Life is a difficult game, and it is one that no one wins.

Edited using Adobe Premiere Pro. Shot on iPhone 13.

© 2023 L.A.B. Productions. All rights reserved.

"Teen Film Challenge" © 2023 The Academy of Cinematic Arts / The Underground. 

Made for the 2023 Teen Film Challenge.

Gallery

Behind-the-Scenes Gallery

For more, visit the Bloopers - A Difficult Game page.

Premiere Gallery

The premiere occurred on August 15th, 2023.

Script

Filmmaking Process Timeline

• • August 3rd, 2023

    • • Logan buys New Nintendo 3DS XL from Grayson.

      • They go to Sports Gallery.

      • Attended the TFC 2023 Kickoff Event. The title and genre were drawn there.

      • On the car ride home, Logan thought up the plot synopsis after talking to Grayson about ideas before leaving the event.

      • Come back home to write the script and eat Chic-Fil-A. 

      • The Premiere Pro file was made. The title card was made as well.

      • Grayson designed the temporary logo.

      • Ryan Sams began work on the game box. 

      • Grayson wrote the Laywer's speech.

      • Aaralyn arrived and planning continued.

      • Made a shopping list for items to get at Party City.

      • She left, and shortly after Karis helped design the game box.

      • The script was finished.

      • The digitized logo was made, without the red blood-esque design on the text.

  • August 4th, 2023

    • • The logo was finished.

      • The cards were designed.

      • Ryan went to get his props, costume, and to print the cards.

      • He dropped off the printed cards and they were cut out.

      • He went to Party City with Aaralyn.

      • The four met up at St. X after getting the needed rooms unlocked.

      • Gabe arrived at St. X.

      • The Teacher scenes were filmed (excluding the Disheveled scenes). This began filming at 1:08.

      • The scenes at the table playing the card game were filmed (excluding the Disheveled scenes).

      • Francis arrived on set.

      • Grayson went to change into his suit and tie for his scenes. Lanie arrived for footage in the documentary.

      • The Lawyer scenes were filmed (excluding the Disheveled scenes).

      • The Janitor scenes were filmed (excluding the Disheveled scenes).

      • The Actress scenes were filmed (excluding the Disheveled scenes).

      • The Farmer scenes were filmed (excluding the Disheveled scenes).

      • All got into their Disheveled looks.

      • The Disheveled Actress scenes were filmed.

      • The cut post-credits scene was filmed.

      • The Disheveled Janitor scenes were filmed.

      • The Disheveled group scene in the card game room was filmed.

      • The Disheveled Lawyer scenes were filmed.

      • The Disheveled Teacher scenes were filmed.

      • The Disheveled Farmer scenes were filmed.

      • The game box closing was filmed at 4:16, ending the filming process. The entire process took 4 hours and 8 minutes.

      • Throughout the filming process, Francis made and recorded more music.

      • Everything was cleaned up and taken home.

      • Sent clips to the flash drive for editing to begin the next day.

  • August 5th, 2023

    • • Edited in chronological order of the events of the film.

      • Cut the post-credits scene.

      • Edited the entire movie up until the credits. This process took many hours.

  • August 6th, 2023

    • • Created the Soundtrack - A Difficult Game video project.

      • Exported it and uploaded it to YouTube.

      • Edited the credits.

      • Attempted to export the project for the first time. It resulted in error 39 (see Behind-the-Scenes Gallery image 1).

      • Began editing Bloopers - A Difficult Game in CapCut while exporting the main video.

      • Attempted to export the project for the second time. It resulted in error 39 (see Behind-the-Scenes Gallery image 1).

      • Continued editing the bloopers.

      • Attempted to export the project for the third time. It resulted in error 39 (see Behind-the-Scenes Gallery image 1).

      • Continued editing the bloopers.

      • Cleared storage space on the flash drive.

      • Attempted to export the project for the fourth time. It worked!

      • Uploaded it to YouTube as an unlisted video.

      • Submitted the form to the TFC at around 3:35pm.

      • Uploaded the bloopers, also as an unlisted YouTube video.

      • At about 4:30pm, both the main project and the bloopers were made public on YouTube.

      • At 8:00pm, submissions for the TFC closed.

  • August 15th, 2023

    • • At 6:40pm, the Premiere Event began.

      • A Difficult Game was shown sixth at the event. (28:37)

      • In a drawing for the Visa card, L.A.B. Productions won and Logan Bauer came onstage to accept it. (1:50:00ish)

      • Francis Chan was nominated for the Best Film Score award.

Trivia

• This film was made for the 2023 Teen Film Challenge run by The Underground and the Academy of Cinematic Arts. The challenge required a title and genre to be randomly drawn, and thus the title "A Difficult Game" and the genre "drama" were chosen by random out of two buckets.

• This film marks the first L.A.B. Productions film in full 1080p.

• There was originally a post-credits scene that paid homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where the Actress tells the audience to go home. It can be seen in the blooper video. The primary reason it was recorded was because the premiere event would be watched in that very theater.

• Just prior to the kickoff event, Logan bought Grayson's New Nintendo 3DS XL off of him.

• In the script, the characters are instead referred to by their actors' names, not the characters' names.

• In the TFC 2023 Showcase Video, L.A.B. Productions is the only team shown to not be using professional camera equipment.

• The following tracks in the original soundtrack used to have alternate names:

  • • "The Film Commences" was originally titled "Beat 3."

    • "Here Comes Trouble" was originally titled "I Like Banging Things."

    • "Deathmotif" was originally titled "Ooo, Tension."

• Each time "Deathmotif" is used, it is sped up 20%. The pitch is kept unchanged.

• On December 3rd, 2024, photos from the film were used on the cover page of Logan Bauer's AP United States Government and Politics course Court Visit project, showing the Lawyer's scene. This website page was cited in the Works Cited.

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