6 x 1 part 2 :)

Ive been thinking about what to write in this blog for a while now… trying to figure out what I would want 6x1 part 2 to look like. I learned so much in this class. Before this I had had almost no experience with this kind of filmmaking. It was really different than the filmmaking that I’m used to but I really enjoyed the class and all of the interesting techniques that we got to learn about. I think that if I would be able to add on to the class I would want to spend a little more time on 3D. I know we did it during one class but I feel like there is so much more that you can learn and do with 3D and it would be really interesting to get to play around with it more and learn more about it. I also really enjoyed the found footage project. I had never done anything with found footage before but I thought it was a really cool process. There is so much out there available to you and so many different things you can do with found footage. I can definitely see myself working more with found footage and doing more with found footage in the future.

The other big thing that I would want 6x1 part 2 to consist of is more post production stuff. I know that there are some really cool things that you can do in post production but I still don’t know a lot about it. in our last class of the semester we got to spend a few minutes playing around with after effects. I had never used that program before and I thought it was really cool. it just looked like there was sooo much that you can do with a program like that and I would love to learn more about that kind of thing.

Im sure there are so many more techniques that you can do with film though and I know that this is just the beginning. I got to learn how to do so many different things in this class that I had no idea about and I know that a second part of this class would be full of the same thing and it is definitely a class that I would want to take. I love classes that we get to be hands on in and this is definitely one of those classes. I just think that you get to learn so much more that way. You actually get to learn how to use the things that other classes simply describe to you. This has definitely been one of the most hands on class and I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this class to others. It was such an interesting class and I got to learn things that I would never have gotten to do in any other class.

CUCALORUS!!

This past week was the Cucalorus film festival which was awesome. This is my first year as a full film major so it was the first year that I was able to get a pass for cucalorus and while I was out of town for part of it, I still got to enjoy a number of films.

I would have to say though that my favorite one was “TiMER.” It was the second to last one that I saw and was screened on Sunday. Its probably what I would call a romantic comedy but of course had a little drama thrown in but that’s what keeps it so entertaining right? the story of TiMER is that its about a woman who is about to turn 30 and is in search of her soul-mate. Well, in this story, everyone has the option to have a timer put on their arm. The timer is a count down clock counting down to the day that the person will meet their soul mate. The only problem with main character Oona’s clock is that its blank, meaning that her soul mate has yet to get a count down clock yet. She goes through the film dating men without counters and convincing them to get a timer, each time getting disappointed when theirs start counting down and hers remains blank. She soon meets a younger man who has a timer in which he only has about 4 months left when she meets him. However she begins to fall for him and that’s when the story really takes off. I don’t want to reveal anymore but it was a really good film, definitely my favorite of the ones that I saw at Cucalorus.

Another screening that was really interesting was “the square.” I had tried to see this film on I think Thursday but the film didn’t play right so they ended up just playing shorts that night. I did get to see it on Sunday though. It was definitely a film unlike any other I have ever seen. It was really interesting and definitely was one that kept me on the edge of my seat trying to see what would happen next. The best part of this screening though was probably at the end. The director had been there and was planning on doing a q and a for the Thursday screening but since it had to be changed to Sunday, he had to leave before the it was able to be screened. However, they did still hold a q and a with the director. They called him and put him on speaker through the microphone so the audience still could ask him questions about the film and we could all hear his answers.

Cucalorus this year was so much fun that I already am excited about next year. There were some great films made by some great filmmakers and im sure next year will be awesome too. I just think that being able to be so involved this year was a great experience and it was a great opportunity to see films that otherwise I would have never had the opportunity to see.

YES men!

