End of the year reflection:3

I honestly feel like the History of Film was least productive to what we tried to learn in this class. Without that unit I feel like I would've been more productive if we did more hands on stuff with sound or lighting. Really if you just took out the History of Film and did everything in the order they came, we would have more time to do things in class.

End of the Year: 2nd Reflection

I liked the sound unit the most because not only can I use that in film, I can use that for games and animation as well as film. So if I get really good at sound equipments I can get into almost any line of work to make really good sounding stuff for people. I want to know more on how these skills can be incorporated when making music for films. Overall a more hands on experience with all of the sound equipment would be nice.

End of the Year: reflection

Now that we are at the  end of the semester I honestly feel like my mobile film was the best one out of all my work this year. I feel like its the best because that was the video where I feel like I had more say as to what went into it. I feel like, if I could improve on my work it would be my script/ story writing. I don't feel like I had enough time to learn or RE- learn how to do that.

Inocente

This girl talking about how she is homeless and how she has to go to school makes me think of my family. My family was homeless as well when I was a baby. This story can even impact people who have the privilege of being in a house their whole lives. They not only interview this girl who is homeless, they also went to all of the places that she has ever gone to. They had amazing b-roll of where she has been living as a homeless person with her family.

If i die on mars

This was probably the best documentary we've watched so far! I'm going to tell all my friends to watch it. Other than that this documentary was very moving because it was a nice blend of science-fiction and documenting. The only thing that was really interesting was not only that this was their actual ambition to make this happen so that it may become reality but the personalities and the attitudes of the people being interviewed who wanted to go to mars and die there. They didn't even need reenactments, archival footage or journalistic reporting because the idea and how the documentary was executed was so amazing I had to send it to my teacher right after.

STRANDBEEDS Documentary

This documentary had narration. The other documentaries didn't have narration. This one also had archival footage to show how long this guy was making creatures. In a short amount of time you feel like you've learned so much about the artist and why he does what he does.

Reinvention of normal DOC

This documentary is different because it had short small animations and showed the crazy inventions that the artist had through out the film. The b-roll they had, mostly consisted of the animations or him with his weird inventions. They also used clips of when he was younger to more accurately explain how the came to be an artist.

NFL documentary

I feel like this documentary is more enjoyable than the last ones. This documentary was more unique than the last one. This not only had music, b-roll and an interview but the content of this documentary and how it was structured compared to one about the comic books and the one about the man with the drive ins is that it was just this one guy from a couple of years ago to right now in what he is currently doing. the use of the pills and the superman action figure was a great way to convey what the foot ball player was feeling. The guy's attitude was also different than most. He knew his strengths and weaknesses but he also didn't let that bother him at all. That is what I liked about this documentary.

Reflectors

Reflectors can be used strategically to properly light some ones face to make them look better. There can't really be too much light on the subject but, that's why you have different reflectors that do different things. Depending on if its a silver reflector or a whit one you can get either more light in one direction or you can make a softer less sharp light.

Enjoy your Intermission

These Film makers tried to make you feel an emotional connection to the man who had a drive in for movies. The mood makes you feel almost nostalgic. They do this by authentically showing each character's feelings and their situation of going out of business.

Almost everything you need to know about B-roll

B-roll in a documentary is footage of things happening in between interviews or during narration. In a documentary it really helps when you are trying to show a certain aspect of someone's life or how something works or to see how people interact without people talking all the time. This article really encourages b-roll as something that can drive your documentary forward and make it interesting.

The art of the interview

The most important things of an interview are to make your subject feel comfortable. That means that you give them some time to worm up to the camera and feel better about being on screen. You should also direct the subject to do certain things in front of the camera. You can also not  be fixed on the questions. Its good to have be fore hand but you can also let the subject flow with the interview and let certain things unfold.

Documentary proposal template

It is unavoidable to write a proposal so, you must be prepared to write one. You need to be able to tell a good story. This is important because it needs to be interesting to get people hooked on what you trying to get them to watch. You can't information from a text book you need to be getting information from professionals. Having characters to dramatize your documentary can also really help because this helps viewers feel relatable to the character on the screen.

