the under class intro students, so i took it upon myself as part of representing Bad Habbit' to SAT in my spare time for Herman's digital video intro class. I try to teach even the kids that aren't in my ILP that I instruct. With that being addressed I have strained to teach anyone who needs film help despite not having the time or energy to do so. I have been working hard to make films by writing, directing, filming and acting with Jesús, Joseph, Steven and Jenny. Aside from teaching, learning and making films we also wanted to try being more professional and scored ourselves our first film job where we filmed a party event for a company that holds parties and vacations for the mentally disabled. We filmed the whole event and edited a video for them to use and hand out to their customers and future customers. This gave me a lot of confidence in film and was something that made me strive even more for my future film career. 

    In the end I chose this as my capstone because it was a huge part of my life and my life as a student as SLA, without which I would never have started on the path of film. The project just sort of spoke to me, I wanted to teach and learn and make films that I could show people and be proud of. When i set out to do this project all I wanted was recognition for not just myself, but also for my crew. I wanted us to be known as the kids who were good with film and could help teach and train others to do the same. I chose this because it worked and was something I had been working on extremely hard and making it my capstone gave me more room to work on it and make it an even bigger thing that what it was when we started. The goal of this for me was to simply make something out of nothing and create something I was proud of. This project was not easy we ran into fights and other issues along the way, but we all came out of it having worked hard and created something great that we plan to continue to work on both in and out of SLA with and without rough cut through out our time together over the next few years. 

When it comes to the core values of SLA I think my capstone did a good job of covering all of them at once. Inquiry in our ability to strive to continue to learn film throughout the whole process, Research in the loads of reading, watching videos and learning hands on about film and the things i searched for for inspiration, Collaboration is evident from the shared capstone I had with Jesús as well as the students we worked with and taught, Presentation in the fact that we created videos that were presented to the public and shared all over social media and reflection in the fact that after we finished each film we talked about what we could improve or innovate so when we went to film our next work it would be better and would show that we are also getting better. This capstone was for us and also the students of SLA. 

When we set about creating this capstone I had already been working with the ILP and making films for two years so I had a very good idea of what I wanted to do. First was our company workers. I had to recruit a crew and that was going to be simple. I had Joe Tartaglia as my co-director, Jesús as my partner/ co-founder as well as chief editor, Jenny Cruz as my make-up and costume design and Steven Webb as one of my star actors as well as various extras. My next step was research for inspiration and skills. When inspiration struck Jesús and I would sit down and design a story and script after we finished this process we brought it to the crew and got ready to create our film we then went through pre-production and production phases. During post production jesús and I would sit down to edit our footage. Once we had a final product I would upload it to youtube.com Facebook as well as various other social media. This was our process through the year and on the side i would teach small lessons for choreography and film work to the crew so they knew what they were doing as well. This was a process throughout the year.

Throughout this process we encountered a lot of obstacles the ones that really hindered us were the amount of school work we had making a imbalance in time to work on the project. We also had an issue with teenage drama that did make for some very difficult working conditions. We also had a problem with technical issues that put us behind for time. We needed to fix these issue unfortunately we couldn't stop the course load of work so we decided to incorporate our digital video assignments with our company so we could have access to more people and better ideas. When it came down to drama we had to replace certain people or let people leave temporarily until things were better and finally for the technical issue we had to back up our files better and put a better lock down on our software and footage to keep it safe. 

When i was trying to complete my capstone I had to work hard and find lots of different things to help me as I went along. This was hard because I hate working really hard and its not always easy to find the right resources. I had to find something to help me with ideas and motivate me to keep doing what I was doing and although I found a bunch of small stuff along the way it seemed nearly impossible to find it. That s when it finally hit me and I had realized my best resource was right under my nose the whole time. I loved to watch Rooster Teeth Productions' videos and CG work as well as their podcasts and buy their merchandise. They were the perfect example of what I wanted our company to be like. They started as a bunch of video game playing friends that got together and made films using their video games and from there they went on to become famous and sell tons of their stuff as well as please a giant audience of viewers. I researched everything that they did over time so I could stay inspired and continue to aspire. 

