With
this film, I was trying to create tension with just one subject as opposed to
two for the typical chase scene.I
believe that the unknown is scary, so I wanted to do my scene without anyone
ever seeing the thing or person chasing the main character.I was hoping that by not showing the thing
chasing her, it would create suspense, kind of like in Jaws () or The Others
().It was much harder than I thought.I realized once I got around to edit my
footage that you can’t just show a person running and expect that to have
tension.A few of the shots I got of my
actress running actually take away from the tension.I’m not quite sure, to be honest, how to do
this effectively.I guess I need to do
more research next time.
I learned a lot from this
shoot. I learned that it is imperative
to know your location. I showed up to
the lake we shot at with a blurry remembrance of what it looked like. And this affected my shot list and it
affected the way the footage looked. I
didn’t know what I wanted before hand, really, and that affected the way the
footage looked. I didn’t get enough
coverage because I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted it to look like,
and that affected the result. Basically,
I learned that you can’t just go into a shoot with a fuzzy idea of what you are
going for. It doesn’t matter what you
have to do to make things work: just do it.
Go to the location ahead of time, work on your shot list until it’s
perfect, know what your scene means,
etc. Do what it takes to make something
meaningful. Most of all, I learned that
you have to be passionate about the project you are doing, otherwise it won’t
turn out right at all.
I don’t think I’m entirely
successful with this film.There isn’t a
lot of tension, there isn’t a lot of deep space, there isn’t really much there
at all to be honest.I think I wasn’t
attached to this project enough and it really shows through with the
scene.
1 comments:
Week #4 Photos
11:24 PM
Unknown
4 Comments
1. Contrast between the light and dark is really nice.
2. Again, I'm liking the contrast. There's a pretty good motif of vertical lines here.
3. I really liked the contrast of the warm and cool light on this fan.
4. Even with the converging lines, there's still a lot of flat space with the mountains and the sky.
5. This also could've been super deep but getting rid of the points where the stairs met the floor made it more flat.
4
comments:
Week #3 Photos
7:59 PM
Unknown
6 Comments
1. Some cool pipes. Deep space achieved by overlap.
2. I love it when the clouds are pink. Also this is pretty flat space but it's fine, I think.
3. Highland, Utah. Deep space created by a lot of cool curved converging lines.
4. This is more flat space, but we get a little bit of deep space through the contrast between the color of the pavement and the white snow.
5. We were filming Avery's evoking childhood video and I spent a lot of it watching the action through the rear view mirror of my car as we got some tracking shots. The deep space is created through the size difference in the subjects and their background, which is cool because it is reflected through a flat object.
6
comments:
Statement Of Intent -- Chase Scene
8:48 PM
Unknown
0 Comments
1. What is the story of this scene in two or
three sentences? In other words, what happens in the scene?
In this scene, a character (we’ll call it a
her for now) is taking a walk around good-sized lake.She hears some leaves rustling, and becomes
afraid.Noises escalate, and suddenly,
she is running from some unseen, invisible force.Just when she thinks she is safe and won’t be
harmed, something descends upon her.
2.What is purpose of this scene in the larger
story? (Or, if there is not a larger story, invent the purpose of this scene.)
This scene serves the purpose of creating a
psychologically engaging dialogue about fear.This woman in my film is running from something she cannot see and the
audience can’t see.The purpose is to
show a woman—crazy or not—who is running from something she cannot see but is
clearly threatened by.This unsure and
irrational fear is universal: we all fear what we cannot comprehend.
3.What is the emotion I want to communicate?
The main emotions I want to communicate are
fear and insecurity.
4.Why is this scene personal to me? What
previous personal experiences does it remind me of? Why do I need to make this
scene?
This idea of fearing the unknown and things
without a face is something I’ve experienced a lot in my life. When you are
alone, all you have to do is think, “what if this happened to me right now,”
and it is enough to make your pulse pick up.I want to make this scene because I think this is a valid experience that
everyone can relate to.