Writing a documentary treatment

The treatment is important because it helps keep your ideas organized to create the kind of documentary you want. The two most important things mentioned was the synopsis which gives you the foundation of your documentary idea to work with and the characters which are the main people that your idea is based around. I plan to work with my partners to help create a good, clear, and concise treatment.

Comic book Heaven

These filmmakers were trying to to convey this old man in a world where every thing is evolving but he is staying the same as he watches the generations of people walk in to his store. they used a lot of b roll and voice overs. They also had set interviews with the man as he talks about his life and the comics he liked. They even had the old style country music to go with b roll.

Sound Summary

I've learned about different types of microphones. I've learned what they do. I've learned about mixers and mixing sound. I've learned that proximity is important when you start recording. I want to know more about recording sound on set and trying it for myself. I thought what was most interesting was the microphones. I never thought that there would be so much equipment for JUST sound.

Sfx Film update

I feel like my sound effects film was going well. I had to leave for testing but I feel like my partner did a good job with what he could do. One thing I'd like to learn about specifically is how to change the pitch of certain sounds. With premiere you can only do so much, so I'd like to learn about audition more (If it ever decides it wants to work on my computer).

Iron Man without music

At first the scene feels too boring. When the ambush happens it feels very suspenseful, even without the music you wonder what is about to happen. But with music it feels more natural to have it in a scene. Music in movies also make things less awkward, even if that's what your going for its bad to have too much uncomfortable scenes in a movie. Music can definitely make your movie watching experience better.

SXF vs. Sound Mix - tron legacy

I noticed that they made sure to get ALL of the stage audio for dialogue and character movements. Then they used foley effects. Then they finished with a final mix.

Sound of Gravity

In the creating of the sound for this film, these people made the score, the dialogue, and the ambient sounds specifically for a surround sound system. These are all important because without it, the audience wouldn't have the same experience of the feeling of BEING in space. What I liked is how they used the score and moved the sounds of certain instruments around the room in a way that makes you feel like your actually there in that scene.

Boom Mic

I've learned how to properly use a boom mic. It was interesting because I got to understand how to properly mic people and different techniques on how to effectively do that. The only thing that is difficult for me to under stand is how to properly hold it without hurting my shoulders.

Microphones

The benefits of a shot gun mic is used for longer distances. A hand held mic is used mainly for recording voices. A lavalier does the same thing except you don't need to hold it. An interview though, would require a hand held or a lavalier. Hand held can help with an accurate reading but a lavalier is better but you can pick up certain sounds you might not want to pick up.

Interstellar Sound

In the making of the sound of this film, the filmmakers wanted to have the sound mixing be so great that it would feel as if the audience was IN the film. To make it as realistic as possible, they needed the ambient sound, music, and audio of the dialog SEEM like it was all done in those takes.

Foley Project

I think my project is going pretty well for a start. The sounds we are going to use foley for are footsteps and one line that the scientist is going to say. I'm not quite sure if we are going to use audition. I think I would use that if there were a lot more sounds that I needed to use but this video is short so I don't think I'll need it.

Microphones

The only microphones I've ever used is the stage microphones, Microphones on your headphones for games online, and the shot gun microphone.

Microphones are made differently for different kinds of recordings. Also, if you don't have a microphone it could be difficult to edit in post when you don't know what you're editing to even if it is ambient sounds.

Its Foley Time

The recording of ANY and ALL sounds known to man is extremely important. If you don't record all the sounds you can think of, You might be screwed for your post production. Having all the equipment you need is also an essential thing fro recording sound when you want to do the things listed above.

Wrapping up Music Video

I honestly feel like my editing was very good. Even though the video didn't go as planned I am still proud of what I came up with in such short notice.  The challenges I've had to deal with was getting a location due to the things I had to do in my home school and at home and for other things. Also I had problems getting actors. After I got those actors they flaked two days before I started shooting the music video. The only way this would've been avoided was by having a team of people that was as passionate as I was for this video.

