At the time it seemed just like an average Saturday activity to cure my boredom. But Maybe that’s how these things go; you never know what’s coming, until it hits you in the face. On that Saturday afternoon I did something with my brother and his friend that I hope I will be doing the rest of my life. That afternoon gave birth to a dream that I’m determined to reach. And at the time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

My brother Justin, his friend, Daniel, and I stood around in a typical stare-down-of-complete-and-utter-boredom desperate for something to waste our time with. Suddenly, I remembered a present that I got for Christmas, a tiny, low quality camera that seemed to add a purple-ish tint to every picture I took. Justin and Daniel were funnier than the average 4th graders, so I decided that we should make a movie together. Reluctantly, they agreed to film a short video with me. Of course, my camera’s video-taking abilities were below Hollywood quality material, meaning that it didn’t even have a microphone. We creatively stole the Wii microphone, previously used to sing High School Musical songs, and attached it to my computer. We decided to film a spoof of American Idol mainly because the microphone we had to carry around to record sound would make sense in an American Idol type video. Armed with a cheap camera, a High School Musical microphone, and the optimism that can only come from three ignorant children, we set off to create our award-winning video. Filming was so much fun. The boys dressed up in outfits that would stop fashion police dead in their tracks from across the street. Daniel rocked a leopard print hat and Justin went around in a sparkling pink vest. They danced around the basement on the soft carpet singing covers to pop songs and played outrageously silly characters. The boys never sat still during the entire filming. They constantly ran around the basement screaming; thankfully, the microphone didn’t pick up their high-pitched fourth-grader shrieks. The video ended up being about a lot of strange people auditioning for American Idol and of course we made it as crazy as possible. Daniel dressed up as Simon Cowell and spoke in his best British accent. Justin refused to sing for the camera, so he poorly mouthed the lyrics to “We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical. I stood in front of them holding the camera, a position I would grow to love as time went on, watching as they laughed and smiled. Every so often, I would have to guide them to help the filming go smoothly, but I enjoyed that part the most. I liked directing the boys around and being in control. The film ended with Simon Cowell earning a punch to the face after declaring himself the winner of American Idol.

After filming, came editing. Anyone who edits videos knows how annoying and tiresome it can be to edit your movie. But, this was my first time; I had entered a whole new world, complete with Aladdin and Jasmine signing in the background as I scrolled through what I thought were endless options on Window’s Moviemaker. I began on my editing journey, finding out that videos were not made in a few clicks of a button, as I had previously thought. But, the hard work made me appreciate the video even more. I really got in the “editing zone” while making the video and even added a commercial break featuring Billy Mays. After I finished the video, I eagerly showed it to Justin and Daniel. We thought it was the funniest thing in the world. The video ended up being quite confusing and skipped around from scene to scene, but that didn’t matter to us. Of course, we presented the video to our parents, who claimed we were the next Steven Spielbergs of our generation. As I basked in the glory of my first film, I realized how much I really loved it. Not the video itself, but the process of filmmaking. I liked planning out the video and envisioning each shot. I enjoyed editing and perfecting the videos. I wanted to do it again.

Overtime, Daniel, Justin, and I became a group of adventurous filmmakers. We made videos like a Sherlock Holmes spoof, featuring even worse British accents than the American Idol video, “Twisted Tales,” which was our own spin on classic fairy tales, and we even tried to produce a short super-hero film. We also continued to improve our videos and equipment. My mom won a flip camera in a raffle at work, and I adopted it to be my own. Unlike most 6th grade girls, I didn’t want new shoes for my birthday; I wanted a new editing program. I even got my dad to paint my wall green to make a homemade green screen in my room. All these things continued to add up and our videos really improved. After a while, I started to make videos with my friends and slowly it became our favorite activity. I made new friends because of my new hobby and those are some my closest friendships because of our interest in the same things.

Now, I can look back on the date of my first filming with three years of experience behind me and I can honestly say that the video was horrible. The video had not plot or story, the camera was shaking throughout the whole film and the cheap microphone frequently made a “pop” noise from the extreme amount of volume. However, I’m still incredibly proud of it. It was the beginning of something totally new for me. Now, I want to be a director when I grow up. Making videos has had a very positive impact on my life. My best and stupidest memories come from filming with friends. I’ve spent countless hours editing with the soft glow of the computer screen shimmering on my face. Even my friends have dedicated time to making these silly videos with me. It was and always will be totally worth it. When I look back at our American Idol spoof, I think about how far I’ve come, and how far I have to go. I no longer stop at “good enough,” I’m determined to improve and learn from past experiences. And no matter how many times I watch old videos I made, I will always be proud because I made it. If you can’t be proud of what you make, how will you ever be successful?