The yes men is a really interesting and very entertaining documentary film about a group of activists who practice what they call identity correction. Pretty much they pretend to be important, powerful people for different organizations and go do appearances and lectures at different conferences all over the world. They speak about their ideas that corporations and government organizations sometimes will act in dehumanizing ways towards the public. They do this quite often bringing along crazy over the top props. The whole film documents from when they get certain speaking engagements, their preparation for the presentations, the presentation itself, and finally their response to how everything went. They put so much time and energy into it each time, you can definitely tell how passionate they are about what they do and the message that they are attempting to get out. One of the ones that sticks out to me the most is when they have a whole gold phallic outfit made for one of the men. They go to so much trouble to figure out someone to make this outfit and figuring out how to wear it under a suit to figuring out how to get the suit off and get their point made with this outfit. For another presentation, they bring mcdonalds food for everyone there.

The first one that they are pretending to be is they are pretending to be representatives of the world trade organization. I thought that was really interesting. I also thought that they did a really interesting job with the mcdonalds one. It was so entertaining watching the people in the audiences responses to what they were saying. You could tell that some people were even getting mad. It was interesting to watch these people trick all of these people. It was one of those things that while watching you just couldn’t look away. It kept your full attention the entire time, just taking everything in and attempting to guess what would happen next; what they would come up with next even though you knew that there was no way that you could. This documentary was one like I have never seen before but one that I would definitely recommend to other people to watch just because it is so crazy and unpredictable and entertaining. I just couldn’t believe some of the things that were happening in it. I sometimes felt myself thinking that there was no way that this was actually real. Like this couldn’t be a documentary, but simply a narrative film. But no, these things actually happened and that makes the film that much more engaging. It is a film that seems to totally hook its viewers if just for the simple fast that it is entertaining and also brings up some very interesting issues in a one of a kind way. These people are definitely getting their opinions out there and known about.

Our assignment 6 is the found footage/ recontextualization assignment. It relates to the yes men because there were parts of the yes men documentary film that had to have been pulled from different places, not just from when they were filming for the documentary. Like, there were clips that they used in one of their presentations and a few other parts of the film seemed to fit in well with the film but could very well have been footage from interviews and stuff. There were also parts where they were watching the tv…I don’t know if that would be considered found footage but I think it would be.

Mystery Workshop!

The mystery workshop in class ended up being a workshop on 3D video which I thought was really cool. I never knew how 3D was made or anything about how it worked and now I do. I guess I never really thought about it before but I had no idea that two camera were used. I don’t know if I thought it was a special camera or what but I thought it was really cool that you could just take two of the same cameras and set them up with the same settings and everything and then overlay the two images in post production. It was really interesting watching the whole process from setting up the cameras to putting the images together in the edit lab and making one red and one blue, to finally getting to view the final product wearing our glasses and getting to actually see what we had shot appear in 3D.

It was interesting too watching it all come together in post, from lining up the images to making sure they weren’t too close or too far apart. And then we had to give one of the images a red tint and the other a blue tint to work with the glasses that we made, or work with any 3D glasses really.

Everything had to be so specific though, making sure the cameras were the same and setting them up exactly beside each other, making sure they were on the same level and then having to make sure the images were on the same horizontal plane when editing them together so it would come out the right way. You also had to play around with how close to put the images together so that when wearing the glasses it would in fact appear 3D and not off, in which case it looked similar to when you were not wearing the glasses with it being obvious that there were actually two images.

I thought it was crazy too that you had to have such a long depth of field to do it too. We filmed down one of the hallways and we never had to change focus or anything while people were moving.

We also got to make 3D glasses too which was pretty cool. I mean, who doesn’t love crafting? And I also never thought about 3D glasses before we made them either. We had to pick out specific colors of red and blue and those were the ones that would work the best. Then we had to make sure that they were on the right side and everything. Whenever ive gone to a 3D movie or anything, you just are given the glasses. You don’t even think about the fact that they there are different options for the shades of red and blue, you just go with what they give you.

I also really enjoyed getting to watch our final projects on a big screen instead of just watching it while it was being edited in the lab on the computer screen. I thought it was interesting though that you had to be directly in front of it for it to work. You couldn’t be to one side or the other because then the image appearing 3D wouldn’t work right.

saturday shoot!