The things I am most proud of about this capstone are my fellow students that I watched work super hard and get better and better as the year went by. This made me feel good about myself and the project because the thing I really cared about in this project was to make film and to help those around me do so as well. I learned so much from this process about myself and film and art as well as that with work, friendship and the mindset to do something anything is possible.  If I could do this project again I would have strived to not let drama get into the way of our work and I would have tried harder to please those around me so they had a easier fun time with the film we produced. SLA may not exactly be a better place because of me but I feel as if i brought at least some type of memorable flare to my work and to my friends around me and that is really all I care about. I hope that in doing this project I would have made more students comfortable making films and maybe even inspired some people to make films as much as I do. 

  

 Abstract:

  For this capstone I had a vision and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Although a lot of things changed during this process the hopes and dreams of my peers and I never faded. We set out sophomore year as two art students with a bunch of ridiculous ideas in our heads, Jesús and I built the show Dylan's dumpster and not long after with it a free form digital video ILP. We created a show and built up a cast. Once I realized that I was capable of making something like that I set out on a career path that no once has been able to stop me in. I work hard to press my limits in film and created my best work possible. I decided to team up with Jesús for a new project and once we built Members Only productions, he left and I had to build a new cast. Joseph Tartaglia helped me achieve this goal and became my new partner. Together we created and whole new line of short films and trailers for our audience amusement. That was the entirety of my sophomore and junior year. Senior year I still had the same dream and Joe had become just as motivated as me. I wanted to make a capstone that would be inclusive and would produce great work. Together with Jesús and Joe I set out to make Bad Habbit' productions our new company. We started making some new films right away that grew from digital video and our ILP sessions with other students. We filmed our trailer for a zombie film called complication Z to start up our new year and that became a great success to us. We filmed all over the city in random woods and abandon train track to in houses and school. I pushed my limits with my ability to work the camera to almost a perfection. I even make sure as part of representing my company that I take away my x2 lunch on occasion to help SAT Mr. Herman's digital video intro class. I like to teach as well as work in every other field of the job so I took this year to take up everything at least once. I worked with make up, directing, acting, filming, editing, stunts, prop making, choreography and script writing. This was a challenge but I loved every minute of it and teaching it to those around me made me feel even better. That was what I set out to do for this capstone I wanted to teach film while at the same time prove that with help I can produce a whole lot of funny and credible films. I do have visions for the future of coming back to further help teach when I have free time and helping joe run Bad Habbit' from the outside while he keeps the ILP running for the underclassmen including Marshal woodruff who will possibly be our future chief editor to take over for jesús if he accepts our offer. We wanted him to feel welcome in a community of film students that want to make films with him as well as Joe who will be taking over for me and some other future juniors as well as hopefully some sophomores that may be interested. This as well as our outside business working professional jobs is off to a great start, but it is still only a start we have worked hard this year and I have strived to make this as perfect as I could and I am very proud of the work my team has made and of my capstone's message and affect in digital video classes. 

Capstone Products:

- ​Cordivari , Dylan, dir. Cray-4: Regaining the fame. Bad Habbit' Productions , 2012. Film.  May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9EqyXperkE>.

- Cordivari , Dylan, dir. Complication Z. Bad Habbit, 2012. Film.  May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu_bV25u2TY>.

- Cordivari , Dylan, dir. Grande getaways: Christmas Party. Bad Habbit, 2013. Film.  May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcskgtSF4Es>.

- Cordivari , Dylan, dir. Joe's Fantastic day: Part 2. Bad Habbit, 2013. Film.  ay 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q7KhyJGZO4>.\

- Cordivari , Dylan, dir. A love found is a love lost. Bad Habbit, 2013. Film.  May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGhxXfu62VM>. 

- Cordivari , Dylan . "Bad Habbit's Productions channel."Itschannel69. Bad Habbit's Productions , n. d. Web. May. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/user/ItsChannel69>.


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