5.What, specifically, must the audience
understand narratively and feel at the end of this scene? How do you intend to
make sure this will happen?
The audience must understand the idea of
feeling mentally unstable and how that insecurity can make you feel—whether the
threat is real or not.I intend to do
this by never showing the “bad guy” and using sounds to emphasize a “big bad.”
6.What two visual elements (line, shape, space,
tone, color, rhythm, movement) will you use to help communicate the emotion of
the scene?
Movement and space will be really important
here.Flat space can be used to minimize
the drama and make the audience feel at peace, whereas deep space will be used
to amp up the drama and fear aspect.Movement will be important to convey urgency.
7.What are some potential obstacles to creating
a successful scene? How can you be prepared to overcome these?
Obstacles include visual
limitations with the location—the area is pretty but there’s not much you can
do with it.I fear running into a
dead-end.I think if I have enough varied
shots, it will make up for that.
0
comments:
Evoking Childhood
8:16 PM
Unknown
3 Comments
Children sometimes get a bad wrap for having less years behind them than others. We sometimes write them off as naive or ignorant or foolish because they don't have fully developed brains and haven't been to University. They are not adult beings, and so it is common for people to overlook them. My view of children is very different. I think younger humans are some of the most intuitive, wise, and open people on this Earth. Something happens with the loss of innocence that clouds the judgment and infects the brain. Adults become tainted and worn down and they lose their abilities to see the good in everything. Children, on the other hand, continue to love and love and love with everything that they are. They put all their love out for everyone to see and take.
I, as a kid, had a lot thrown at me while growing up. My family was always moving, and I was always switching schools and being forced into environments I wasn't comfortable in. I had to continually change my life, and I think I had to grow up faster than I wanted to. It would have been easy for me to act out against my parents, or to throw fits and tantrums about the things I didn't want to do. But instead, I accepted responsibility, I took care of my little sisters, and I swallowed my fear and trudged on. I took every bad or hard situation and I treated it like it was wonderful. I looked for the good in everything. This is something I wanted to convey with my film. I tried to think of the worst possible scenario for anyone to come upon, and then put a kid into the equation and had that kid do what she thought was necessary to help. She approaches the bad with good. She approaches the hard with love.
So tonally and visually I wanted everything to be kind of uneasy and sad. I wanted the dead person to be in mucky water to add to this horror filled situation. The messier and uglier and grimier, the easier it would be to convey that this child is doing something unexpected. Why would she not run away? Why is she not afraid? I achieved this by having the colors be very desaturated and having there be contrast in lighting and color. These elements add to the eerie atmosphere and make things seem more dramatic.
3
comments:
Week #2 Photos
7:35 PM
Unknown
4 Comments
1. Rain on a windshield is maybe cliche but it's still really pretty. I feel like no matter how ugly or drab the outside world looks, taking a picture of it with the focus being on the water droplets makes anything look more interesting. Sometimes the rain is a nuisance, but not all the time.
2. I like this photo a lot because I captured this really secret and intense moment between two unsuspecting people. The symmetry is really intriguing and I like the fishbowl distortion. This photo really tells a story and I didn't even have to do anything to manipulate the situation. I simply opened my camera and snapped a picture and it was done. Taken through the peephole in my door.
3. Mucky ground is everywhere right now. I hate the snow and how it looks after being trampled on. But the lines and the contrast was actually good, at least for the purpose of me taking a picture of something grimy.
4. I like how people move their hands when they aren't thinking about it. Sometimes you become so aware of everything your body is doing, but sometimes you just forget, and your body does what it wants. I like this photo because it conveys that weird limbo emotion for me.
5. The horizontal line and the stability it creates give this photo strength. It looks like it could either be the fire from a fireplace or a fire on some distant horizon. It's cool. And I like the light reflecting on the stones beneath the flames.
4
comments:
Week #1 Photos
7:23 PM
Unknown
4 Comments
1. The light coming from the car in front of us cast a cool shadow across the driver's face. I really like how low key lighting creates drama and mystery and that was what I wanted the photo to convey. There's something really sad about it, and that's nice.
