I miss you guys, but I've missed Netflixs more

Now that the semester is over I can abuse Netflixs by watching as many shows and movies as possible before the spring semester kicks in, all for 10 dollars a month! This has to be illegal! So far I've watched two TV show series, Flash Forward and Day Break. Flash Forward was a show based on a flash forward everyone in the world experienced at the same time. Some fancy scientific explantation was given on why the flash forwards occurred but everyone's flash forward gave them a glimpse of their future 6 months in advance. People began to live their lives based on what they saw in their flash forward. In one detectives flash forward, he was actually solving the case of the flash forward as he was trying to solve why the flash forwards happened in the first place and who was behind them. It was only one season and the ending wasn't too good so I wasn't too pleased. But Day Break made me have faith again. Its a show starring Taye Diggs and Diggs is a detective who is framed for the murder of a DA. The issue is, the day starts all over again every day. So the day is always the same but different things happen depending on what Diggs does in that day. Injuries carry over to the next day, which is the same day, but the things he tells people does not. Each day he tries to get closer to solving who really killed the DA and who is framing him and why. This show is DOPE! I like it. It's only one season, for whatever reason, but i enjoyed it. Now I'm watching Sons of Anarchy, HOLY CRAP! This show is awesome. Im surprised how much I'm actually enjoying it. I told you all I will abuse Netflixs. Are there any other shows I should watch? Let me know! Thanks for an amazing semester and I'll see you all soon.

Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas

Since this is my final post, I felt I should end with one of my favorite movies of all time The Nightmare Before Christmas. Also it's good movie for this time of year to curl up with by the fireplace, where I assume your chestnuts will be roasting.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a post stop motion animation film that was created and produced by Tim Burton (before he lost his stride in my personal opinion). This film broke so many barriers at the time (1993), it was one of the first mainstream post stop animation films released (before it came Gumby and other less known shorts). Henry Selick (also known for Coraline) directed the film. Burton had no hand in any of the animation work because of Batman. The score and lyrics were created by Danny Elfman, a well known collaborator with Burton (Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Batman, etc).
Two useful items were invented during the making of this that would make animators lives a little easier. The first was a light alarm. This device would alert animators if any of the lights on any of the sets were down before they took the next shot. The second was a replacement system where in the animator was easily able to switch out a broken puppet for a new one.
The Nightmare Before Christmas has created a cult following that gains still is growing to this day. I hope you take the time to watch this if not only to see the hard work and long hours the animators committed. Happy holidays y'all.

            Captains Log, every great thing has to come to an end, and yes that includes this class. Over the course of the semester I have had a lot of great experiences with some great people.  I thought that some of the in class tutorials on the camera’s and editing systems have really helped my overall TVR skills. I still have no idea how blogging will help these skills but these posts have given us the chance to express ourselves in ways we couldn’t in class. Overall it was a great experience and on that note ARGO FUCK YOURSELVES! 

To be continued

Hey guys. Very excited for tonights screenings. If you get a chance, come a little bit early. I was fortunate enough to DP a thesis film being screened before ours titled "The Call", directed by Sarah Furie.


My final post is gonna be about a film I watched for one of my missed blog posts (ironic, eh?). Last night I watched Fahrenheit 451, a movie that was trippy as hell, to be quite frank. The movie catches your attention right off the bat with the intro credits done as voice over, something I've never heard of before, over flashing neon images. This immediately drew me in. I thought that something like that was extremely innovative and creative especially for a movie done in the 60's.

On that note, I also thought the movie was very before its time. The twisted, dark sense that you get in the first few minutes gave me a very Clockwork Orange kind of vibe; one that seems extremely risque for its time. The cinematography and set design was also very stunning for such an old movie.

Overall I felt that Fahrenheit 451 was a very good movie. It starts off in a way that really throws you off and, at times, turns you off from the movie. But if you stick with how strange it seems at first you realize it is in fact a great film. 4 stars.

Have a good finals/break everyone! Good luck to all you who are off to LA.