We had our Saturday shoot this past Saturday. it involved using the bolex camera to get a single long take. The long take lasted for 56 seconds and we had one chance in which to film it. it was a really neat and unique experience and I really enjoyed learning about a new camera. This was especially unique because we got to shoot on film, something not very common in todays world and something that as a film student is even more rare just because filming on film today typically means more expensive (especially for the narrative film projects that I am more accustomed to working on) and well, we’re just students. The bolex camera is a type of camera in which I have never worked with anything like it before. You don’t have to worry about battery or anything and don’t have to spend all kinds of time in the menu, changing all the settings and everything. It has very little set-up time (like you have to check a few settings, making sure you’re at the right f-stop and making sure the frames are right and a few little things like that and then load the film in the camera) and then you just crank it and you’re good to go for the 56 seconds that the crank lasts for. After we shot we got to take our film into the black box and actually develop it. this was really cool too because we got to see it appear on the film and then go in the other room and watch it right then. We didn’t have to send it off and have to wait to get back the footage, we got to do it ourselves. I feel like I learned so much with this project and it was really interesting too.

For our actual project, we utilized the arches outside the library and had the actors walk through them, switching actors behind each brick column. The final project looked really good and I think that the fact that it plays faster than what we filmed it only adds to the look of it and makes it even more interesting and entertaining because the people are changing so quickly. It plays faster because we shot it at 12 frames per second instead of the typical 24 frames per second, in which case we would have only gotten 28 seconds of roll time. However the film is projected at 24 frames per second, which is the reason that the film projects at double the normal speed. The exposure adds to it too. The image is almost blown out, its has such a contrast and parts of it are so bright. It looks like an old time movie or something!

but I do think that its really cool that we still get to learn about all these types of filmmaking, even the older ones that aren’t commonly used anymore just because there is so much available today. We have already learned about so much in this class and Im really interested to see what else we end up doing in this class.

48 hour race!

As we’re getting closer to the 48 hour film race, im getting a little more excited about it. I think that’s its gonna end up being pretty cool and a challenge like ive never had before. To make a film in 48 hours seems like a huge challenge when it takes years to make some. I mean, obviously that’s a very different kind of film, but still. Most people would be like, what, how is that even possible…and that was my first reaction. I mean so much goes into making a film, any film, that it makes me a little nervous to only have 48 hours for everything, even the planning of it. I know its going to have to be one of those more last minute, totally random things. I think its gonna take a lot of creativity and a definite willingness to change things last minute. Usually I have to plan out things but with something like this you can’t, you don’t have the time, you just have to go for it and hope for the best.

I’m really excited to find out what mystery prop will be though, like its one of those things where it can just be anything and it’s the kind of thing that will drive you crazy even attempting to guess what it will be. And the “tips” that you gave us in class, about bringing some orange food in did not help at all…well, it just helped to confuse me more…anyway, im gonna try to stop wondering what its going to be and just wait and see.

The film that we watched in class today that was done all with pictures was really interesting. I really likes the final look of it so im thinking that that’s the technique that im going to use for mine, or at least for the majority of mine. It was really interesting hearing about the other possibilities though and I definitely am thinking that im going to want to try some other techniques too though.

This is such an interesting way to make a movie. I think its going to be really interesting to see all of the things and ideas that people in the class come up with when given the exact same prop, 24 hours, and the restriction of not being able to use movie cameras. Ive never been involved in something like this so I think its gonna be really interesting to see how it turns out.

scratch film junkies take 2

So this was the second scratch film junkies film that ive seen. This time we watched st. louise. I do have to say that I liked the first one we watched a couple weeks ago better than this one. Im not sure why, but I did.

