What I learned in this class..

This class has defiantly effected my ideas about being a filmmaker. I can truthfully say now after completing this course that i am actually a filmmaker because i have finished my first film project. this class has effected me ideas about a filmmaker in that fact that i will think about film in more of an artistic way. You must think more creatively and outside the normal permitters of typical filmmaking thinking about sound and image on a whole new level. I also think that the images you show and the rhythm it is edited is critical in the astatic of a film. I have learned that I like directing and feel most comfortable in that position. I directed the music video and installation project and I liked working with different people with different skills and combining all of those talents to make a uniform concept and project. I also liked the self portrait project, were as a director i can discover my own style in a subject more personal to me. I have also learned that I very much like the experimental and avant-garde style and techniques and will continue to learn more about the subject in Kruel's Avant-garde film studies class next semester.I have leaned that filmmaking in general is the greatest thing ever. I am very happy that I am a film studies major. The past week I worked my tail off in the edit lab working on these last final projects but seeing it all put together and everyone enjoying the entertainment that I created makes me feel that I am actually learning real things in school that can have an affect on the real world. I have always been a creative person and filmmaking provides the ultimate outlet for my creativity. I have very much enjoyed this class and it has been one of the best classes i have ever taken and it has focused my creative talents that will hep me be a better filmmaker as a whole.

Cucalorus films and excerpt from paper. Nov 4 and Nov 11

I planned on seeing the Poacher shorts, That Evening Sun, Gorgonzola Shorts, Storm, The Square, The anatomy of VFX Shot workshop, House of the Devil, Precious, Mississippi Damned, The Messenger...

I enjoyed all the films that I saw this year’s festival and I would have to agree that Cucalours is defiantly once of the best film festivals in the world because the variety of film styles that are screened. At Lumina I was able to see some of the festivals finest shorts on 35 mm film, including “Postalolio” and “Danse Macabre”. “Postalolio” was a film that was animated in a stop motion fashion. The director took a picture of a postcard that had a dogface with legs walk around and then surf to a music. It looked very basic but the simplicity was what made it very entertaining to watch. The art of the face dog was very detailed and very skillfully colored. What made this film even more impressing was that each postcard in the film was once mailed off and traveled through the postal service. The other 35mm film that we screened at Lumina was “Danse Mascabre” that was with the feature “House of the Devil”, set the mood for a creepy and morbid movie. The film showed a corpse of a dead woman be dressed and transferred into a coffin and then cremated. They did this with elegant camera movements and intense lighting that emphasized the slowed frame rate of the moving body. One scene that stuck out in my mind the most was a shot that the camera was locked into the top of the coffin and the back of the coffin was the background of the frame as we saw the body slide around in the box as it was being transported. It was a disturbing but beautiful shot. This film was a great choice to open the horror film “House of the Devil”. Some other shorts that I saw included some DVD, and Digibeta movies. The “Conservatory” was a foreign film, which was about a man who was arrested by the British Home Land Security and is interrogated. He divulges all the illegal secrets about his family and friends, and then the light come on the room and everyone is standing there in a room full of presents and birthday decorates shocked. His girlfriend leaves him, as do the rest of his friends. It was a hilarious Twist and another good choice to feature before the main film of the show “The Big Fan” which was a dark comedy. The one experimental show I did attend was City Stage for the Live Cinema Mash UP Smack DOWN and to see Professor Kreul VJ! I went to the screening with Chase Kilber the head of ACE Films, because we were eager to get out of the Lumina and excited to see Kreul VJ. As you know I am a DJ and am very interested in VJ'ing and I did not want to waste this opportunity to see one of my professors in action. Professor Kreul did the VJ'ing for a friend of mine named David Adussi who performs techno locally. He is a very talented DJ, and I think he and Kruel were a very good match of styles. I had a blast and was able to have fun and dance to some great techno music and relive some stress from the festival. When I was there I saw Even, Morgan, and Lauren. I was very excited to see them and I can say that I have become really good friends over this semester. We all let loose and went crazy dancing, and I even got Chase, who normally is reserved to join in too! I was dancing and having a great time like I did this summer in Italy and Spain. Kreul’s graphic style was very similar to the type of VJ’ing I witnessed in the massive discothèques in Europe and am very interested in seeing what techniques he used to create them. Some of the images that Kruel screened included a baby running, dancing shadow man, and a robot walking. I talked to him briefly and complemented him on his work. I was very glad that I was able to see the shorts at Lumina and now very motivated to see what I can create for my personal short films and Vj'ing videos.

