[DMEC] Grand Prize Essay: From Legos to the Big Screen
Computers have been a part of my life almost since I can remember. Although I didn't know it, I was being introduced to digital media everyday, in many ways. I learned how to use the computer and most of its common uses at the same pace as my parents, but as I got older I began to explore more on my own and learned a lot about what the computer was capable of doing.
The thing I found I enjoyed the most about computers was digital movies. I first got into digital movies when I received Lego Studios for a Christmas present a few of years ago. This was no ordinary Lego set. Steven Spielberg endorsed it. It came with a USB webcam better than most out today and a very slimmed down version of Pinnacle Video Editing Software.
After installing the software and building the sets, my brother and I began making movies. With the help of some tutorials and ideas we had from watching many movies, we went to work filming, editing, and adding sound effects and background music. By the end of Christmas day, we had made almost twenty movies. This was some of the most fun I had ever had! When friends would come over we would split into teams and see who could make the best movies. Sometimes we would even have a specific genre, like comedy or action. After we had finished, we would all crowd around the computer and watch them. Most of the time we didn’t even worry about who had made the best video. We just had fun.
A couple of months after I got the set, I received a flyer about a Lego Studios Film Festival. It said they wanted a creative movie made with only real Legos and Lego Studios. Thoughts ran through my head about what kind of movie I would make. I had recently watched a couple of action movies, so I decided to make one. I wrote out a make-shift script and began to film. I made an excellent movie! It had everything that I wanted it to have: car chases, shootouts, and sound effects all with a sort of realism that I had never had before in my movies. Despite my hard work, I missed the deadline for the contest by one day. It crushed me. I didn’t stop making movies though. I just changed the type of movies I made.
That year, my brother received a digital camcorder for Christmas and we began to expand on what we had learned from Lego Studios. We started making real life movies by recording us jumping our bikes off a homemade ramp. I also took the camera up to my youth group where a lot of my friends skateboarded. They all wanted to be in the movies. Then while I was over at a friend’s house one day, we played with the idea that maybe we could start a series of funny home videos. We had seen a website like that and thought we were at least that good, maybe better. I would record him doing stunts and other things and then add some music and captions and make a little series out of it.
I went home and got the camera and began to work on what would come to be known as the “Chocolate Bubblegum” series. We found we needed more editing capabilities, so my mom bought my brother and me some real video editing software. I didn’t even notice that it was Pinnacle, the same software in a full version, that I had used with Lego Studios. I loaded our video onto the computer and began editing. Using the knowledge I had from making so many movies before, I was easily able to make a very good movie from the footage we had. I was even able to add music that I had downloaded from an online music store, iTunes. It fit perfectly into the background of the movie. While making the movie, I called my friend and told him we needed to have some sort of production company to make this series official and thus “PANIC! Productions” was born.
After we finished Chocolate Bubblegum Vol. 1, we needed some way to premiere the video. I asked my church youth group leader and he said that he would be happy to show it one night. I made all the last minute changes and then gave it to him to show. That Wesnesday night, the movie played and then something happened that changed me. Everyone clapped and cheered for the movie that we made. I loved that feeling and it caused me to want to make movies for the rest of my life. Not long after that, I began working on a website for PANIC! Productions with the knowledge I learned from my 4H Tech Team. I purchased the domain for the company, built the webpages, and uploaded them onto the internet. I also started working on finding a team to be the core people behind PANIC! Productions. Aside from my brother and me, the team consisted of the friend who helped me make the company and also a good friend of mine with great artistic abilities. He was in charge of the artwork. After creating PANIC! Productions and the first Chocolate Bubblegum, we worked on a second episode. Because of all of this, I have been asked to help make videos for the youth group announcements. I have also been asked by a number of people to teach them how to make videos with computer software.
All this has changed my perspective on how I watch movies now. I no longer just watch a movie just to see what happens. I also watch movies to see what kind of acting, sound effects and camera angles make the movie enjoyable and exciting. I now see the movies from more of a director’s point of view.
As I watch the movies I have made and see the reactions from the people who are watching, I can’t help but flashback to the days of Lego Studios and think about how far I have come and how much I have grown as a filmmaker. I definitely would not be where I am today without digital media. Who knows? Someday you may even see the name “John Payne” roll past on the big screen.
John P. lives in Athens, Georgia. He enjoys computers, playing the guitar with the Youth Praise Band and paintball on the weekends. This essay was a Grand Prize Winner in the 2006 Global Kids Digital Media Essay Contest. For more information, please visit GlobalKids.org.