When this one first starts, the music starts first which was cool. I did like how I could recognize some of the effects this time though…like when it was scratching, etc. I now know how they did that. Before I was just like, oh that looks pretty cool but I had no idea how they did it. now I do know, well at least I now know a lot more of it. the first thing I recognized in the film of the techniques that we’ve learned was the scratching, which started out close to the beginning of the film. There was then words on the screen but they were backwards. Things like backwards words make me wonder though, did they make them backwards on purpose or was it an accident that they decided worked well for the look they were going for. Or did the put them backwards just so people like me would be sitting here wondering the reason behind it…

Anyway, the film went on to show black objects on top of all kinds of color, which was part of the film that I liked more. I also liked the arrow turning in a circle part. I also noticed some holes in the film which I think always has that distinct look. Then there was the part with the yellow and orange that reminded me of fire. I don’t know if that’s because those are some of the colors that I used for fire in my elements project or if that’s just because lots of people have learned to associate those colors with fire. There was also old film stock in this film that had been colored on and scratched on, manipulated to make a completely different film that what it was originally made for. I also remember some painting in the film…maybe with oil? I don’t know, I couldn’t tell exactly what was used but that would probably be my guess. There were also lots of straight lines throughout the film which was interesting. I also liked the part where there were lots of white streaks through the images. Also, at the end instead of music playing, there was someone talking. Im not sure why this stuck in my mind but it did…maybe its just not what I was expecting…

It was really cool to be able to see my project as an actual film today. We spent all this time manipulating film stock, painting, doing magazine transfers, scratching, coloring, painting, etc. and we finally got to see the finished project. I mean I had a little bit of an idea of what it would look like I guess but you spend all this time going frame by frame and you really don’t know until you are sitting there watching it be projected. It just goes by so fast but that’s what gives it such a unique look though. I really enjoyed watching it and watching how everybody else’s came together and seeing all the different techniques people used and how some of the effects were the same but they turned out so differently on everybody’s because everybody interprets things differently.

Projections of sound on image

This article talked about the relationship of sounds and images in a film. It starts out by giving different examples of the very different impressions you can get of watching parts of films silently compared to with the audio. The audio can often link images together and make something more cohesive. The absence of sound in the very same clip can make the viewer question whats going on and who exactly two shots can go together or why they are in that order. Its almost like the sound in a way distracts you and makes you assume that things fit together a lot better than they actually do. It can just give you a very different response and opinion of a film or a part of a film when you watch in without audio compared to when audio is present. The reading claims that we have an “added value” when the two relations are combined. This “added value” in the text means “the expressive and informative value with which a sound enriches a given image so as to create the definite impression, in the immediate or remembered experience one has of it, that this information or expression ‘naturally’ comes from what is seen, and is already contained in the image itself.” I think that basically this is just saying that the audio can give you such a different opinion; it adds so much to an image or group of images. It changes how you see the clip and will make you remember the clip in a very different way. The text gives some examples of the very different opinions that you get from watching the same scene with and without sound and its really interesting to look at that and how differently people do react.

There is an immediate connection between what is seen and what is heard and taking away one of these aspects away makes things completely different. The audio gives a viewer so many more hints as to what is going on in the story and the possibility of where the story is going to go; it’s the combination of dialogue, music, sound effects…it all contributes to the way you interpret something and it all works together to continue on with the plot.

The text goes on to talk about “empathetic music,” music that works to help the viewer have the ability to feel the feelings of others. I think that this is totally true. Music can have a huge effect in the way people see something and the way in which they interpret it. Music is such a big part of people’s lives in today’s culture and it means so much to people. Many people are so able to identify with music that it only makes sense that music would contribute to an image.

Another reason why sound added to an image can be so effective is because of the fact that the ear analyzes, processes, and synthesizes faster than the eye. I assume that this makes what one hears even more important since it could be making the first impression.

The text then states that sound “dramatizes shots, orientating them toward a future, a goal, and creation of a feeling of imminence and expectation. The shot is going somewhere and it is orientated in time.” This makes total sense too. The sound is helping it along; helping the story move smoothly and seamlessly forward.