Film shoot for the music video

Saturday was my first "film" that i directed which is very exciting for me. I think that the whole shoot went very well. our group met several times during the following week to setup and plan out our shoot and it definitely showed when we were on set. The band we fimed is called Wax Lips and they are a popular wilmiongton band. I am friends with the drummer Xander who is defiantly one of the coolest people i know. We filmed at his house and set up a fake party scene with the band playing in the living room. we first filmed the band playing as we waited for more extras to arrive. the band is now a 3 piece and we positioned them in the corner of the room with their banner hanging in the back. Brian is our grip and lighting guy and he was able to get us some good lights from UNCW since he is in the lighting class. His expertise was a big help with setting up the lighting and the gels. without his help i think our project would look crappy on film. Lauren was a big help too. she is the production manager and my right hand when it came down to organizing. she was there telling me when we need to wrap up scenes and when we need to start others and setting up shot lists. We did go over time when shooting the band but we were able to film the party scene fairly quickly and it balanced out. Alex and I had to work closely on this project since we were the oneces who ere going to be capturing the look of the film. Alex is a bit strong minded when he gets into filming mode and there was a little tension between us at some points but i feel there was an ok balance. I allowed him to have some creative freedom when filming but sometimes he did start to get out of line and start to try and direct some of the actors and move lights. As the director i took in what Alex and Brian sudgested about lighting and camera position and went with what I thought would look the best. Towards the end Alex and I were starting to think on the same wave about how to film certain shots and ultimately i think it was a good pairing. At about 1 we stoped for an hour and half break for lunch. we orded pizza for the crew, actors and band. this was a good time to relax after an intense few hours of filming. the next shots we filmed were the band drinking and goofing around. Xander had a minibar and they took allot of shots. The bass player was a bit wasted after that scene so thank god we did not need to film him anymore for that day.lol we had to wait a bit for one of the extras Suraya to come back with a few friends to finish up the party scenes at the mini bar. after that we headed downtown to film some flashback sequences at the river. these shots looked great because we got there at about 6 when the sun was setting. Later that night I had to go to work and I let Alex take over as they filmed the night shots of the band about to start their show at Lucky's. I gave specific directions to Alex and Lauren and let them do what they thought was right. we filmed about 6 rolls of film and hopefully it will come out good.I talked to Lauren and she told me at the end of the shoot Xander told her how impressed he and the band was with our project and he did not expect the professionalism of how well we were able to shoot the film. Wax Lips is very excited to see the final cut of the project and they are interested in having us put together another music video once this one is complete. Overall i think this is one of the best times i have ever had making a film and i know that everyone in the group was pretty happy with the results too.

art house to microcinema

I agree with the article that Art House cinemas are harder to find since the art house/ independent film definition has really changed and become more mainstream. People really like independent films but when major studios invest into these independents the art house cinema culture dies a bit. Micro cinemas are a very cool idea. They act like the original art house theaters providing exhibition space for local artists, student films, and other underground filmmakers. Its like a 21st century renascence of art-house cinema to become a microcinema. The microcinema all are different and unique style and provide an area for a community to grow. I am very interested in this because i am the lead projectionist at Lumina theater here on campus. I consider Lumina a cross between the art house cinema and the microcinema. We show a mix of blockbuster films and independent films. Saturday films are dedicated to films that are not necessarily mainstream and provide an outlet for independent films that ace films considers that the uncw audience will enjoy. we also show several international movies through different UNCW programers who choose these special interest films to get across their message to uncw students.Cucalorus has been at Lumina theater for 3 years as of this year, and in this festival we really show all types of independent films and experimental films. If Microcinema start to become more profitable and more popular nationally there can really be an art-house film boom and can provide big opportunities for independent filmmakers. I want Lumina theater to start to form to this microcinema style and I am going to try over the next year and have student film/independent local films be screened at Lumina,

Music Video

The other day our group met to decide what band we will create our music video for. We talked and looked up a few local NC bands and decided to make it for the local Wilmington band Wax Lips. I know the drummer, Xander, of Wax Lips through my DJing ventures. I worked with Xander and his small production company to put on an charity event at Sandbar to raise money for a homeless shelter. I have stayed in contact with him this past year and met his band one summer afternoon at a BBQ at his house. All the guys are young and cool. Wax Lips also has a very eye catching style with neon yellow, green,orange and pink clothes and guitars and sunglasses. They say they are like the new Glam Rock style pumped full of energy. We listened to their myspace recordings and we decided to use their song entitled "Buzz Kill" which is about a girl who broke the heart of the singer.. I think. The sound is very grungy, similar to Perl Jam. Its a good classic rock sound with a look that is new, flashy and with exciting color. We still need to do allot of planning but we have an ruff idea of what we are going to create. When I was telling the group about the last time I hung out with the band during the summer, they all took out their instruments and started playing a few cover songs on their back porch deck, and having a good time during this day party. We want to incorporate the fun relaxed style of the band doing that type of thing, playing at a daytime cookout party, and then getting into their big orange van and then performing at their show that night. We also want to incorporate a hot girl on a separate story-line. The girl will be the girl that the song is talking about. I want to incorporate the beautiful NC beach that we have here into the video, and will most likely have our girl start off tanning at the beach and then make her way to the party and then the show. The band's name is called Wax Lips and i want to incorporate that into the video by ending it with the girl kissing the camera and then leaving a neon color lipstick print on the last frame. I am very excited to direct my very first "Film" and really think that we will come away from this project with a great music video that can really help Xander and Wax Lips!!!

Self Portrait

For my self portrait I want to fouces allot on sound. I think that advanced sound design is overlooked in most experimental films. I want to really try and get to the core principals of experimental film with rhythm and color. I am not 100% sure about what my final project will look like at this point but I think i want to combine some of my video footage from my trip to Europe this summer and some still photos too. I may also include some animation as well. I am in Andre's modes of animation class and i am learning allot of new film making techniques that I want to try and experiment with. But conceptually right now i am thinking that i am going to use a electronic beat heavy in rhythm and edit visually it in a fashion that matches that beat. Frames will be comprised of up of different photos, videos, and possible animations. I want to use the differences in dark and light by inter cutting the footage with spaces of black or white, or maybe even color. I want to make it full of energy and entertaining to experience.

Image sequence

So today Brian and I started to piece together the photos into a sequence. While Brian colored the photos in iphoto to boost exposer and give it different color hues, i was starting to put together come of the photos we had stylized that monday on a timeline. We knew we wanted the view of the pictures to zoom in and out but today was the first time I really was able to make it work. i was able to fade photos over others and zoom in to extremes and then spin them. I made these animations without sound because we could not locate the source clip that we recorded in final cut that monday, but i didn't need it. Brian rerecorded it but when we put it to the animations it did not match up well. we decided to work on it again next monday and i would teach him the animation techniques and we will make several transitions using the pictures, and then pick the best. The style we are going for is something out of this universe and zoom into pictures so far that they become like atoms and specs of color. I'm very excited to see what the final product is going to look like!