Gian DiManna

Ms. Reaves

Capstone/Senior Film

May 6, 2019

Perception

My capstone has been a central part of my senior year. I’ve been carefully listening and

utilizing the skills I’ve learned in Ms. Reaves’ film class, but it goes so much deeper than just

another class for me. I was able to cover a topic that is very near and dear to my heart.

Performing magic. Magic is more than a hobby to me, it’s a living, breathing, and very real part

of me. I wanted to see how magic not only affected me, but also other people. How others

perceive magic, hence the title “Perception”. I had my story, I had my own ideas of what magic

is and what it means to me, But I needed other people’s inputs and their own views of what it is.

Magic wasn’t easy to show on screen and I had to figure out how to showcase and film an

otherwise “secretive and deceptive” art. Hence the challenges I had to face. For instance, I had

to brainstorm and find tricks, sleight of hand techniques, and visually entertaining tricks that are

good for camera and also tricks that do not solely focus on misdirection, because well, you can’t

misdirect a camera. The preproduction work was important because I had to really think about

angles and other factors for different tricks that were realistic to show without revealing a

method. The actual shooting was quite fun, because I had told my cameramen about what I

wanted and how to set up the camera. Also, getting in contact with different interviewees was

actually a lot easier than I had anticipated.When I was recording some B-roll, I was able to set

up a camera and just do some tricks and practice some sleights. It looked really good as well as

allotted me time to practice for future performances. The post production was probably the most

tedious part of this process. I had to figure out timing with my clips and also cut some material
that was really hard for me to cut, but was also just another way of saying a point I was trying to

make. I would spend multiple class blocks just on audio and cutting. I’m a very expressive

person and I love storytelling, so cutting some of the parts was difficult but necessary. It felt like

I was taking away a part of the story when I was cutting parts when I would talk a little too much

or go in detail about a little too much. Overall I was very satisfied with my film and I am

extremely proud of it. It’s my little art baby. This film not only reignited the fire to keep pursuing

and performing magic, but it also really reinvigorated my interest for filmmaking. I truly hope that

my film was an effective means to get my story out and inspire others to do what they love and

to find their own definitions of magic.