Towards the end of the article other topics are discussed such as the how cinematic and cultural elements also play a role in the audio of a film.

wells

Wells starts out the article talking about the difference between orthodox animation and experimental animation; giving the reader his definitions of the two. The words and phrases that he uses to describe orthodox animation include the following: configuration, specific continuity, narrative form, evolution of context, unity of style, absence of artist, and dynamics of dialogue. In contract, experimental animation is defined as abstraction, specific non-continuity, interpretive form, evolution of materiality, multiple styles, presence of the artist, and dynamics of musicality. This is the basis for Wells article as he goes on to define each of these terms in depth.

In my opinion one of the main differences that I see is the narrative vs. interpretive forms. The narrative form of animations were usually filled with character conflicts and chase sequences. All in all, narrative animation is really just the idea of establishing a story by coming up with a situation, coming up with a problem and then solving it. This narrative form is a characteristic of orthodox animation. In contrast, experimental animation is based on an interpretive form. This interpretive form is based on aesthetic and non-narrative. It seems to avoid storytelling and instead works towards getting its point across in a way that is more similar to that of artists like painters and sculptors. It can also be described as animated paintings. I think that this difference totally makes sense in explaining the differences in orthodox and experimental because when I think of experimental, I think of the absence of a defined narrative story line; the ability to tell a story in a completely different way and the opportunity for everyone to get their own idea and story out of a film.

Another thing that stuck out to me when reading the essay was the idea of unity of style for orthodox and multiple styles for experimental animation. Wells talks about the unity of style as formal properties that tend to remain consistent. On the other hand, in experimental, multiple styles of animation are mixed together. Multiple new effects can also be used in experimental style.

Orthodox animation is just a much more structured form of animation. Experimental animation, like any experimental films, provide much more freedom to the filmmaker.

cameraless filmmaking

So far i'm really enjoying cameraless filmmaking. i have very little prior experience with it but im really enjoying the newness of it all. at first i was a little hesitant about it. ive always been a very narrative-oriented person. narrative film was always what i planned to do. it has always been what ive wanted to do. i was never really interested in doc or experimental. but i think that was just because i had never really been exposed to it before. the more i play around and experiment with experimental film, and more specifically, cameraless filmmaking, though, the more i like it and the more i can see why some people like it so much and concentrate so much on it as opposed to other types of filmmaking.

i have really enjoyed learning all the different techniques and all that you can do to the actual film; no camera necessary! it has opened my eyes to so much that i never knew was possible. it has helped me be so much more open minded and willing to look at things in a different light.

i think im going to have to say that the magazine transfer has been my favorite kind of cameraless filmmaking so far. there was just something about taking parts and pieces of one thing and making something totally different. its one of the most unique things ive ever seen! i can definitely see how people can get so into this kind of thing. i never thought i would enjoy this so much but there is so much freedom with something like this. you can do whatever you want and if you can figure out something to try, no matter how crazy or how much it doesnt make sense, you can still try it cause you never know what will happen. with all the rules and structures of narrative and docs, there's no way you could try anything. for the most part you stay within whats expected or normal for fear of scrutiny. i know i care a lot, and probably too much about what other people think about me and the work that i do. you put all this time and effort into something, you want it to be able to have an effect on people, a good effect.

Not only will cameraless filmmaking help me in the film industry, i think it is going to help me in my life too. it is going to teach me to think outside the box in all aspects of life. i think it will also help me to become more open with my ideas in camera filmmaking and make me a much more creative person. i now know that there are always going to be other ways to make things work.

Next up i'm pretty excited about the exposing the film to light project. i watched the sample projects that you posted on your blog and it looks like a really cool technique and im really interested to see exactly how it works. its been really interesting thinking about objects to bring in since last week and getting even more suggestions in class the other day. i can now see things in a completely different way. the other day as I was making cupcakes with my roommates, all i could think was i wonder how it would look to put some of the sprinkles on the film for the light project. best homework assignment ever. i mean, how often do you find yourself accidently doing class work? i know that it definitely doesnt happen to me very often. usually im having to force myself to do it. ;)

synesthesia

Synesthesia is pretty much just the co-operation of senses. examples of this would be like if you saw a letter and without even thinking about it, associated a color with it, and it would be the same color every time you saw that letter.