Favorite Music Video

My favorite music video is,





They used a lot of slow motion in this video. But I liked how they used flash backs so that we can better understand the "bad guy's" story in this video.

Black Hole Sun

These filmmakers tried any thing to creep put their audience and give them a distorted view of the world.

They used :
Altering of the face
Natural Disaster of the sun
and the people in the video acting crazy...

Muse: Knights of Cydonia

These film makers wanted a heroic western kind of look while also incorporating future technology and really hot girls on unicorns.

They used the story of a dude who is really in to kung fu or something that is going to stop the evil bad guy in order to save the super hot girl.

Everclear - Everlong

These film makers tried to make this video funny. They used the dreamy look and black and white. They tried to incorporate horror in this to make it seem even more funny.

My Chemical Romance: Helena

These Filmmakers use the dark lighting and people dressed in black to signify a very gloomy and sad atmosphere. The church also was a good place to captivate a feel of sadness and other depressing feelings.

Can I kick it?

1.Stop motion
2.Backlight
3. oblique shots

They were trying to create a fun mood for the audience to feel good while watching this video.

Shooting your music Video

1. Managing crew Members
2. Help talent get comfortable around you
3. Make a comfortable environment for talent
4. Teaching your talent performance techniques
5. Practicing with local bands.

All of this is very important because saving time and money can really help get your video on the right track. Having your talent feeling comfortable on set can help get a more crisp performance from them and it takes less time to get them comfortable. Getting local bands or actors etc. makes it easier to get people to be on camera.

Radiohead

They used Stop-motion, Green Screen & and they used a old school filter.

Learning The History of Sound

I've learned that there is an unnecessary amount of math when it comes to sound mixing. I've also learned that sound is probably the most important thing in a movie.

Mono vs. Stereo

Mono is less expensive mostly used for radio and telephone communications. Stereo has two or more audio channels to make more depth or direction perception. Stereo is mostly used for movies, TV and FM radio stations and are more complicated to use than mono.

Edison to T- Pain

The cassette, The Dolby and digital audio affected film making the most because each of these with every change made the sounds more clear and crisp. Almost as if you are in the same room as the artists.

Music video Pitch

I have a dance video idea. The story is of angry workers who want to get rid of their boss. So they get together and tell him off.

Different BIT rate audio

They all go from a clear crisp sound to a very muffled sound as if there are ear muffs on your head.

Seeing Sound

This video really helps to get an actual visual on what sound really does look like. This was fun to watch but I still don't think I got a new thing new about sound in this video. I'm still convinced that sound is still just waves passing through an the air. If there was no air or oxygen you can't hear any thing.

The history of Sound

I just want to know how to make music that fits the mood of a scene. I'd also want to know how people added sound effects before advanced technology.

Sound in the movies

Sound in the movies has always been an awesome experience. The music and sound effects are what make a movie. Either its scary, funny, actiony, suspenseful, tense or anything. The way music and 'real life' sound effects are used to show where each story in a movie is taking place. Whether or not your character is a hero or an evil master mind. Music in movies are half of the viewing experience and the other sounds are 30% of it. Then there is the dialogue and what you are seeing on the screen.

Cool Hand Luke

Luke is a guy who no matter what the situation is, he is always in a good mood. He Usually has a smile on his face and it takes a while for him to get rid of that smile. Him and authority don't really mix well. He is relatable to the audience because of the trials and hardships he has to go through. He has to deal with his own baggage as well as the other prisoners feeding of of him.

Rob Burnett

I wasn't here unfortunately. I wish I was but I had a bad stomach ache. But I'm sure it was a great skype call.

Furthering my education...