-Nick

Final Blog, I think

What's going on everybody? Im excited for tonight to see the showing of some of the student films. I like watching student films, they are pretty fun to watch and analyze. Should be a fun time. On another note, I am highly upset at Netflixs for lying to me! They rated a movie 3 and a half stars out of 5 and I was not impressed. It sort of felt like a fake low budget film. When people got shot, it was so unrealistic! It took away from the film. The plot wasn't too bad, but it definitely could have been drawn out better. Any-who  im excited for tonight to watch Rat Bastard and the rest of the student films. See you all tonight, peace.

The Moon and the Son

Out of all of the movies on Aruturo's list that I have watched, The Moon and the Son was by far the most interesting and different.  The Moon and the Son tells the story of a an adult man, having the conversation he always wish he had had with his father.  It is also written animation so there are beautiful, abstract drawings in the film along with a collection of old photos.

This is a very entertaining short-movie, only about 30 minutes long.  The voice-acting is very amazing and it really is a journey as the son learns so much about his father he did not know.  The director and writer, John Canemaker, clearly had something burning inside of him that he lets out in this story.  As therapeutic as it must have been for him to make this, I also felt a relief when watching this.  I recommend everyone watch this because it has beautiful drawings and tells the story of a character finding comfort after holding anger inside for such a long time.  Here it is.

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

We are approaching the end of the semester and I can say that I am looking forward to break, but I am going to miss Fiction Field 2. I enjoyed my projects and I feel like I learned more about directing from my first project than any other film I have worked on, even though it was only a minute long. I learned that length is not important as detail and action.

I also got a chance to try script supervising, which I did enjoy. I realized the importance and difficult that can come with keeping track of shots and how long they are.

I really enjoyed my classmates and their creativity on the different projects. I learned more about the collaboration process that comes from making student films. I discovered what qualities a person should have for them to be good to work with. Crew chemistry is probably one of the most important things that a producer should keep in mind and that is something I will remember when I do my thesis next year.

At first, I was not sure of what to think of the blogs posts, but as time went on, I realized it was a great way to force me to sit down and watch a movie or a television episode every week. It gave me time to relax and think about my major and the medium I want to work in.

To end the semester, here is my top movie list of the year, all of which I recommend.

5. The Master

4. Moonrise Kingdom

3. Argo

2. Skyfall

1. Lincoln

Laying on the cheesiness...thick

         

 Since it is the last week and our class has officially concluded, Im going to talk about what I have learned in this class and throughout the semester in general....please, hold back the excitement. The first thing I learned was how to use the Sony FS-100 and how important it is to use profile pictures. When doing my first project, I learned the importance of art direction and location scouting. I also learned that it is very hard to workout five peoples' schedules to film. I really enjoyed learning how to use the FS100 and was impressed by the camera's higher shooting quality. During the second project, I learned the importance of image quality and how difficult it is to find actors that fit the type you are looking for. It was a challenge to mimic a shot exactly like the original but my group did a great job. This project was a lot of fun and I was really proud of the completed shot. I learned the most during the third project. This was the most involved project this semester and definitely the most stressful. I learned that you can not expect that everyone will do the jobs they are assigned and must be prepared to have yourself or other group members take over. I learned it is important to be organized and professional...and punctual.  This was also my first experience doing audio and using the marantz mixer. This experience showed me that audio is one of the most important aspects of a production and is much more difficult than I could have ever imagined. I really enjoyed doing an audio and realized that it takes a lot of practice. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and I am really proud of the things I have worked on. 

Also, good luck on your finals.

-Brie 

Rat Bastard

What a semester it has been! I have to say that I learned a lot from this Fiction Field II class. Each of the assignments were meaningful and got me to think about how I go about shooting and techniques in different and interesting ways.

This past project, Rat Bastard was probably the most stressful but also the most fun. While we didn't leave ourselves much room for error and didn't give ourselves a whole lot of extra time to shoot if we made a mistake, the pressure almost made it more exciting and it motivated us all to work hard. My favorite part of working on Rat Bastard was being able to put Arturo's directing methods to the test in order to get the desired performance out of our actors.

The reason I think our final project turned out so successful is because we all shared a vision on how the final product should look.  The project was very much a collaborative effort from Lindsey, Dave, Sam R, Sam M, Chris, Tori, and me. Another great thing throughout the shoot was that even though people more or less had set tasks, we were all open and receptive to each other's ideas and suggestions to improve the shoot.  In addition, we made sure to keep the shooting environment fun and not too serious. I think that the process of shooting should be an enjoyable, fun one though it can be stressful sometimes. Based on the behind the scenes of The Hobbit video we watched in class the other day it sure seems like everyone on that production had lots of fun and worked equally as hard. Thanks to my great group for keeping it fun and creating a great final result. Good luck to everyone in their future filmmaking endeavors!