2. I really liked the yellow tint the light was casting on this road map. I also was intrigued by the angle and how it created deep space in a way I wasn't expecting.
3. I liked the lines created in this photo. The contrast of the white snow and white light post was really pretty against the black night. It's kind of lonely and created a sense of isolation.
4. I walked outside and thought my backyard looked like a postcard you'd find at a skii lodge in the Alps or something. I tried to take a picture that would capture that peace I felt, and I think it worked for the most part. I wish I had maybe not kept the sun in frame, but I think it's idyllic and peaceful enough.
5. I took this photo because I liked the way the porch light lit up the stairs and nothing else around it. You can't see the rest of the world from this one light, and that's dark and melancholic to me.
4
comments:
Statement of Intent -- Evoking Childhood
6:52 PM
Unknown
0 Comments
The film I am shooting for this project is a macabre
representation of one aspect of my childhood.
It follows one child as the child tries to make the best out of a hard
situation. It starts with a shot of the
child playing with a brightly colored toy, however, the child’s play is
interrupted with a strange noise coming from the bathroom. The child goes to check out the noise, and
finds a dead person in the bathtub. With
only the best intentions, the child tries to wake the person, feed the person,
and brush the person’s hair (all in vain, as the person is dead). Finally, seeing no other solution to the
problem, the child gets in the bathtub with the person and wraps his/her arms
around the body as a last attempt to fix things. This is where we fade to black.
The purpose
of this short film definitely serves as a metaphor for feelings I had as a
child and exemplifies traits I’ve come to find in almost every child.Children are eager to please, and eager to
love.There is no expiration date or
qualifier for affection.This film aims
to shed light on the way children embrace horrible situations or things that
would normally be considered wrong or bad, and they show all their love for
it.They take everything that’s wrong
and just love it and that’s beautiful.
The biggest
emotion I want to convey with this film is uneasiness.In order to shed light on how important the
decisions the child is making in the film, I think it needs to be widely
accepted by the audience that the situation the child is in is uncomfortable. That
allows for more of a shock or surprise within the audience when the child is so
eager to help.Discomfort and unease
needs to be prominent throughout.
This scene
is very personal to me because my childhood was good, but also shadowed.I had friends and had fun, but I was forced
to grow up before I think I was ready.My family moved a lot, and I have two younger sisters and a really
irresponsible older one, so I constantly had to be the bigger person and to
make a good example of myself and to adapt to new environments all the
time.I was a little adult in a kid
world, and I remember having a good attitude about it the entire time.That was what life was for me:
responsibility.I want to make this
short film because I want convey to people how important a childhood is, and
how important children are.They are
impossibly strong and courageous and know more than we give them credit
for.That’s what I want mostly for
people to take away at the end of the film: that children see the good in
everything and also that they are strong.
Two visual
elements I will use to convey my emotion are color and space.The colors within this film will be very
desaturated to convey the grim undertone of the film.I’ll use a strong key light and weak fills to
create harsh shadows.There will also be
a lot of extreme close-ups which will get rid of a lot of the open space around
the location. I want things to feel
claustrophobic and unnatural.However,
there will also be moments when the child is lost in extreme wide shots, to
emphasize the isolation the child feels.
I think the
most obvious and biggest possible complication with shooting this scene is the
child.I’ve never directed a kid before
and I am nervous to try and nervous to keep the child on schedule.Even to get the reaction I want out of the
child.If I can shoot quickly and get
the performance I want out of the child actor, I will have done something
right, I guess.
0
comments:
10 Good Things
6:50 PM
Unknown
11 Comments
1. Musical Theatre:
My love for musical theatre is my most nerdy secret, but is also a big part of what I am. Growing up, my mom always took me to see shows with her all the time and these musicals were my first exposure to art that had some sort of impact on me and made me feel things. There's something special about characters spontaneously breaking into song, often accompanied by an elaborate dance number with a big chorus and a kick line. It makes me feel like I'm full of helium and will float out of my body. This musical number from the show Grand Hotel is one of the best I've ever seen, with infectiously joyful performances and some crazy legs.