I honestly don't want to go to college. I just want to become an artist and a polyglot.
POLYGLOT: A person who speaks 5 or more languages
HYPER POLYGLOT: A person who speaks over 10 languages

I want to be a plolyglot because I know that language is directly tied into ones culture. And I understand certain words have a history to them. To understand ones culture, we need to be immersed in that culture. What better way to do that than to start learning a language. Where my artistry comes in is when I meet an artist of a different culture. At that point, even though I'm from a different place, that's one thing I know I can connect with that person.

Storyboearding and anamatics

I've learned NOTHING!

 But I do have things that I find interesting.
1. I love the PreViz thing where you get to put your storyboard into a 3d animated video so that you can see what it might look like on screen.

2. I also like the parts where you build your set design and use a small video camera to determine how you want your camera movements to look.

3. Finally, There is just regular story boarding for people to just visualize only one shot by shot scene for people to get an idea of what these scenes will look like.

Screenplays past due

I think my script is good so far. Unfortunately I haven't been able to turn it in on time due to some technical difficulties. Now that I've figured out how to finish it, I will be working on it until its completely finished.

CONFRONTING OBSTICALS

Problems I've had with my screen play was, not being able to finish my screen play because I didn't have enough time, due to an absence. Other than time constraints, I'm having a problem structuring dialogue with action. Trouble being as visual with my action and writing it like an actual screen play rather than a book.

Getting started with your scirpt

I think coming up with a theme of my story is going to be the most difficult but the most fun. So ill try to work on that because, what is a story with no moral or lesson to it. Right?

Outline to Treatment

The outline doesn't need to be more than a couple of paragraphs. But you do need to know how the characters are going to be interacting with each other.

These are important because you need to be able to get straight to the point and understand your characters.

From outline to treatment

One: This helps you to have a beginning, middle and end.

Two: Go through each scene

These are important to keep you organized and not so repetitive.

John August on Non-Linear

Writing a story thats non-linear can keep the story interesting. It can also hide a boring plot. The outline should be linear. But the script is to be made in non linear. This is important for the creator to know how the linear version of the story and the actors to know the non linear way of it being told so that they can properly act out the story how the audience needs to see it.

Story Unit Review

I feel like I've relearned a lot during this unit. I used to write stories a lot when I was younger. I feel like I've learned a lot about the Hero's journey. Now when I watch a movie I feel like I can Identify them more easily without having any problems. The archetypes help me pin point more things about the hero's journey even in books or plays now even. The only thing I'm really more interested in is non-linear stories. I've been waiting to write one and still don't know quite how i'm going to do that.

RASHOMON Screening

This film even though it was part of Japanese culture the concept of the story was from westerns. This film even showed parts of japan that had never been in movies. The Concept of not telling the truth even effected how the Japanese view this film.

Intro to Non-Linear Stories

The Amazing Spider man 2 Was like that. Even though it was a sequel, In the beginning of this movie they go back to the beginning of the first Amazing Spider Man. They did this to tell how Peter's parents die when he was a child. They told the story this way to make the viewer understand why Oscorp is so evil and is looking to get rid of Peter Parker.

Annie Hall

1. I loved the dialog in this film. It makes me laugh.

2. I liked how he looked at the camera and talked to the audience like an aside.

3. I really enjoyed the one part when annie got high and her sober self wanted to draw.

I liked the subjective shots and the parts when he looked at the camera to speak to the audience to let them know what he's thinking. I want to try doing some more stuff like that.

BEST PICTURE OF 1977 GOES TO

I've never seen a Woody Allen film. I'm not really sure what his film is going to be about.

Script Table Read

In our table read we weren't able to read in such a way that was supposed to be reactionary. We read it as if it were narration but it was not. Today I intend to BE the character in the script. I intend to show how the character is feeling by reading as if I were talking.

Intro to Screenwriting

I've honestly wrote screen plays before, so there wasn't anything new or surprising about it. I just relearned hoe to effectively write one. The only thing different from yesterday's blog post was not having two columns for sound and video.

Screenplays

A screen play is a script for a movie. A hollywood screen play is not a 2 - column AV script. It written in the same format a celtix.  

