tip toe around it.

Last week Eric gave us pointers to help make our film more realistic. Backgrounds are extremely important and add to the atmosphere of a film. Rarely do you go into a room where the walls are completely blank, so the walls in the movie should not be blank either. Music can also be a vital part of developing atmosphere and mood for your scene. I think that this is just as pivotal as the imagery when trying to conjure up different emotions. He also gave us the rundown of making our videos legitimate by getting permission to shoot in certain areas and to make our own music in order to dodge copyright laws. I had no idea that this would be so complicated. It also seems that getting actors and cameramen together at an agreed time will prove to be tricky also. I think that for our comedy auditions and advertising could be really fun.

We also had our first planning meeting. I realized that no matter how in depth our script was or how funny, we could make it better. And after a long time of talking about how to enhance it we changed the idea all together. How much chaos it must be to try and get something written for a feature length film! I am however, super excited about the ideas my team has been generating, and I think that the class will take fancy to our project. We do need to get on the ball with writing our script though, it is really tough for me to have to rely on other students to get the assignments done. I think it adds a completely new dynamic to class stress. I can’t even imagine how the big wigs put up wiith all of that.

We still have a lot of planning to do as far as where our scenes are gonna be and how are dialogues will fit in. We also need to start thinking about actors, and what we want to do with them. I think that with the comedy its hard to plan in so much detail, because comedy is so spontaneous, all of our ideas are bound to change. I think that with the variety of people in our team we will manage, just as long as we keep thinking about it. Using a dorm as the setting was definitely the right choice. It will be a LOT easier to film.

Blow Out

Last class period we watched Brian De Palmas 1981 movie, Blow Out. It was a very different kind of movie than the earlier ones we have watched this semester. I really enjoyed the movie, although it was fairly predictable. The main Character (played by John Travolta) is out collecting sounds for his movie when he witnesses a fatal car accident where a famous politician is killed. The playback revealed that it was intentional. He begins his journey to figure out what really happened, and why.

The movie pays homage to the Michelangelo Antonioni 1966 movie Blow Up where a man finds that something may have gone wrong when he blows up pictures that he took while at the park one day. Very similar idea, just with pictures rather than sound, it also plays homage to Hitchcock. Many of the filming techniques were borrowed. We as a class are encouraged to borrow techniques from movies in order to make our projects better. Borrowing ideas is very common in Hollywood, and quite frankly there isn’t much that hasn’t been done yet.

Like all of our movies so far, Blow Out is a movie about movie. He is a sandman for a tacky horror film company. In the end the main character integrated his dead girlfriends scream into the movie he was working on. His original mission was to get new more authentic sounds. Back then movie makers relied heavily on sound libraries and sounds were used over and over for different movies. The fact that her scream was used for the actual movie, and loved by the director is very dark and left a bad feeling in my gut.

The film also seemed to criticize America and corruption within the police and media. In the film the police erased the sound footage that he had recorded, and the media convinced Jack keep quiet about the girl ( not the politicians wife) that was in the car with him when he crashed. A lot of the darkest most gruesome scenes in the movie were plagued with patriotism. The serial killer would stab the liberty bell into his victims, the fireworks and jubilee masked the noise from Sally’s (Jacks girlfriend) murder. There was an American Flag in the background of the murder scene.

De Palma used a lot of techniques in his movie. He used the dutch tilt, he played around with rack focus, and he also used split screen to enhance the movie. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

the spider.

Screenwriting. I think this will prove to be the biggest obstacle for me as far as projects go. I think that being able to evoke certain emotions through a screenplay is amazing. I really enjoy movies that evoke emotions. I think it is an art how screenwriters, directors and sound crews can work together to create something so effective. It no doubt, is a meticulous well thought out masterpiece, where more than one artist can showcase their talents to a common goal.

Hearing Eric dumb every story ever to just four concepts (goal, action, conflict, reaction) has blown my mind. I was sitting in class for the rest of the time trying to think of a movie that it didn't hold true for. There are so many different genres of movies with very intricate and exuberant plots. to think that they all have the same four basic principles is stupefying. From romance movies like The Notebook, to intense movies like Fight Club, there is always that cycle present.

I really enjoyed the Spider film, I really wanted to do an indie or horror film after seeing it. If you weren’t paying attention in class or haven’t seen it watch it. I think that Comedy should be a fun one to shoot. Especially with all of the random aspects he is asking us to incorporate ( skulls, cheese grater, guitar, mime and a few corny lines) I feel bad for some of the other groups, incorporating random stuff into their genre. I’m interested to see how all of the groups incorporate them. It will also be neat to see how the four concepts will be consolidated into a 5 minute film. This is going to be so cool!

I am definitely looking forward to watching the movie next week, I am gonna try really hard to watch it through my new filmmaking educated lens. I hope I can do it, it’s really hard for me to walk the lie between noticing things, and becoming so detached I lose the entertainment value of the movie. I do find myself noticing a cool shot, or effect and wonder how it was done. Maybe this is a sign that I am well on my way to being able to noticing symbolism in the movie the first time around!!

Writing our screenplays in the coming week should be an engaging exercise. I hope people in my group have a good sense of humor!

Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses

Last class period we watched Singing In The Rain, a 1952 musical based on the transition from silent films into “talkies” or talking films. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was very colorful and happy. I couldn’t help but smile and hum on my way back to the dorm last Thursday, and wish that I could tap dance.

When I was a little girl my Daddy used to always sing Goodnight Sweetheart by the Spaniels when he was putting me to bed at night. My mother would always wake me up with the good morning song. (Which until class on Thursday, I thought she had made up) Mind you, her lyrics were a little different; but the song was the same. It was very interesting to get an idea of where all these songs came from. Singing in the Rain is another song I would sing with my Mother, but had no idea where it had come from.