The Hobbit

Watching the Lord of the Rings series when I was much younger was one of the best experiences of my life! My mom read all the books including the Hobbit and she's very excited about watching the Hobbit in Theaters. My boyfriend and I decided we'll go and watch it in theaters on the night of the premiere! This is something either of us have ever done! Surprising I know! Watching the blog videos (vlogs as I like to call them) about their making of the film Pre, production and post, it filled my heart with inspiration! Needless to say, if I had a tail it'd be going in circles!

We watched the post production blog and I have also seen the production blog itself. They have literally hundreds of people working on this film! It took them 266 shooting days to film the hobbit! How I dream of being employed for that long on one film! It would be amazing to work on such an incredible project! When I see the production blogs done by the crew, especially the art department crew my heart just melts with the idea that I want so badly to do that someday! And there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do so.

Raise your hand if you'd donate your hair to film!! Ooo Ooo me me me me me!!

OH yeah!!

I can only hope I've kicked this flu by then!! So in order to work on kicking that I'm going to go make myself a cup of tea and relax a little. Enjoy! Go see the movie!!

-Lucy Lynne' Hall

Semester Reflection

Last blog post of the semester! It has been fun. I want to give a shout out to Samantha, Dave, and Maddie. We managed to work on all three projects together. Great group. I'm going to miss you guys and Maddie, congratulations on graduating. Good luck with everything!

This semester has confirmed my love of editing. I definitely feel that it is something I am good at and a skill that I want to continue to learn about and perfect. I especially like editing audio. I realize I love making music and sound effects fit visuals. Working on Rat Bastard and having to find the best music to fit the mood of the film was both challenging and exciting for me. I had a similar experience in Fiction Field I. For our final project in that class, we had our music composed by a student in Whalen. The day before it was due, we mixed the audio with the video. It. Was. Awful. The music didn't match up at all, and it sounded like elevator music. This was a silent film. We needed playful, upbeat, music that helped tell the story. So that night, before it was due, I downloaded three royalty free songs that I sliced together to make the soundtrack for the film. I didn't tell my professor that I mixed the audio, he still thought it was composed by a Whalen student, and he loved it! I ended up telling him that I had done it, and he was impressed. It is something I like doing. To me it is like figuring out a math problem. It takes time and concentration to fit every piece together, but when it comes together it is so rewarding. Here is a link to my film from last semester.


Silent Love


Have a great vacation and spring semester!!!

Cake Boss

Over the summer i was fortunate enough to spend 3 months interning with the production company HighNoon Entertainment. Last week one of the new episodes that they aired was one of the cake deliveries that i was able to work on. The episode was about how they made a life size cake of Betty White to bring to her after party. I remember that shoot like it was yesterday. It was the first delivery that I ever went on and I was put in charge of fire watching the equipment..... sounds cooler than it actually was. Fire watching is watching over almost anything and making sure nothing happens to it. Jokes aside it was actually a really exciting day for me, i remember telling all my friends and family that I was standing only 150 feet away from Betty White. My internship was one of the best opportunities that I have ever experienced because I learned so much from all the people that I worked with. They taught me all about the importance of releasing the individuals who may appear on the show, I learned all about different types of film equipment that I wasn't introduced yet in my production classes at Park and so much more. It was exciting to be able to see something that I worked on appear on television and I am excited for it to happen more often once i graduate college.

 

Sketch of the Betty White cake.

It was a pleasure having class with you all and I'm so sad that this is my last blog post.... have a great Winter Break!!!

-Tori

Class Wrap Up

This class in all has taught me a lot - I have gained experience that I did not have before. I had my first directing experience, which was amazing! I have previously thought that I would like to produce better, but it felt so much more natural for me to be directing. And just like every production class I take, the more projects I do, the more experience I get, the more mistakes I make, and can learn from those mistakes. Arturo, you were a great tool that we were able to utilize during these projects.