Silent Film Results

I unfortunately couldn't turn in my silent film. Due to some technical difficulties I lost footage (or so it seems). I could've found a way to do the project outside of school. I could've spent a little more time on finding locations to shoot on campus. (too many people wanted the studio). Next Project I'll just look for places outside of campus.

3 - Act Structure

1. Set up

2. Confrontation

3. Resolution

These steps are all important to a story, otherwise, we wouldn't have a story in the first place.

Each step is important because they have a smooth transition in to the next step.

The set up is what places the adventure in front of the main character(s) to help them start their adventure.

The confrontation is what gets in the way of what the main character(s).

The resolution is when the character(s) the action and intensity slowly goes down.

Storytelling Unit So Far...

I honestly want to hurry up and start writing our screen play. I like the whole story telling unit in general. It could go faster, but never the less I like the content. I think after starting to write more stories I'll start to question things a little more. Right now I don't really have any questions. I really Just want to start practicing writing.

3-Act

The 3 acts are:

ACT I - Setup

ACT II - Confrontation

ACT: III - Resolution


All of these are important to move the story along and not make it boring. The inciting incident is what leads our hero to their crisis. It make the character's journey have some kind of arc. If there was no arc there really wouldn't be a story. Or maybe not such a moving or relatable story to the audience.

Silent Film Homage Plan

Pitch: The dictator of germany wants the world he is going to conquer them so he hires a broadcast crew to help him. But they sabotage his broadcast by making him look like a fool on air. The facial expressions are what I plan to make this film like Charlie Chaplin's films.

Archtypes

I think the mentor is the most easiest because that can easily be identified in a story. The Trickster and the shapeshifter both can be very difficult to find because there can be multiple people who take on those roles. The mentor is usually Just one person.

Movie Plots Done to Death

The 'Executive Model' is about a person who is a workaholic who later learns that there are more important things in life aren't working. I believe this is VERY overused because this world of capitalism has made people think that you need to WORK WORK WORK! All the time. I think this same plot type can be re used by using a teenager in school, or a kid in elementary school instead of an older person in their 30s.

What is The Hero's Journey?

The Hero's Journey generally is a person who has to save someone,the world, or make some sort of change by going out on a quest to either gain knowledge on how to save the world (or whatever) or go towards the thing they must fight in order to save the world. People like this genre because it can give some people hope that someone might help them out in a time of need.

7 Basic Plots

Comedy and Rebirth are the most interesting.

I love comedy as my #1 genre because it can make anyone from anywhere feel good inside and still have an effective theme in the story.

I like Rebirth because that isn't as upsetting as a tragedy, but still has some elements of a tragedy.

Film Conflict Trailers

Scott Pilgram vs. The World - Person vs. Society








Evolver - Person vs. Technology






Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning thief - Person vs. Gods

Silent Film Subject

I have Charlie Chaplin. He is one of the most hilarious filmmakers of our time.

He had a rough childhood not having his parents and only his brother, but he natural talent for theater helped him become a successful film maker. His older brother helped him get in to the business for theater then he signed a contract with First National Studios and made up his alias as " The Tramp ".

What is Good Storytelling

Great storytelling is immersing the listener/viewer into that story as if they were in it.

Being able to catch the attention of the listener is important because it gets them hooked on what you are tying to say. Being able to use imagery is also a good storytelling technique because if the viewer can visualize what is happening it starts to ease them in to what is happening. Being able to end with a twist and a lesson to the story that can make people feel like they didn't waste anytime listening to you!

(high fives)

Setting Semester Goals!

The goals that I set were not all completed due to partners not either being reliable or the things I wanted to do are done in this new semester.

What I want to accomplish before this year is out is to compose a song and do a music/dance video to it, to work with other artists and do projects to their songs, and become an expert at finding locations and planning for new up coming projects OUTSIDE of school.

What I need to learn is how to use music making equipment as well as other sound equipment. I also need to know how to efficiently bring equipment with me to certain places so that we can successfully do a project with no or not many repercussions.