Project by: Emma Brunner (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: Stephen MacGillivray
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Catherine Zhong

Description of the Project:

For my honors project, I wanted to create a mockumentary! Popular, focuses on Messi, a teenage boy who is on his way to fame; or so he claims. Running through hallways, disrupting classes, loud TikToks, awkward jokes, and a big ego, Messi is a menace to everyone. The only one that seems to keep up with his antics and stay by his side is his best friend, Molly. Soon enough, Messi’s ego gets the best of him, and his friendship with Molly starts to crumble. Popular is a funny, upbeat, quirky, and heartwarming story of friendship and ambition, and of course, what it really means to be “popular” along the way.

My Poster: 

Final Reflection on Project:

Overall, I had an amazing experience making this movie! It was so much fun to experiment in a genre I had never before, and use new equipment and shot techniques. Mockumentaries are unique for the special in the way in which they are filmed as well as their carefree nature. It was a challenge, but also invigorating to work on this and really put the time and effort in. It was unfortunate that there were challenges with filming time due to COVID, but I hope that in the fall this becomes easier. I’m really determined to make this movie great and a good laugh, and I hope that one day everyone can see it. I have a lot of footage to work with, and I am confident that I am on the right track to making the best mockumentary the school has ever seen! 🙂 

Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3

For weeks one through three, I worked on coming up with the idea and what characters I would want in my storyline. I went through a wide variety of possibilities, considering more serious films or even documentaries instead. I decided to go with a mockumentary because it was something I had never done before. I love mockumentaries! They’re funny, heartwarming, and give a personal and realistic atmosphere when watching, while still remaining fiction. This is what drew me most to settling on this genre. I knew I wanted to create a fiction film, but I still wanted a realistic aspect to it. This was the perfect choice. 

After choosing the genre of film, I had to come up with a plot. I thought a lot about the materials and setting I had. Since I would be doing the majority of my filming at school, I wanted to create a movie there as well. I thought about the past mockumentaries I had watched in the past, and the type of quirkiness they each had. A mockumentary often stars the most quirky person you can think of, and then includes interviews from characters around them. Since my set was a highschool, I knew that my main character should be a quirky character. I thought about the typical stereotypes of highschool students; “nerds,” “jocks,” “preppy.” Coming to highschool, I soon found out that these stereotypes I had grown up watching in movies did not exist. That is when I thought of the idea Popular. I would create a movie set around the stereotype of popularity. I drew up a summary, plotted out my scenes, and of course found my characters.

Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 : 

Weeks four through six were solely focused on filming and getting my actors ready. Since we could only come into school twice a week, it did prove quite difficult to get all the footage I needed. Slowly but surely, I began to go around school during breaks and any free time I had with my actors, running back and forth between the school and Stephen’s room. For equipment, I used a standard film camera, a tripod, a boom-mic, and a shoulder mount; something I had never used before in the past. 

Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 

In weeks seven through nine, I ran into some troubles with uploading and audio, so a lot of my footage got deleted. Unfortunately, this set me back a few weeks so I didn’t finish getting all the footage I needed and continuing onto editing like I initially planned. For these weeks, I continued shooting interviews with people around the building and getting as many shots of Messi as I could. We ended up getting a lot of good footage that I am excited to continue editing and working on in the fall.