A small reflection...

This semester has been a tough one for me, mainly because of my health but also because I took on a lot of projects that I necessarily was not completely dedicated too. Don't get me wrong working on Stopover City was fun and the cast was amazing but creatively i didn't have the opportunity to invest as much as I wanted to. It always seemed like no matter how much help I may have offered a lot of things got done without me knowing. I respect my peers for their hard work and dedication to our film because that honestly can not go unnoticed and applause to them for doing so. I just think I would have had more fun if I wasn't just producing or marketing. 

Besides filming and countless editing for my other production course, I have a hard time with my health this semester. It's pretty tough trying to maintain a high GPA and being healthy (at the end of the day GPA doesn't matter- I know)! For some reason it seems as if I spent more time getting X-rays than I did taking test. But I'm happy to say that I'm getting better and everything seems to be perfectly on track again. I probably have a lot of thank you's to send out to my friends and professors whom have been so patient with me this semester. Ah it means a lot!

I don't want this post to sound all bad, because I came into this class wanting new experience and knowledge and for the most part I got that! Plus I made some cool memories along the way. For now I'm excited for London next semester, and hopefully LA! I've had the pleasure to design for my fellow student filmmakers future projects next semester. And overall the present is nice and the future is looking bright. 

For now I wish everyone patience for finals week and the best of luck,  

Krystal

P.S: It's crazy to think that already next school year I'll be a senior! Honestly where the hell did the time go? 

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!

One-Shot Film Reflection

My one-shot film assignment can be watched here.

Whew, that turned out to be more difficult than expected; overall though, I'm pretty happy with the final outcome of my one-shot film. I wish I had taken more time in my pan though in order to extend the entire length of the piece. I feel that the extended time would have helped in building suspense, making the final outcome of the film that much more satisfying. Timing is definitely something I will now pay closer attention to while shooting, and something I tried to keep close attention to today while shooting for assignment #2.

As I acted as my own DP for the shoot I left feeling pretty great about how smooth I was able to keep the camera pan throughout the entire shot. Shooting out of a car was pretty difficult but with how secure we kept the tripod with the sandbags, any bumps on the road where almost entirely unnoticeable. It's the first time I've tried such a technique and I now feel confident using it on shoots in the future.

On another note, today my group shot for assignment #2. I must admit that I've never gotten used to filming strangers and filming them today felt way too uncomfortable. However, we were able to get a couple good shots that could be worth recreating. I look forward to trying to make our second version identical as I think such a shot when put side-to-side to the original could look very interesting.

-nickp

One Shot Reflection

I got to do a lot this project. I did like having the 4 mini projects because I got to have many different positions. I got to experience what it is like as an actor for Maddie's film. I am never actually in any of my projects or my friends projects, so this was new. I was also in my own film, but since you couldn't see my face, it doesn't count. I got to DP for Lindsey's film, which was cool. I think that I underestimate my ability to work a camera sometimes. Besides it being a little shaky, which I feel was out of my control, it is nice to have something that you did that doesn't look like shit. (Pardon my french).  Dave made it easy on us all and had the camera on the ground, so although I did "DP" for him, I didn't have much work besides framing it, then standing back.

Directing my project was awesome. I love being director. I really didn't have too much to do with directing my actors because of the way my project was. Only feet and no real sound. It made it feel a lot more relaxed and fun. It also made shooting it really quick and simple, so we were able to do multiple takes trying different things with the flower, the hula hoop, and camera movement. I am really proud of this project. I think it is different, I got to edit it completely by myself. In the past, I have had group members that are more experienced than I am in editing, so they take full control of that aspect. But I really like to edit and to see my ideas for my final piece really come together. So it was nice to actually have full creative control and have it come out nicely!

The only issue that I had with this project was exporting it wrong. I am about to leave my apartment to go to Park and re-export it with the correct settings.

One shot- director reflection

      

      Last Saturday, I shot my one shot film in my apartment and for the most part, the shoot went really well and I was pleased by the efforts of my group members and actors. Admittedly, I planned my first shoot at the last minute and my original location fell through. Because I was not able to shoot at Hammond Health Center, I was forced to find new actors, write a script, and find a new location within a few short hours. I was very disappointed that my first location fell through, but it was my fault on behalf of bad planning and last minute decision making. My new script was not a reflection of my best work. Fortunately, my actress was great and did an excellent job of bringing an emotional aspect to my seemingly cliche script and develop Liz's character. When it came down to the actual filming, my teammates worked really hard. I think that my lighting was very blown out and could have been more subtle. After color correcting in post, darker lighting worked much better with my story and the actions of the actors. 

        As i watched my film in class, I realized that I could have used more camera movement and that my shot was very static. I think that the strongest part of my piece was the acting. i was really pleased with Talia's delivery and think she did a great job of portraying Liz's character. The weakest part of my film was definitely the lighting. It was very weak and did a poor job of representing the high emotion involved in my production. I aslo think I could have chose a better location. My apartment is very bare and does not seem lived. I should have concentrated more on art direction to make a stronger character presence in the home. By using an off campus house, my location would have had more character and would have seemed more natural for the script. 

        As far as my role as a director, this is actually the first project I have worked on as a student that allowed me to fully direct my actors. I think that I did a really good job directing my actors. I realized it is extremely important to know your script and the types of emotions you would like your actors to portray. I also learned that blocking is important when directing. I found it difficult to make the actions of my actors appear natural and struggled to emphasize the importance of the actors physical interactions with the location and set. As a director, you need to know your script, how you would like your production to be portrayed, and the physical and emotional actions you want from your actors. I really enjoyed directing. 

    Overall, I am really pleased with how my production turned out and learned a great deal about production value, directing, and location scouting. I really enjoyed this project and look forward to using these skills for later projects. I learned that post production can greatly increase production value and that is extremely important to maintain the same settings you shot with while exporting. The production of Palmer, was the first time I have felt fully involved in each aspect of a production.

-Brie