Virtuous: My first short film and my first attempt at using certain filmmaking techniques I hope to expand on in the future. This was a project I wrote relatively quickly, with everything that thematically happens in the short coming from whatever peaked my interest in that present moment. While writing this short, I remember being fascinated with morality and how it so clearly differs from person to person. One thing that you could find to be an atrocious act, another person could see as a normal, everyday thing. So my initial idea was to throw two sordid individuals into a situation where their morals differ just ever so slightly; everything else they see eye to eye on, but one difference in their morals throws the dynamic off between the pair. They are both criminals who have committed other obscene acts, but this idea that a family could be hurt during the robbery gets to Ringo. That burst of morality is just enough to bring compassion into his character, that he begins to question what they are doing, until he is ultimately convinced by Buck to do something that he knows is out of his comfort zone. Also, I wanted to explore the idea that if one tries to force themselves to live by a certain set of morals or rhetoric, it will simply be outside their human nature, it will no doubt lead to chaos. 

Another part of the exercise included working with these themes and trying to find emotion through shot selection and sound design, which I did on my own. I also wanted to try and mix different styles of filmmaking I have grown fond of in the past year to see how I enjoy the blending of styles. Overall, this was a very fun project. I got a group of high school friends to be my crew, so a special thanks to them. We were able to film this in about 6 hours over 2 days, with absolutely no budget, and I am very happy with how the exercise turned out! I hope whoever is reading this enjoys Virtuous

-Thomas Sorady