Made it into the Film Major

I am finally living my dream as a college film major.  The real hard work begins right now.  I am really excited about my visions class next semester.  It is going to be a real challenge but I know I am up for the task.  I would just like to thank my classmates and my teachers from FST 110-205.  Thank you all so much for helping me and helping me accomplish my dream.

Look Back

Looking back on this semester I feel I have grown as a filmmaker.  I have learned that I have a knack for producing.  I think it is because I am really organized and try really to stay ahead of schedule.  I have been the producer for for every project this year.  I have really wanted to put my hand in as directing.  I feel that editing is one of my strong suits and I really enjoy doing it.  One of the things I have learned about being a filmmaker is that if something can go wrong it will.  On everyone of my projects something has gone wrong from sound or batteries.  I am really looking forward to taking the directing course in the future as well as editing.  I hope that I can keep growing as a film maker.

Next Semester

Next semester I am taking the Visions, French Cinema, War and Cinema.  I am really looking forward to the Visions.  I think it is going to be an amazing learning opportunity.  I am really interested in my War and Cinema class.  I am wondering what we are going to be learning about and how I can relate it to my war experiences.  I really wanted to take 302 doc. class next semester so hopefully I can get it in the fall of next year.

Cucalorus Film Festival

During this past weekends film festival I went and say the Trigger Happy Bunny Shorts.  I really enjoyed them.  My favorate of the 4 was Nate Daniels film Jack to the Future and a film called The Guy Who's Fucking Your Girlfriend.  I found them really funny.  I did not really think Author and the Bunny's was funny, but it was really well put together.  I also saw the movie Holy Motors, and I did not like it.  I really just thought the movie had no point.  I really Liked the documentary by Dr. Shannon Silva It's a Girl Thing.  I really enjoyed the animation that was used in the story.  The use of expert interviews and then children interviews also worked really well.  My group also made a film called Oliver's Nom.  I think people really liked it.  Check it out.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j8o5fJ1NDs

Position for Slender man JR.

I am the producer for Kyle's film Slender man.  I am in charge of getting the equipment checked out, location forms, talent forms and a budget.  I am getting the location form for the Wild flower Reserve at UNCW tomorrow.  For the other locations we are using apartments that members of the crew live in.  I will have those individuals sign for the location.  I have submitted and been approved for the equipment.  I will have lots of talent release forms ready for the days of shooting.  I have created a budget and submitted it to the director to post on his blog.  I will also be the sound designer.  I tried to get the H4N but was denied.  I will just use the boom and headphones to make sure we get the best sound ever.  Stay tuned more to come.

Wild Card Idea

For my wildcard film I wanted to make a narrative that I had been working on the idea for a while.  I wanted to tell the story of a couple on a blind date.  I wanted the two characters to be pons for a serial killer who will kill them if they do not do what he says.  I was not going to do the stereotypical serial killer demands.  I was going to make it funny.  Make it when they are on the date the guy cannot say his name.  The woman who loves her dog cannot talk about her dog.  During the meal I was going to have the serial killer send them text messages saying what random funny things to do.  Like dine and ditch.  Order weird drinks and foods.  Say random things to waiters and do random things like eat pasta without using a fork by just face first into the plate.  That was my idea.  I think I will make this movie late on in my free time.

Sound 2

For the second time doing a sound, I thought of redoing my old sound project.  I took my pet bird Rocky outside in her cage.  As I sat down in the chair next to her she started to chirp.  After 2 minutes of sitting down silently I could start to hear the wind picking up.  After 5 minutes as I opened my eyes and looked at rocky I could hear her feet moving on the wooden perches.  I could also hear someone’s small dog in the distance whining.  After 5 minutes I could hear a motorcycle across the apartment complex starting up and driving off.

For the second time doing the sound experiment I went and sat at the dog park with my dogs and my acoustic guitar before the storm started on Saturday.  After running my dogs around I began my silent time.  After a few minutes I started to be able to hear my dogs eating the grass a few feet in front of me.  I could also start to notice the wind was picking up fast.  After 5 minutes I could hear the small sound of my fingers touching the strings on my acoustic.  The little bit of movement that my fingers moved made a small sound like a pick slide.

I would really like to do this again but with the H4N and see what other little noises that I missed.  I have to admit my hearing isn’t the best.

Editing The Master Shot Sequence

Editing my own version of our group’s master shot is teaching me a lot.  I am remembering how to do editing tricks that I had learned in high school.  I really think the hardest part is matching on action of dialog.  I am finding it is hard to smooth out dialog between two different angles of people talking.  What i have found that works best for me is to wait till there is a slight pause between people talking and make the cut from one angle to another then.   I am also finding that adding my own music for sound effects is really fun and adds to my film.  I think even though everyone in my group has the same footage, everyone’s videos are going to be slightly different. I am really enjoying editing.  I think this may be what I would like to do in the industry after college.  

Pre-Visualization Planning

During our pre production on my groups awesome Bran and Park short I think the pre visualization process has greatly helped us.   I think that having a rough blue print of where we are going to put props and lights will save us a bunch of time when it comes time for shooting.  I think the planning of the lights help dramatically.  It will take less time to set up lights, in that we know where it is going to be.  Also knowing where to set up props will help take less time.  The faster we get set up the faster we can begin shooting.  I think pre visualization is very tedious task, but is really worth it.  This will allow us to get makeup done faster and costuming done faster.

