October 11, 2003 — The mission: Shoot Scene 4.

I was a video documentarian on the short film Outpost, written and directed by Stephen Deline, produced by Li-Wei Chu and Arielle Singh.

Among the content I created as part of this assignment was this very film. My goal was to show the process of making a student film from the point of view of an outsider, but a privileged outsider who was able to visit the set. I was influenced by The Beginning, a documentary about the making of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. I wanted a total fly-on-the-wall perspective. No talking heads, no interviews, no narration, no music, no self-congratulation. Just footage.

When I had to explain something, I did it with text. But even that was kept to a minimum. I never tell you what anyone's job is, or what precisely people are doing, or what this or that technical term mean. You have to figure that out for yourself. Or, at the least, come to this Web site and learn more about the film.

Deployed to Scene 4 is open and honest about the day's events. We shot. We shot all freaking day. A lot of work goes into making a scene happen, let alone a movie. And these are college undergraduates putting it together in their spare time. That deserves respect.

This was shot on October 11, 2003, a day on Outpost when the very complex Scene 4 was undertaken. Or, at least, parts of it. Scene 4 had to be shot multiple times from multiple peoples' perspectives. This made it a very interesting scene to document, because there's just so damn much of it.

Certainly I hope this film will put to rest any notions that moviemaking is easy or that film is a soft major. But most of all, I hope it fascinates someone in that rare and wonderful way when you just have to know more.