The Real Z

Table of Contents

• The Z. Crew
• Brainstorm Rainstorm
• School Daze
• Coffee Talk
• Lights, Camera, Action!
• Showtime
• Total Pro
• Rainy Week Blues
• Sneak Peek
• What’s Your Story?
• The Real Me
• “The Horrible Homework Hacker”
• My Big Night
• A Fresh Start

The Z. Crew

Suzanne, more commonly known as Z, peers through her camera viewfinder, savoring the two seconds before she presses record, when her palms sweat and her heart races more than her dalmatian, Popcorn, before a walk. On her bedroom floor, best friend and production partner, Lauren McClain, poses Z’s Kit Kittredge doll in front of a papier-mâché mountain Lauren made from recycled newspaper painted brown with flecks of gold, and a pad and pencil she crafted from sticky notes and a straw. The two are shooting their AGSM (American Girl Stop Motion) video about the California gold rush for a social studies project, an idea born over lunch when they realized homework could double as fun. Once Z likes the shot, she pulls on her purple knit beanie, her good-luck charm, calls “Action!”, snaps the photo, and calls “Cut!”

While she shoots, Z is also filming herself on a second screen for a new segment, “On Set with Me, Z!,” a how-to guide about making stop-motion videos, recorded inside the very shoot itself. She tells her webcam that a one-minute video takes more than 700 individual shots, and that every one matters. Lauren, who dislikes being on camera but loves the process, chimes in about their “award-worthy props.” Z zooms in on the mountain, joking Lauren will win an Oscar for set design, which sends Popcorn barking and leaping happily (popcorn is also Z’s favorite snack).

Z walks her viewers through her Brainstorm Board, a whiteboard covered in colorful notes and magazine cutouts where ideas start before she storyboards and lists every step: props, sets, costumes, audio. A good director, she says, is nothing without her crew. She grabs a piece of caramel popcorn from the bowl Lauren holds. It was Lauren’s idea to stand in for “gold.” They’ve been working on the five-minute film for three weeks. Z reflects on how far she’s come since her friend Mari showed her a stop-motion AGSM video online a year ago. She made her first short, “Samantha and the Saga of the Dropped Ice Cream Cone,” that same night, and her videos now draw hundreds of thousands of views online.

A crunching sound interrupts them. Popcorn has snuck into the “gold” bowl and eaten every kernel, leaving Z and Lauren laughing as they wrap the shoot.

After dinner, Z plans to edit the footage for Mom and Dad to approve before posting, since Dad always reminds her that anything online can never truly be taken back. As they pack up the props to keep them safe from Popcorn, an email notification pings on Z’s computer. It’s from the CloudSong Seattle Film Festival. CloudSong has accepted her into its Young Filmmakers’ Contest and invited her to make a ten-minute documentary about her life in Seattle. The top two entries screen at the festival, first prize is $1,500, and the festival grants $300 for equipment or filming permits. Lauren is thrilled and insists Z is already a great filmmaker. Z corrects her to “we,” since they’re a team. With six weeks to finish, Z feels equal parts nervous and excited, having never taken on anything this big. Lauren, ever her biggest cheerleader, bets she can do it in five weeks, then heads off for her math homework. Before leaving, the two film a quick video message on Z’s bed, with Popcorn squeezing into frame, teasing their friends Mari, Gigi, and Becka with the big news and promising more details tomorrow.