Preparing The Final Project

It was now the last class of the day for the second day of school and Patrick found himself in his Photojournalism class with his good friend Zack Bishop. As the class started the teacher started to talk to them about what they would need to do during the year as part of the class. The last thing the teacher mentioned was the final project.

“For your final project this year, I would like you to pair up into teams and either have a photo shoot or make an original movie. This will be a big part of your final grade, so it will be due near the end of school year. It would be good for you to start working on ideas now though.” The teacher said.

“I think we should do a movie. That sounds fun.” Patrick said as he looked over at Zack.

“I agree. What are you thinking? A mystery thriller could be fun.” Zack said.

“Yeah, it would be. It might be a bit hard to do though. I think a Rom-Com might be better. We won’t need as many props and stuff like that.” Patrick said.

“I can see that. So, we are set on a Rom-Com then?” Zack asked.

“Yeah, I think that will work.” Patrick said.

At that point the teacher got their attention and asked all of the groups in the class what they had come up with. Some of them came up with different kinds of photo shoots while others came up with fun movie ideas.

“We decided to do a Rom-Com. It won’t require as many props and stuff like that, plus, everyone loves comedy.” Patrick said.

“That is a good pick. I will give you all the rest of the class to come up with ideas and how you want to implement them. Good luck.” The teacher said as she went and sat down at her desk while all of the students got to work.

“So, who do you think we can get to join this movie?” Patrick asked.

“I think most of our two cliques will be in. Should we put it out to the public? We might need some adults and the more we put it out to the public, the more people we will get for parts which means we won’t have to settle for someone who isn’t that good.” Zack said.

“I like that idea. We should talk to our friends first and then we can go public with the movie.” Patrick said and Zack nodded.

Since the two of them were having fun coming up with ideas, the class went by in a hurry and soon enough the bell rang to signal the end of the day. Once Zack and Patrick were in the hall and walking toward their lockers, they both sent a text out to the rest of their friends telling them to meet them out by the beach since it was a nice day.

. . .

About 30 minutes later all of their friends had joined them on the beach and had spread out towels so that they could sit down. Soon enough Zack and Patrick worked for everyone’s attention.

“So, Patrick and I were given a project in our photojournalism class. We decided to make a movie and we were hoping that you guys would want to join.” Zack said.

“I’m in. Of course you already knew that though.” Madison said and Patrick nodded.

“I think it will be fun. I’m in.” Sharon said.

“I’m in as long as you make my character a strong-willed person like I am.” Sara said.

“Wouldn’t dream of any other type of character for you.” Patrick said and Sara nodded and possibly even blushed a little bit.

“I think Rory will join if you ask her. I will give it a shot too.” Brandon said.

“I think I would be more of a behind the scenes kind of person.” Sean said.

“We could use more crew.” Zack said and Sean nodded.

“I’m in. What about you Mason?” Lacey asked.

“I will give it a try.” Mason said.

“I am always up for something fun.” Asa said, saying that she was good for the movie.

“I’m in.” Bianca said.

“I will give it a shot.” Chase said and Jerome gave a nod in agreement with his friend.

“I’m in as well.” Kira said.

“I think this will be fun.” Sasha said as a way of saying that she is in as well.

“What about you Lisa?” Zack asked.

“Oh, I am definitely in.” Lisa said and Patrick and Zack let out a sigh of relief since they had a good start with getting their friends to join in in one way or another.

“Okay, so what do you guys need to do now?” Brandon asked.

“We need to start writing up a script. That could take a while though.” Patrick said.

“I would be happy to help with that. I am a good writer since I write stories for the newspaper.” Sasha said.

“I will help too. It would help to have someone from the drama team to help you write. I am sure that Rory would help too.” Madison said.

“She would love to help, I am sure.” Brandon said.

“Sounds like that is settled then. What else do you need?” Sara asked.

“Well, we will need more characters. We might need some adults. Maybe some of our parents or something like that. We might need some more people our age as well. Patrick and I talked about putting an invitation out there for people to see and let them know what we are doing and hoping that some people will be willing to help us out.” Zack said.

“So, you would be willing to work with people from Riverside?” Asa asked.

“I don’t see why not. It could be a good way to get things better between us and them. Kind of unify the city somewhat.” Patrick said and the group nodded.

“There are some cool people over there. I just hope none of their cheerleaders come. They aren’t the best at playing as a team.” Sharon said.

“We will make things clear on how things are going to go if any of them come. So, are there any more questions?” Patrick asked.

“Not really a question, but I could talk to some of the girls that I work with at the school newspaper and see if they are interested in joining. I think they might be.” Sasha said.

“The more people we have to come out the better. I won’t turn anyone down.” Zack said.

“Well, if they suck we might have too.” Patrick said.

“You know what I meant.” Zack said to Patrick.

“Yeah, I was just messing with you. So, anyone that wants to try out is welcome.” Patrick said.

“Good to know. What kind of characters are you thinking of for all of us?” Lacey asked.

“I am thinking that all of us might have a character that is kind of similar to us in real life. That will help with the ones of us who have no acting experience.” Zack said.

“I think that is a good way to go.” Kira said.

“Okay. Is there anything else that we need to talk about?” Chase asked.

“Not that I can think of. We are glad that you guys are willing to help us out with this.” Patrick said.

“What are friends for? Just let us know when you need some help and we will be there if we can.” Brandon said.

“Thanks guys. Sean, are you going to help us with the writing too?” Zack asked.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.” Sean said.

“Well, in that case, we want you, Sasha and Maddie to stay behind so we can start coming up with ideas.” Patrick said and the small group nodded in agreement that they would stay.

The small group ended up talking about a lot of stuff that they would like to see in the movie and they came up with ways to split the load so that everything wasn’t piled up on Patrick and Zack. Once they figured out what each person was going to do they decided that they would go their separate ways and started to do what they had planned. Maddie would see Rory the next day so she would tell her what was going on and give her the part that she would need to work on for the movie.

They decided to meet up again at the end of the week to see how things were going. They didn’t have to rush things, but they would like to get started as soon as possible. The next thing that needed to be done was to put the movie out to the public so that they would know who would need a part in the movie. They were going to write a lot of roles, with some of them not being as important, so that if they didn’t get someone for one of those parts, they could just cut them out all together.

Patrick and Zack were really pleased with the way that things were going right now. They didn’t expect all of their friends to join in in some way, but they were glad that they did. There were still some people in the school that they needed to talk to about joining the movie because they thought that they were perfect for some of the parts that they had in mind.

“Well, that went well.” Zack said.

“Yeah, it did. I didn’t think all of them would join in.” Patrick said.

“Me either, but I am glad that they did.” Zack said.

“Me too.” Patrick said as the two boys walked home so that they could work on the homework they got for the day and possibly start writing down some ideas for the movie.