Final Brief

"Competitive, Much?" — The Finished Opening

When Nicole and I started this project back at the beginning of the year, the version of Competitive, Much? that existed was a two sentence idea about two Hispanic teenagers competing for an achievement award who bumped into each other at a park. What exists now is a two minute film opening with a complete narrative arc, professional color grading, a voiceover, physical comedy, and a title card. I genuinely did not fully believe it would look the way it does until I watched the finished edit back.

I want to be honest because I think it's important. The production process was messy because we lost filming days to weather, we lost a week when three of our four cast and crew members were at a competition in Tampa. Eid meant I had almost no time to edit when we finally had all the footage and Nicole couldn't access Premiere Pro a long while. We never managed to get Evan a proper hockey stick prop because by the time it became urgent, sourcing one quickly at a reasonable price wasn't possible. There were setbacks at almost every stage of this project, and there were moments where I genuinely wasn't sure we were going to finish in a way I was proud of.

Then I watched the finished cut and I was in awe. The golden hues of the late afternoon park footage look exactly like the warm, soft cinematography I spent weeks researching in rom-com openings. The banter between Nadia and Evan in the argument scene has a rhythm and energy that feels cinematic, and to me, it doesn't read as a student film, it reads as two actors who understand their characters and are having a real conversation. The voiceover Nadia recorded sits perfectly in the mix, drawing you into Audrey's perspective before you've even seen her face properly and physical comedy of the ball scramble is funny. The falling moment is quiet and affecting in exactly the way we planned it during those early storyboarding sessions.

I am proud of this film and I'm proud of what Nicole and I built together, and I'm proud of what Nadia and Evan gave to it. Competitive, Much? is not perfect, no student production is,  but it is something I can look at and recognize the craft in, and that's something I didn't know I was capable of at the start of this year.

Below is the finished two minute opening sequence of Competitive, Much? by NZ Studios. We hope you enjoy just as much as we did making it. 

Credits:
Directed by — Zunairah & Nicole
Produced by — Zunairah & Nicole
Written by — Zunairah & Nicole
Director of Photography — Zunairah & Nicole
Edited by — Zunairah & Nicole
Title Card Design — Zunairah & Nicole

Starring: Nadia Nicolas as Audrey Daniels Evan Ventura as Mattias Salomon

A NZ Studios Production