In Samantha's Mind

The Documentary

I stared at the white piece of paper I had been given in my digital film making class about a week ago. It wasn't some ordinary piece of paper with a typical class assignment written on it. No, this paper contained information far more important than any assignment in this class. It had the requirements to this year's digital film making competition that my school district holds every year. I had won first place for the past three years with my best friend, Daniel. We wrote, directed, and filmed each winning film together, but this year was going to be different.

I had read the requirements over and over again just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Each time proved my previous read to be correct.

This year they weren't allowing the films to have co-creators.

After I had finally accepted that the printing on my paper wasn't some sort of mirage, I talked to Mr. Barracks, my digital film making teacher. He explained that the district members who created the competition decided that they wanted to challenge the digital film making students and see what one student could create on their own. This was really going to challenge me since I find it hard to work on my own when it comes to film making. Sadly for me, this wasn't the worst part. Only one film per school was allowed to be entered into the competition. They will choose two runner-ups to display at the competition, but only one film from each school will be chosen to not only be judged by the heads of the district, but also represent my school's filming department, and my ambitions to be a film director. This meant I was competing against my best friend to get the top spot and be considered the best filmmaker at my school. This was bad, but still things continued to get worse. Mr. Barracks told us the theme of this year's competition was going to be documentaries.

That was the worst possible thing the district could do to me. Out of all the different types of film genres, they chose the one I was the worst at. I had to create a film based solely on facts. Fiction was my strength, but Mr. Barracks said he knew I could do it. I didn't agree with him at all.

I continued to stare at the paper, hoping that inspiration would come to me. Nothing. Not a single idea came. I decided to call Daniel. I knew he wouldn't help me with my predicament, since we're competing against each other, and Daniel and his family are seriously competitive, so Daniel would not be willing to help another competitor. It didn't matter if the competitor was one of his best friends. Helping the "enemy" was a bad idea in his family's mind. I just wanted to know if he had come up with anything for himself or if he was struggling as much as I was.

I listened to the phone ring as I waited for Daniel to pick up the phone. I hoped that it wasn't his father or anyone else because I always sound very awkward when they answer the phone. Daniel doesn't have a cell phone, so to contact him one would have to either e-mail him or call his home phone.

"Hello?" Daniel said, when he answered the phone.

"Hey, Daniel, it's Liam," I said, relieved.

"Hey, Liam, what's up?"

"Um, I was looking at the requirement sheet for the digital film making competition this year, and I was wondering if you had come up with an idea for yours."

"Yeah, I have, and I was just about to call you and ask the same thing."

I sighed. "To be honest, I haven't. I can't think of anything interesting to film about."

"Don't worry, Liam. Something will come to you."

"Thanks, Danny. You're the best."

"You're welcome. Well, I need to go before my dad finds out I'm talking to you. You know how he gets about competitions."