Seeing the movie was a great way to see examples of all the different problems that the industry had with switching over to talking films. It was like getting a lesson on all the stuff that goes into movies at the same time as getting to watch and look for cinematography and lighting.

During the discussion I learned that the famous street scene was filmed in only 5 shots. I think that this is amazing! Especially in comparison with all of the back and forth shots that are in todays “musicals” like Chicago and Nine. This definitely leads to a more realistic feel for the viewer who doesn’t have to be interrupted and reminded they are watching a movie because of a series of shot changes.

The characters were also really interesting. I’d definitely have to say that Cosmo played by Donald O’ Conner was my favorite. His humor was very slapstick and he was Don Lockwood’s (played by Gene Kelly) sidekick. His song “Make em’ Laugh” with the mickey mouse scoring had my classmates and I laughing really hard. I love it when simple things like sounds and silly acting are found to be funny. In modern day movies its all about perversion and uncomfortable situations. I really like/miss the slapstick sometimes.

All in all I think the class really enjoyed the movie. It is definitely one I want to get for my own personal collection. I hope all the movies that we watch in class continue to be as wonderful.

Let's get started!

Last Class we learned about the Kuleshov effect which is a tool that you ca n use to give an audience the impression that you want by flashing back and forth between scenes. I think that this will be particularly helpful in our movie project with such random clips. I am very excited about the extra time, I think that the extra week will allow for a lot more creativity, and the Kuleshov effect might allow me to create more of a story than just a series of “rushed” and “nightmarish” clips.

The section about cinematography was especially interesting. I’ve never really thought about angles and shots to evoke certain emotions. Having watched movies during our snow days I am starting to notice things! How certain things can accentuate size or somebodies perspective. It is really interesting to notice certain things and wonder what the artist was trying to portray.

I think a lot of these techniques will be useful in our own videos. I think that seeing all of the different aspects and parts of a film come together to create one movie will be a really fun and interesting experience. I am also ready to play around with primitive lighting equipment and seeing how we fare. I think the techniques that we will be able to utilize the most is messing around with lighting and camera angles to create our mood. I also think that the transitions and thing like the Kuleshov effect will be fairly easy to incorporate. I think that the camera settings are going to be the most difficult to get down because off all the different settings that go into making the image look “right”.

Things like deep focuses and other more advanced tricks will be difficult for amateurs to pull off.

I think the purposes for using certain techniques can only be revealed when we decide what kind of movie we are making. Dark, dreary, high contrast lighting and a dutch tilt might evoke fear in a horror movie. Or inserts of smiles or handholding might signify romance blossoming in a love story. I love these little snippets in movies that allow the viewer to keep up with where things are going in the movie. Whatever my team decides to do, I think that with editing software and a good cameraman, these techniques will enhance our movie. I can’t wait to get started and see what everyone comes up with.

Poor Max.

Last class period we watched Sunset Boulevard (directed by Billy Wilder.) I really enjoyed the movie which was one of the first “black and white” movies I watched all the way through. I’m glad we watched it in class because I don’t think I would have ever watched it otherwise. The movie had a lot of really interesting elements in it. Admittedly, I didn’t catch them all until the discussion; however, I think they really affected how I thought about the film, and how many intricacies the plot had. I have always been a superficial movie watcher. I rarely think about movies past being good or bad, or the basic storyline. I’m really glad we are talking about this kind of stuff in class because until now I have been completely ignorant to it. I’m hoping this experience will help me become more aware of these things without being prompted to look intentionally for them.

Color was available at the time that the movie was made. I think it is very interesting that they chose not to. This was in order to help the film fall into the “film noir” category. Every little detail in a movie seems so intentional. The more we discussed about the film on thursday the more I realized I still have a LOT to learn. There is just so much that goes into the screen plays, so much symbolism and themes that are hard to catch as a “superficial” movie watcher. I hope I get past this and maybe next class I will have more to contribute to discussion. I just hope I can get a coherent message or subtle scene in my film. This is a LOT harder than I thought. Thank goodness for Eric appointments.

squishy skulls and walnuts.

Last weeks class ended up being immensely enjoyable. I’d fancy being on a sound crew for our big projects! How cool is it to have a job that involves looking at something and deciding what said image should sound like. Who knew that an absurd amount of skulls falling on top of each other sounded oddly similar to an absurd amount of walnuts being swooshed around in fabric? Or giant spider roars could be produced via horses being “milked”, Tasmanian Devils, and squishy skull toys. (so freaking cool!)

I have always had the notion that the Director of a movie was a guy who shot the camera and told everyone what to do on set. I have never really thought about all of the artistic elements that went into a single shot. Peter Jackson, in the Lord of The Rings movie went so much further than a simple storyboard. He built a scale model of set pieces in order to get exact angles for his storyboard, he then had an artist redraw them. After all of that he worked with an animation studio and cartooned the movie out in order to see how scenes would look. I had no idea that so much had gone into the movie, but it really makes a huge difference with the movie and how “epic” everything seemed to be. I never thought I would hear myself say this.... but I think I want to rent the Lord of the Rings trilogy. anyone game?

As well as the Directors part the documentary allowed us to see how everyone worked together. It is extraordinary to think of so many people agreeing on so much stuff. I can’t imagine so many artists wanting their visions to be expressed. I know how stubborn I can be when I think things should be done a certain way. I suppose they are used to it. I guess this is something I will be overcoming in the near future with our projects.

PS: After last class I have come to realize I am the only one on the planet who has not seen Avatar. If there are any more lonely souls who feel the same way we should form a coalition and go together. Yes Mariam, I am talking to you.