Freestyle Academy proudly presents
2016 Innovator Project by DavidN

The purpose of the Senior Innovator Project is use your own passion to innovate, create, and develop your own project.

Project Proposal

To create a half hour time slot in an SNL format; to create a TV show pilot with an arranged series of comedy sketches with a central host to the show. Jessica Makower, Willem Geier and I are making a TV show episode from scratch.

Project Productions

Read my research paper

Project Reflection

My Innovator project was a 30 minute (roughly) SNL type skit show. My inspiration of course came from the late night tv comedy show called Saturday Night Live, most commonly known as SNL. I've been watching SNL for about 5 years straight, observing and laughing along, wishing I could be there to watch it live.

For my innovator research paper the underlying question was if Aristotle still lives in Comedy today. From this research process i learned how comedy can be portrayed in many different ways, through many different genres. These genres include Black, Slapstick, Romantic, and Satire Comedy. The expansion of these categories was reflected through my screenplay writing which was step one in the process of making the 30 minute Comedy production. Learning about Aristotle and his teachings helped me understand the values of comedy and how to use it to my advantage when planning and writing each skit.

Of course this project was such a big task it couldn't have been done without the collaboration of others. My group was comprised of two other students, Willem Geier, and Jessica Makower. Our overall collaboration and teamwork was extensive and lasted throughout the whole project. Starting at stage one with our screenplay writing, we would bounce idea after idea off each other to get a general sense of what we wanted to write and include. In addition to this, we would also have to collaborate when it came time to filming everything. At each shoot, we would compare our ideas about the setup for each shot and frame. This group collaboration eventually led to our finished project which I believe is what we envisioned it would be.

If I could do this project over, the only thing I would change is how I managed my time overall. Our schedule was not planned out to the extent that it needed to be. Although our finished project was the result of many hours of editing and filming, I believe we could have added some major details including things like a live band and a repetitive host that pops up in each skit. These details could have made our production more realistic and lifelike which is essential when replicating a show like SNL.

My most improved 21st Century skill was editing and fashioning most of the skits. The countless hours spent editing gave me the practice I needed, before heading off to college and studying the art of film. During this project i learned things such as live editing, and many other tools through the program Adobe Premiere Pro. In comparison I would have to say my least improved 21st century skill would have to be screenwriting. Although my writing skills are fairly strong, my storytelling skills have not improved in the way i would have liked them to. When writing I would tend to second guess myself. In addition to this, comedy itself is one of the hardest things to write because it takes imagination and creativity, which is what was limiting me the most.

This project has made me realize the amount of hours that are needed in order to produce a quality film. This is one of the major values that I will be taking away from this project as a whole. In accordance to this, I have taken away the lesson of time management. Time is very precious when it comes to a project like this. If not managed, it is very easy to fall behind.

This Semester I have innovated my own education through learning the true effort that is needed into producing a 30 minute show production. Filming and writing combine to create enough work for a whole city. This process can only be put into context for one's self if a person actually does it themselves and tries it out, which is what I did. By learning how to balance all of these skills while at the same time producing a quality production is how I innovated my own education this semester.

The Innovator project has provided me with a piece of mind. This project has made clear to me that I want film to be in my life one way or another when I graduate in the next few months. Along with this, I have decided to minor in cinematography which in return will open up doors in the film world for me as well as in my own life. I would say I value this project on more of a personal level because of how much I learned, and what it means to me most.