Expert Interview

For our expert interview we interviewed Chancellor Miller of UNCW.  I was really excited about the interview.  I really did not expect him to do the interview to be honest.  When he accepted the interview I knew the hard work had just begun.  Prior to the interview when we formed 2 groups of 5 I asked my group to meet and we did a practice mock interview.  I think that helped a lot in that we knew what everyone was going to be doing.   The day before the interview I checked all the equipment to make sure everything was working.  About 10 mins before the interview the batteries in the boom mic and the sound mixer on the camera went dead.  In a frantic we had to run to the school book store and by batteries before Chancellor Miller came for his interview.  We got everything in the equipment and it was ready before the interview started.  The interview went really smooth.  Chancellor Miller had great answers and we were able to ask all 10 of our questions.  I feel that him being our expert interview really helped my 2 min video.  Next time I know to always have extra packs of batteries for everything.  Next time I will be prepared for everything that can go wrong to go wrong, just to be safe.

Vox Pops

Doing vox pops on UNCW was a very fun experience.  I was suprised how many people would say yes to answer a few questions, then see the camera and say something came up.  I thought people would love to be on camera like I do.  I learned that if you do not tell people to answer the question with the answer then most students will not.  More of the older students did it without being asked or said yeah of course.  I feel that this was a little problematic.  Of the 20 vox pops I feel we only got 5 good ones.  I also learned that the sound of bikes and crowds in the distance will be noticeable when you play back.  During our filming we did a vox pop and a large crowd off in the distance broke out in an uproar.  I did not think it would be a big deal.  When we played it back I could hear more of them in the distance then our subject that was 5 feet from the camera.  I feel this was a great learning experance.

Sounds

For my first sound observation I went and sat with my pet cockatiel Rocky on my deck.  I did this at around 6 am after I took my dogs out.  At first I did not notice anything different about sitting outside.  After the first 5 minutes I started to notice very small things like the wind and the sound of a car off in the distance.  After 10 minutes I started to be able to hear the sound of my cockatiel as she yawned.  I could also hear the distinct sound of her cleaning her feathers and cleaning her feet.  I thought it was very interesting.  I did not know that I could hear something as small a sound as that.

            That afternoon I took my dogs to the Empie Dog Park.  I was the only person at the dog park.  I sat down at the table and let my dogs run around.  After the first 5 minutes I did not notice anything really different.  After 10 minutes I could start to hear the sound of birds off in the distance.  I could also start to hear the sound of tennis balls bouncing off the courts in the distance.  As my dogs got closer I could start to hear the sound of the sand pushing back as they took off running chasing each other.

            These two events have started to remind me of when I worked on a set etiquette film for the flicker film society.  I had to get room noise after we filmed for 2 minutes.  During the filming with the headphones on I could hear the sound of the electricity running through the lights.  I could also hear he air conditioner in the room pushing air out.  This has made me realize the importance of the headphones during filming because the microphone will pick up more then your ears will.

Interviews

      For my teams interview plan we want to interview Chancellor Miller on Chancellors Walk.  We feel that doing a walking interview would be more symbolic.  I have sent an email already to Chancellor Miller asking for the interview.  If we are unable to get an interview with Chancellor Miller we will try to get in contact with someone in the history department for an interview on the walk.  We will try to do these interviews on 13^th or 14 of the coming week.  This will depend heavily on the expert interview.  For the expert interview we will try to keep the tone of the interview in a calm yet educational view.  We do not want to do lots of weird angles during the interview.   I will have the proper forms signed tomorrow for filming on campus as well as our equipment checklist ready tomorrow for checkout on Wednesday.   

         During our vox pops we would like to do it when chancellors walk is very busy.  We feel this will give us more opportunities to ask more people our questions.  By doing this on the 13th or 14^th it will give us a second chance if we need to reshot the vox pops.  Aiden will be doing the questions for our team since she is the director.  Some of the questions I would like to ask people in vox Pops are:

         “ Why do you use Chancellors walk?”

         “ How much time does using chancellors walk save you from having to walk around the campus to get to classes?”

         “What is your favorite thing to do or see on chancellors walk?”

         “Do you walk, skateboard, jog, bike on chancellors walk?” 

For our expert interview some of the questions I feel would be are as fallows:

         “ What are your feelings about Chancellors walk?”

         “Are there future plans for Chancellors walk?”

         “ How many times do you walk down Chancellors walk during the week?”

         “How do you feel Chancellors walk helps the campus?”

         “What is your favorite part while you walk down Chancellors walk?”

         “ How does it feel being Chancellor of UNCW and walking down Chancellor’s walk?”

Lighting Observations

One observation I am having is how different lighting can be when shooting outdoors.  When I had shot film outdoors before I had never thought of using a reflector to help even out the light.  I had worked with reflectors indoors but after reading Voice and Visions, I understand why I must use them outdoors as well.  This well help make the picture look crisper with a better appearing image.  The use of the reflectors would help us with our shooting of the photo documentary. 

While doing our photography documentary I have observed the impact the sun or natural lighting can have on your shots.  There were several instances when I would take a reading using my light meter and then go back to check a minute later and it changed.  I now know how a cloud can totally change the setting of your host for the f-stop scale as well.  Another observation I had while out shooting today was that it is not a good idea to try shooting around noon to two in the afternoon.  We were getting maxed out readings on our light meter.  We came back later that evening and the light started to get better.