For my capstone, I made a short film, entitled, Splintered Wood. It’s a drama piece about a boy who tries to bridge the gap between two beloved family members who don’t like each other, while maintaining his own strong relationship with the two of them. The questions the necessity of familial love, and also wrestles with themes of the unit versus the individual. 

I chose this as my capstone because ever since my freshman year, I knew I wanted to make a short film, I just had no idea as to how I was going to pull it off, or what the short would even be about. 

Then  around my junior year, I wrote a script, and took a real liking to it. So much so, that I actually shared it with another breathing person. When I shared my script with others, they seemed to like it too, further solidifying the idea in my head that this was what I wanted to do.

I implemented the core values through spending two years in Digital Video inquiring and researching how short films are made. I had to collaborate with actors, and the presentation was the actual film. 

After preproduction, each step overlapped. After the script was written, I was doing script readings with one actor while shooting with another. Also, the entire time we were shooting I was editing, so production and postproduction were happening all at the same time. 

The biggest obstacle was scheduling. One of the actors had graduated high school, while the other two were still students, one of which was a junior who was always busy. Scheduling was very complicated, but when the stars would align, it turned out alright. 

The process was very stressful, mainly because I was doing this all on my own. I was directing, producing, editing, casting, working with the sound recordings, and scheduling all of the shootings. Sure, I had two years of experience with this, but when you’re truly on your own, it’s a different kind of ball game. 

I’m really proud of the work that was accomplished. Save for the actors, I did this all on my own. I’m really impressed with myself that I was able to do it because there were definitely times where I thought I couldn’t. 

I learned a lot about film production, with the biggest lesson being that a crew is as important to have than a cast. One person cannot do all of the work on the crew side of things. 

I think I would have taken some students from entry-level dig vid to have as a crew so that they could learn what it’s like to be a part of one, because that’s not necessarily something that we practiced all the time in dig vid. 

When I interviewed to become a student at SLA, I promised that I would bring people together, and I think I’ve done that through various projects that I’ve managed to pull off during my time as a student here. There are very view students that currently attend SLA that haven’t seen me do something weird or tell someone else to do something weird in the name of a film project. There are many ways to unify a community. Film was just my way of doing it. 

Tomaría un photo, y enviar eso a Pedro. Sería triste para Pedro, y enojado a Susana.

 ¿Le dirías algo a su novia?

No diría nada. Simplemente hablaría con Pedro.

¿Qué le dirías a Pedro?

Diría que el no puede confia estas mujeres. 

¿Tratarías de ayudar?

Si yo dijera algo, es ayudar.

¿Qué le recomendarías a Pedro?

Superarlo muchacho.

Yo, en su lugar, no sería hacer nada sin hablando con la novia.

Si viera a la novia de mi mejor amigo besando a su primo, tomaría un photo.

What went well?
- Our collaboration and process went well, as we all collaborated to present different data in the inforgraphic. It was also very easy to decide on how we were going to present the information. There were really no conflicts with any of the group members.
~I do believe that our infographic is an effective one. It shows all of the horrible things that happened to real people because fo the disaster.   

What did not?
- Our infographic could have had a better design, our picture got across but we could have expand the infographic with additional picture and text.
~One thing I think we should have done better was include more information about the destruction. We focused more on the things that happened to the people, but some information about the disaster probably would have made this better.

What would you do differently next time?
- Try to focus on a different aspect of the Love Canal Accident.
~Include some information about

Stephen Holts

“Oreos Are Just Cookies”

            “You’re so white!” One student would always say.

            “Yeah! Why don’t you act black?” Another would always chime in.

            “Or at least sound black!” Ever since fifth grade I’ve been subject to insulting remarks like those. But around sixth or seventh grade people started getting original.

            “Yo, you a Oreo. Black on the outside, but white on the inside.”

            I didn’t understand. How did I go from a person to a cookie? Asking questions like that led me to the most important one I’d ever ask. What exactly makes me white? It surely wasn’t my skin. Not to say that I’m especially dark skinned, but I’m dark enough to be incontestably African American, but I digress.

            My peers’ reaction to the question were all the same.

            “You just act and sound white. You’re black. You’re supposed to act and sound black.”

            After hearing this, I asked myself a question that I regretted not asking anyone. What does black sound and act like? What does white act and sound like? Maybe if I asked people this question, they’d realize how stupid they were being. I answered my own question. By observing my white peers and my black peers, I managed to compile a list of qualifications to be black, white, or an Oreo.

            If you’re black, you’re loud. You have a compulsive need to be the center of attention. You’re obnoxious, and if someone doesn’t agree with what you’re saying or doing, you’ll get in their face and scream at them. That’s what black sounds like. If you’re black and male, you’re good at sports. You’re at home with hip-hop. You know every word to every song on the last Lil’ Wayne mixtape, and you yourself can rap like no one’s business. You’re muscular and know how to fight. And because you know how to fight, you won’t back down from one. If someone gives you the faintest reason to, you’ll fight. You don’t need words. Violence are your words. Your words are for bragging after you’ve won the fight. Blacks don’t read. Blacks don’t play tennis. blacks don’t go to prep schools.

            If you’re white, you speak English like you came up with the language yourself. If you’re white you use big words. If you’re white you have the power of calling on any word in the English language and using them to impress whoever you want. Nothing means more to you than education. You’ll ask questions when in class, you’ll listen attentively, and do whatever your teacher tells you too. Rock and Pop are the only genres on your iPod. If you do have a rap song, you white it up by rapping in your high-pitched non-threatening white voice. Fighting isn’t for you if you’re white. You’ll avoid any confrontation that has the slightest possibility of leading to violence. However, you are undefeated in fights, because you use your words to either talk your way out of a fight, or you simply confuse your opponent, leading them to think you’re not worth it. You possess the power of manipulation, and can get what you want without doing anything yourself. You just stand back and watch your puppets do your bidding.

            Oreos are the scum of the Earth. They look one way, but they don’t act the way they look. They’re hypocrites who can’t accept that they’re born one way, and must stay true to that way until they die. They’re hated because they don’t follow the rules of society. Oreos don’t follow the rules blacks must follow. Instead, they follow the rules that whites are made to follow. Oreos speak proper English, don’t have a strict preference for rap, and avoid fights if at all possible. When pressed into a fight, like whites, they’ll talk their way out. They have very vast vocabularies and aren’t afraid to show it. Oreos love reading, and nothing pleases an Oreo more than discussing theories of books with people. Oreos aren’t the only skin traitors, there is also such a thing as an Uh-Oh Oreo.

Uh-Oh Oreos are white on the outside and black on the inside Uh-oh Oreos listen to rap, wear baggy clothes and speak fluent slang. Even though they’re white, they will call other people white if they act like it. They think like blacks and nothing disgusts them more than a traitor that acts different than they look. Which is funny, because they themselves are traitors. Uh-Oh Oreos follow all the rules that blacks are supposed to. They listen to the “right” music, they’re aggressive, and they’re “ignorant”. Any type of Oreo is a traitor because they don’t follow society’s rules of skin.

After defining society’s rules of skin, I realized why I was hated. I was different. Many people followed the rules of race, but I wasn’t one of those followers. I disturbed the racial balance everywhere I went, and to get everything back in balance, the followers of society’s rules had to make me feel bad about myself. They had to make me hate myself enough to change myself.

Through all of the pressure to change myself, I learned two important lessons. The first was that I am who I am, and no one is going to change that. The second is that society’s rules and expectancies of race are only real to the people that follow them. Giona Auzaldúa once said, “I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language I cannot take pride in myself.” I couldn’t agree more. Oreos are just cookies.