Besides talking about how great this class was, I have been watching some films from the recommended list. So far, I am happy and entertained by everything I have watched. I think that even once this class is over, I will continue watching the films on that list!

I also just want to say how happy I am with our final, Rat Bastard. We had the best crew that did their jobs perfectly. The editing and sound in the final product looks amazing. I am beyond proud of it! Thanks to all the Rat Bastarders (thanks Lindsey for that great word)!

Final Project Shoot

This past Friday and Sunday, we shot our final project.  Friday, we shot in a lovely book store in the commons and on Sunday, we shot as a whole group at two different houses.  Sunday was the big day and it was a long day.  It was also a very effective day of shooting.  I think the keys to our efficiency in filming was that everyone had a job but not only that, everyone knew how to continuously carry out their job.  Nobody lagged behind and zoned off but everyone was always concentrated on doing the work and getting the best possible work for our project.  It was a long day of shooting and everyone was tired but it felt great to know that we had worked hard and were going to see it payoff.  I am very excited to see the final cut of our project.

Broken Flowers

This week I decided to watch Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers," a sort-of comedy about a man, Don Johnston, an aging Don Juan played to perfection by Bill Murray, tracking down five of his former flames to see which one produced him a son after receiving a mysterious, anonymous letter.

Don has no interest in finding these women, but his neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), urges him to do so. Winston is the anti-Don; wife, five kids, and three jobs, while Don lives alone after making it big in computers, despite not owning one.

Don hits the road and meets four former loves; Sharon Stone, whose daughter is named Lolita, but neither get the sexual connotation; a real estate agent played by Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange as an animal communicator, and Tilda Swinton as an angry biker. The fifth women is dead. I'm obviously not going to spoil which woman sent the letter, and it's interesting how that the answer is not really what the movie is about, but instead it is about mood and how this man is trying to reconnect in his lonely life.

I really enjoyed the movie and I was excited to see how each women would act. The performances are very good, yet reserved, which seems to be a part of Jarmusch's minimalist style. It's well directed and well shot, keeping me engaged the entire time. I highly recommend this movie, especially those who like Bill Murray in his new era of movies.

And....we're wrapped.

         

 Approximately one hour ago, Lucy, Harrison, Michelle,  Nick P., Nick C,. and myself picture wrapped our final fim production. It was stressful and bumpy road but we made it and must I say it looks fantastic. I am really happy with how we came together at the end and filmed a really great piece. Our talent, Nicky Wood, Brian Amato, and Jeffrey Ayars did an excellent job. We could have not asked for a harder working or more dedicated cast and crew. This was my first experience doing audio and thanks to the patience and knowledge of my crew members, it was a success. It was very challenging to find time in our hectic schedules to film but we finally made it.

         From this production, I learned the importance of back-up plans, punctuality, and communication.  I was also really impressed by how successful we were at achieving our 1980s look by using really great locations and Lucy spending hours at TIOLI and the Salvation Army. It was difficult to find locations that allowed us a large time frame to film, so we had to work very fast at times. It was really great that we had four locations to utilize for this production because it increased our production value and made our film more professional.
      Overall, I really enjoyed working on this project and I am beyond excited to see the final product. I want to Thank my other crew members and our cast for all of the hard work and dedication they put into this project. It was a fun project to work on and was my first time pieces. Time pieces can be a challenge but are fun to shop for and assist in the design process. I hope that everyone enjoys our film and enjoys our film, as much as I do.