2. Cabaret Music:
Derived from my love of musical theatre comes this strange and hodge-podge genre of music that almost everyone I force it upon hates. I think it came from early 1900's musicals and Jazz music and nowadays it can be a lot of things: whether it's a seedy European nightclub song or a folksy balkan tune. It often has accordion or horn accompaniment and explores dark themes. I really like this music because it is so unlike everything else that's being made, and it's cool that it often juxtaposes fairly upbeat and jazzy melodies with lyrics that deal with sex or lust or addiction or the end of the world, etc. The bands that perform cabaret infused music often are very theatrical and perform as characters or have specific period style influenced looks. They utilize spectacle and theatricality heavily, and I love that.
3. Children of Time:
This book blew my mind as a kid. It's obviously for young readers but that doesn't mean it's not good! It's sounds really dumb from just the premise so I'm not going to explain it but it's really fun and gripping and makes you feel crazy emotions about humanity and the end of the world. I sometimes forget how much I like this book and every few years I'll remember it and will have to dig it out of my bins at home and read it. It's good every single time.
4. Wings music video by HAERTS:
This video I found one day at like 3:00 AM and watched it four times in a row while sobbing. It has since become an artistic bible to me. It basically depicts everything my childhood was about, and feels exactly the way I felt as a kid. From the filter on the video to the toys the kids play with and the way their house looked: it's all the same. Kids tend to find magic and adventure in the most mundane things, like Chef Boyardee Ravioli and a pink wig. Kids are innocent and ignorant and beautiful, and seeing images of their small town treasures juxtaposed with the grime and grit of the lives of the adults in the town and how void of hope they are really made an impression on me. The innocence of childhood is lost in everyone eventually, and it's the most depressing thing. Plus this song is really good.
This show is the digital equivalent of comfort food for me. It's this wonderful alternate reality world that exists upon the foundation of a macabre fairy tale premise. Everything from the production design to the unique characters to the fast-paced witty dialogue to the ridiculous situations is charming and delightful and fun and emotional. It is the closest thing to happiness for me.
6. Over The Garden Wall:
This miniseries is everything I want to make and more. It's smart, funny, strange, spooky, and has a lot of heart. The animation is pretty and the songs are catchy and beautiful. It evokes a weird sense of nostalgia in me for a time I was never alive during and a land that I was neither a part of nor will ever be: as it doesn't exist. I wish all children's media could be this good, because it's uncommon to find something that can be just as entertaining to a child as it can be for an adult. This show does so, and more.
7. Romance and Cigarettes:
I don't really know why I like this movie so much but I do. I think it's weird and crazy and fun and sad and even boring sometimes. I don't necessarily connect to the theme, but I think the movie as a whole is an interesting concept. The dialogue is stylized, and set against the gritty New York working class scenery the musical numbers are fresh and interesting. There is a lot of good in this movie. And also a lot of bad. But I really like it.
8. Disneyland / Disney World:
I grew up going to Disneyland every few years with my family and the Disney influence was big in my household. Disneyland was the most exciting thing my little body ever experienced and so it will always hold a special place in me heart. I recently did an internship where I worked at Disney World on Main Street and that was a dream come true. I don't care if Disney is really cheesy or childish, I think it's magical.
9. Greek Mythology:
Instead of being really into superheroes or whatever as a kid, I got hooked on these stories. I must have checked out every book in the library on Greek Mythology. I've since forgotten a lot of it because I haven't kept up my research, but those gods and goddesses will always be super to me.
10. Makeup:
I think production design is amazing and would love to do it on a professional level, and my favorite department within production design is makeup. It's amazing how much you can change a person's personality, facial structure, and entire identity by their makeup. Also it's just really fun to try and think up ways to make cool looking things on someone's body. And while I love doing glamour makeup, the fun stuff for me is in special effects, blood/scars/bruises, and stylized makeup.
1 comments: