| An Aspiration to Excel | |
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 2015 White House Student Film Festival Honorable Mention | |
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Directed by |
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Written, filmed and edited by |
Scott Pincus |
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Starring |
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Music |
Lászlo vén Parademics Steve Jablonsky |
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Studio |
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Preceded By |
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Followed by |
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Release Date |
January 16, 2015 |
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Reception |
100/100 |
An Aspiration to Excel is an short film directed, produced, written and edited by LordStarscream100. It is the indirect sequel to The EdTech Enterprise, which was an entry to the first annual White House Student Film Festival. The film was an entry to the second film festival, and was released on January 16, 2015. It stars returning cast members Gabe Sagherian and Michael Robinson, with Ryan Bowman joining the cast. The film addresses the "impact of giving back", and unlike the first film, which was based around a lecture, serves as a narrative. The film was released on January 16, 2017.
On March 17, it was confirmed that the film received an Honorable Mention in the festival. A showing of the film took place on March 20 on Scott's high school morning announcements. He and Gabe were present with the principal, who presented Scott with a certificate in honor of the achievement. Another sequel was planned for release in January 2016, but complications with the White House festival resulted in its cancellation. Instead, The Best of West, released in May 2017, was declared a spiritual sequel to the film.
Synopsis[]
The film opens up in a school hallway, with Ryan (Ryan Bowman) at his locker. He raises up a failed math test that he took the previous day, and then stuffs in in the top of his locker. His friend, Gabe (Gabe Sagherian), routinely meets at his locker at the end of each day. As the two friends walk together, Gabe offers to help Ryan improve his falling grades. Ryan reluctantly accepts his assistance.
Gabe leads Ryan to the school track, where Gabe explains that he uses it as a means of relieving stress. Whenever he feels stressed, he takes a run there and clears his mind out, setting aside his obstacles temporarily so that he can focus ahead on one of his goals. In doing so, it's possible to make steps to achieve that goal. He tells Ryan to do the same thing, as Ryan is getting distracted in his classes. Gabe and Ryan run a lap around the track together, and afterwards Ryan says he thinks it helped.
A year later, Ryan is taking a run outside of his high school, likely to relieve some unknown stressor. After running halfway around the campus, he sees a fellow student, Michael (Michael Robinson) having a conversation with someone over the phone. Michael states the fact that his grades are falling too quickly and he feels helpless to change this. Ryan approaches Michael and tells him that he may be able to help. Michael looks up at Ryan, hopeful.
Production[]
Because the topic of the White House Student Film Festival isn't announced until the end of the year, the second annual one was not announced until November 2014. Up to that point, Scott expressed his interest in making a sequel, although he had no idea what it would be about, nor when it would be released (although he always speculated it would be in January 2015).
On January 5, 2015, Scott confirmed that the sequel is set for release on January 16, 2015, and that it will serve as an indirect sequel to its predecessor. He also confirmed it will adopt more of a story-based tone instead of a lecture. Gabe Sagherian, Michael Robinson and Cameron Nicholson, all who appeared in the first film, were initially being considered to join the cast of the sequel. Ryan Bowman and Russell Parkinson were also considered to be joining the cast as well. On January 6, Scott confirmed that Gabe had officially signed onto the film.
On January 8, Scott confirmed that Ryan and Michael are set to fill out the rest of the film's cast, with Michael's role being minor and Ryan playing a major character alongside Gabe. Scott also revealed the film's title as An Aspiration to Excel. Filming started on January 9, and wrapped on its second day, January 14. The film was released on January 16.
Two months later, on March 16, Scott found out that the film will receive an Honorable Mention in the 2015 White House Student Film Festival. The film was shown on the morning announcements to Scott's high school several days later on March 20.
Reception[]
Two weeks after its release, the film became LordStarscream100's third most-viewed short film, with over 250 views, behind The Search for the Creepy Guy in the Woods (320 views) and How to Avoid a Creepy Guy in the Woods (420 views). On top of that, it is LordStarscream100's most critically-successful short film, gaining 14 likes and 0 dislikes and surpassing The Search for the Creepy Guy in the Woods, which has gained 11 likes and 0 dislikes. It has been deemed a success over its predecessor, which gained around 160 views, 3 likes and 0 dislikes.
On February 3, the day after the 2015 White House Student Film Festival ended, the video surpassed The Search for the Creepy Guy in the Woods as LordStarscream100's second most-viewed short film, reaching 350 views. On February 5, it passed 400 views. On February 7, the film officially passed How to Avoid a Creepy Guy in the Woods, becoming LordStarscream100's most successful short film of all time. On February 12, the film officially passed 500 views. On February 26, the film officially passed 600 views. On March 16, two months after the film's release, it passed 700 views. On March 20, the day of the film's showing at LordStarscream100's high school, the film passed 800 views. On March 23, the film passed 900 views.
Cancelled Sequel[]
On March 21, 2015, Scott confirmed that a sequel was due for release in January 2016. However, at the time he assumed the third festival would be held around then. By October 2015, no announcements had been made about the festival. By January 2016, with no mention or news of the event, it seemed the film would not be made. On May 1, Scott found out that the third White House Student Film Festival had officially been announced, and that the submission deadline was July 15, 2016. That day, he officially announced the project's revival, stating that further details would be provided in the near future. The topic of the festival was "the world I want to live in".
On September 27, Scott confirmed that he had not entered in the festival, citing that he had been very busy over the summer with other projects. Scott says he doesn't regret this decision, feeling his other projects were much more important, and was very disappointed with the topic of the festival and the entries it received. "Many entries got extremely political - something I'd hoped the festival would try to avoid." Scott hoped to enter in the fourth festival, but it never occurred by the time he graduated in June 2017 - ending all possibilites of a third installment.
Trivia[]
- This is Scott's most recent film to be released in January. He hasn't released a film during that month since 2015.
- Like The EdTech Enterprise, this was the first film that Scott released that year. The projects were released in January 2014 and 2015.
- The film is an indirect sequel to its predecessor, The EdTech Enterprise. Gabe and Michael reprise their roles from the first film, but of course, due to the film's running time restrictions, there was no room for continuity to be established, anyway.
- Brandon Archibald and Austin Brinser were present for filming, but they didn't play any roles in the film. They did, however, inadvertantly play "three hooded characters" standing in the background while Gabe and Ryan were walking on the track. Michael Robinson can also be seen standing with them. None of them were credited for their parts.
- This is the first LordStarscream100 film to be shown to a large public audience.
- Following the film's completion and release in February, LordStarscream100 was extremely confident that the film will be one of the official selections for the film festival, or at least an honorable mention. On March 16, exactly two months after the film was released, while he, Ryan and Gabe were filming Jurassic Shark III, they found out the film will receive an Honorable Mention.
- The weather during the first day of filming was extremely bitter and cold, and because of some of the wind, Ryan and Gabe later had to go back and dub over many of their lines that were heavily muffled by the wind.