Peace, Brie

Efficient Film Making

Probably about 90% of making a film work out in your favor is by planning ahead of time.
Never forget to plan for everything to go wrong most of the time it will.
Some things are unavoidable and unthinkable but unfortunately they do happen. It's always good to be willing to try and work with people rather than against them.
I think what helps me do well in any department is to have a little confidence in myself and my ability to figure things out, not being afraid to jump right in to something, over planning, giving myself enough time to do something that needs doing, and doing that part of film making as much as you can. I try to volunteer in the things I'm good at first and if someone asks for help on something that I know I have time for and can handle I try really hard to just do it. Helping hands that don't know all the ropes are better than no hands at all. When I was directing I always tried to just get people who are available first. In order to get anyone to do anything for you you have to plan out when you're doing things. Before that even It's a great idea to find locations first. Like an artist you have to think of the background before you can even begin thinking about the foreground. Think about what makes the scene possible first and then think about what makes it pretty. First, get your location and when it will be available and plan your schedule accordingly. Then think about the idea, what do we want the idea to look like shot-for shot. Again you want to over plan for this. Plan out every shot in detail! By the end of this pre-production process keep the ideas in mind but don't marry them. You can then decide what kind of equipment you'll need to make it look like it does in your head. Then you can think about the people available to you that can run all of that equipment, gather them and schedule them promptly. Then schedule back up people for them just in case your first person falls through. Remind those people that they are on-call. Then you should think about the talent. These people at some point will have a level of irreplaceable status. In order to progress and not work backwards you want to stress to these people how valuable they are to this production. Then you can start thinking about the Art-department aspect of it because then your art person(s) will have sizes of the actors to work with. It's ideal to assign a car+assistant/driver to the art department. Think of all the ways you can help them out by donating the clothes, props, make up, and set dressing you can offer to them. Don't be afraid of any stains (unless they're bleach stains) they can all be removed. Then think about all of the luxury items you will want of set; food, coffee, water, snacks, extra scripts, a screw driver, TAPE (ALL THE TAPE), etc.
Then shoot it and expect all of these things to not work out.
Then eventually you can sit down with someone fresh and have them edit all the crazy work you just did. Sometimes it helps to have someone who hasn't so intently worked on this project as much as you have editing the final film. You obviously shouldn't just leave it all up to them, you should watch and compromise and listen to their ideas too. Make some sacrifices  your audience will thank you because sometimes as much as you think it's the greatest idea in the world, others might see it differently and that's ok. 

Do we have time for this in a matter of 3 weeks. Absolutely not! There are sacrifices you will have to make. I'm not just talking about the pre-production and production stuff that you just planned out for either! Expect to lose money, expect to not eat, expect to have anxiety attacks, expect to have insomnia etc. Personal tolls. But also understand that this is all only temporary. A good film that you can submit to film festivals, that you can show to potential employers and be able to explain how you got to make this film, it makes it all worth the temporary hell you'll have to go through. Your film can last a long long time. Think about the films that literally almost everyone in the world has seen. Those films probably had all of the stress that you have! But they not only made a lot of money off of it, but they got to say hey, I made this and it's really going places! There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Trust me if you plan like this, and even if everything that you couldn't have even fathomed went wrong, you'll probably most deff. have something worth bragging about. It will make you a better film maker. Your best work will only be your best film because you failed and learned in all the other films before it. Your first film may or may not be your worst. If you put in 100% of your effort, then that is literally all you can do, be proud of that and forgive yourself for being human. Just remember that you can always hug someone when you need to. Unless you're surrounded by cacti. In that case run!



Haven't watched very many films lately, I've watched some documentaries but nothing crazy good.

Grumpy cat

Happiness is a Warm Kitten

Too Cute is a show on Animal Planet that features cute little critters ranging from kittens to baby sloths. That's right, baby sloths. Too Cute originally started as a special on Animal Planet, but because of the obviously awesome ratings/demand (I mean come on, who doesn't love cute baby animals?) the network decided to give it a regular time slot on the channel.I'm not sure if the idea for the show was spawned off Animal Planet's Puppybowl, but it is an cash cow.
 Too Cute is a documentary style show with a narrative throughout. It is semi informative, giving facts every now and again. The main factor of this show is entertainment and so you can drool over all of the adorable animals...not literally. I believe that this show will survive a long time on the network and, if Animal Planet chose, it is very possible it could make it into syndication. I think I'll just leave this video here and you can do what you like with it. It has adorable kittens in it. Just saying.

GIRLS

Last week the trailer for season two of HBO's Emmy winning show Girls was released. I for one, am super excited since this was one of my favorite shows last year. Girls is the brainchild of writer/director/actor Lena Dunham and is produced by Judd Apatow. Before Girls Dunham was also known for her Indie Spirit Award-winning 2010 mumblecore flick Tiny Furniture, which she released 2 years after graduating from Oberlin College (basically putting us all to shame). Girls, which first premiered last year, follows Dunham's Hannah and her three other college girlfriends living in New York City as they navigate their way through careers, relationships and finding their way in life. Among Dunham the show stars Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke.