It's like last week in 6 x 1 when we watched the film without sound and had to think about what kind of music we would add if we had to make that kind of decision. when i think about it, it makes sense. i'm so used to expecting music that it wasnt that hard to imagine that there was music playing in it. and then when we watched it again with the music, that music fit with the film but it was kinda weird cause i had made my own soundtrack for it in my mind and when listening to it, it obviously wasnt exactly the same. the music that was in it though fit too, just in a different way. but thats one of the things that i love about it, that everybody can have their own opinions and ideas about something like that and there is no one right answer.

i dont think that im one of the people that this happens to because its involuntary but i think that when you think about it, it makes total sense. i mean if i had to assign colors to letters i think i could. and i think that if someone else did it too a lot of the colors would be the same. i mean is it just me or would the letter A have to be red?

the wikipedia article sad that people with synesthesia often use their experiences to help with creativeness. it says that synesthesia has worked as a source of inspiration for artists, composers, poets, novelists, and digital artists. experimental filmmakers fit in perfectly when talking about this topic too. i think that this could very well be true, especially with something like experimental film/film manipulation. a lot of the interpreting would already be done in your mind. you would automatically put certain colors or sounds in certain parts of a film. i also think that it may be harder for some people with synesthesia when something isnt the way its supposed to be in their mind, like if a letter was a different color, would that have any effect on them? would they look at something and say that its not supposed to be that color, that its wrong? would it bother them at all?

in class we talked about how in experimental films that sometimes the music will be added in later to fit the image and at other times the image will be added in to fit with the music. what im now wondering is if people with synesthesia would come up with a similar product no matter which one they started with...you would kinda think that they would seeing as though they tend to associate one thing with another all the time; one color with a letter, certain colors with certain types of music, etc....

to the beat

I thought that "To the Beat" by the Scratch Film Junkies was a really interesting film. I don't know a lot about experimental films and havent seen that many but have recently started trying to watch more. I'm usually more into narrative films but i really liked the use of color in "To the Beat." In parts of it, it was almost like the many different colors and the random objects that were thrown in there really were moving to the beat of the soundtrack. I also thought that it was interesting how at some points there was tons of stuff going on on the screen and there were colors and objects coming from everywhere and at other times it was almost still and the majority of the screen was black with very little other colors. One part that really stuck out for some reason was when the screen was black except for red bars. i dont know why that sticks out so much almost a week after watching it but it does. i dont know if it was on the screen for longer than most of the other images or what...anyway, at one point it seemed like the only colors that were on the screen were colors in the blue/green/turquoise family and when the music changed, so did the colors, to more pinks/purples/reds. i really liked this part because pink is my favorite color and so i really liked the combination of those colors. i think that if i had been working on this film, i would have added more of these colors or had them on longer or something....just cause they're my favorites and whenever I'm working on projects those colors tend to show up a lot and are the ones that I pick to use first. i thought it was really cool how when it went from the different color families, the music did seems to change to an extent. There was also some red and yellow thrown in later when the music changed again that reminded me of fire. i also thought it was interesting how people were added in randomly in between the long parts of color there would be random, usually short flashes of people. At some points it was like they werent even there with all of the jumping and the jump cuts; the flashes of them almost within the colors. While in most films, the people are the main focus whether its for a narrative film or a documentary on someone, it always seems to be what the focus is. in this, the focus wasnt on the people but on the color. I found myself listening to the music a lot more because i wasnt worried about missing what a character was saying or someone doing an interview. there was no dialogue at all and the only hint of words was the few words that appeared on the screen at the end..."mean not a thing" i think is what it was. i also think that the upbeat music went very well with all of the bright colors. i also think its interesting how they started the film with the image of the man and it ended with the only words in the film. like it took him all that art to get out those few words...or maybe the art was the story and it can mean not a thing to you but it meant something to that filmmaker that made it. or maybe it didnt mean that much to him compared to other things that hes done. but it does mean something to somebody. doesnt everything mean something different to somebody out there?