The reason I love this show so much is not only because its hilarious, but because it is so REAL. The characters and situations really resonate with my generation especially, as we are all about to face the "real world" after college. Though many critics have had problems with nepotism in the casting (Brian Williams, David Mamet, Bad Company's Simon Kirke), I don't think its a very legitimate argument against the show, since the presence of nepotism is something that everyone has to deal with in any industry. Plus, all of the girls are great actors anyway, so its not like they didn't deserve getting cast. Another controversial factor in the show is that it doesn't feature many characters of color despite taking place in New York City. Dunham said she has made an effort to change this for the upcoming second season. However, the show is loosely based on Lena Dunham's own life, so the characters we see is her own reality.

I think some people love to hate Girls because they don't like seeing a young woman make it as a writer and director in a male dominated industry. The reality is this show is extremely well-crafted and the dialogue is very smart. Dunham's been compared to Woody Alllen in her writing style, which I can definitely see. I'm going to make a bold statement and say that Girls IS one of the best shows out there right now. I would definitely recommend watching the first season, and I can't wait for January!

Who you calling a Rat Bastard?

It's a WRAP!! 

Get it? Because in film that say its a wrap when they are done with a shoot but that is a picture of a wrap like the sandwich! Get it? Oh you people don't know comedy!

Sunday was a GREAT production day. In all of 9 hours we were able to shoot our final project. Though the day was long, the crew and cast made the day run a lot smoother then I thought it would. I was very impressed on how organized and detail oriented we were as a team during the production. I've been on productions where everything is just all over the place and we would waste a lot of time trying to figure things out when things should have been figured out already. This past Sunday, the crew showed up an hour before the cast. We set everything up and went over shots before the cast even came, this way when the cast did come, we were able to jump right into recording. We ended our production 45 minutes before the scheduled end time. Impressive right? Yea I know, I know. I just want to give a big thank you to the crew for holding everything down, from the script writing, to directing on set, to making sure we had all the audio covered. A very organized team made for a successful day of shooting and i'm happy we're done. BOOM!

Rat Bastard

Yesterday we wrapped on shooting our final project, Rat Bastard. It was a very long day, to say the least. Starting at 915 am on a Sunday for college students was difficult for us. It took awhile for us to wake up and get moving, but we managed. I was directing this project and I feel so lucky to have my first directing experience go as smoothly as it did. Having seven group members proved to be SUPER beneficial, even though I thought it would make things more difficult. Everyone did their jobs and it saved so much time to not have to constantly be trying to get people back on track. Sometimes there were a couple people taking a little break, but there were at least four or five people at all times that were on their game and getting things done. I was really lucky to work with a crew of competent people to help my directing go well. It was also extremely helpful to have people specifically concentrating on shot logs and continuity.
I am so happy we are done shooting and it went as well as it did! I can't even articulate my relief! :) I can't wait to show the final.

Wrapping of Rat Bastard

We just finished filming our final project "Rat Bastard". It was a long grueling day that started at 9am and went until about 5pm. We finished ahead of schedule! We weren't planning on getting done until 6:30pm, which is nice. We all worked together throughout the day and shooting went pretty smoothly. I loved our actor that played Jeff. He was a great guy, with a great attitude. It can be hard working with college students. We aren't always the most organized, but he stuck with us and had great patience. I'm very appreciative of that. I thought that having such a big group was going to be hard, but fortunately, it turned out that having seven members working on this project was very helpful. We each had a role, and stuck with it, switching here and there when someone needed a break. Having so many of us allowed us to have a few members who worked on script coverage and shot logs, which is a luxury that I hadn't had before. Usually groups are scrambling to do audio, video, and lighting and there are no spare hands to help with anything else. Having script coverage and a shot log helped to maintain continuity, and will make editing easier for Tori when she is sifting through all the footage. I don't have any of the set pictures we took, but we took a lot..... some nice pictures... some not so nice pictures. Lets just say some of us were tired. It was a great experience and I feel like I learned a lot. Hands on experience is the best for me, I learn a lot quicker because I have to! I am extremely tired and am so glad it is over. Great job Rat Bastarders. We did it!


Oh and there's this..... apparently we aren't the first to make a film with this title. Enjoy?