Project Evaluation 3

I had a lot of fun the day we did the exposure for this project. Piling objects on the film strips and seeing very quickly how the strips came out was great. I love the instant gratification of hand-processing, and if I didn’t like one strip, I could immediately try again. Matt Draeger and I worked really well together, and I liked our footage.

While I love the instant gratification, I did not enjoy working with the developer chemicals. I tried to stay out of the way during that process. I think the combination of the gloves and the fumes sort of bothered me. Sitting in that dark room with that red light for hours was hard, but I did enjoy exposing the film strips.

As far as the editing process went, I wish we had done it differently. As the fine cut editor, I did enjoy getting to come in and see what sort of theme the rough cut editors had come up with, and I liked being in charge of tweaking what they had done. I’m not sure exactly how I would have changed the process, but I think I would have preferred to edit in small groups. I would also have liked to go into the exposure day with a better concept of what the edit would be comprised of so I could have planned a theme a little better.

I liked how the project turned out in the end, and I’m glad to have had the experience. Overall though, I think this was my least favorite project of the semester. Maybe this just isn’t an area of interest for me? I think I prefer projects with more recognizable images, because my favorite parts of this film were the parts where you could see the transferred images from the found footage. Even though this was my least favorite project, I still enjoyed it!

Project Evaluation 6

After watching Lexi Lefkowitz’s collage project at the end of last semester, I thought this would be a project I would hate. I really enjoy creative projects that have more structure, like the rhythmic edit, so the open format of this project was a little scary to me. Also, I had no idea how to come up with a subject or how to execute it. I eventually decided to do a satirical project on how food consumption in America has changed in the last 50 years by juxtaposing audio of 1950’s health films with current images of people stuffing their faces and going against everything we know to be healthy. As I looked for footage, however, I had a lot of trouble finding video of people eating. I eventually decided to just juxtapose images of the bad food that we eat against the audio (that I had no trouble finding).

The editing process really intimidated me as well. I was aspiring to make a film that somewhat emulated Lexi’s in format, and I had no idea how she did that. Once I got in the editing room, though, I had a much easier and more enjoyable time putting my project together than I thought. I was happy with the way my final edit came together. My project was simple, but I think I got my message across. I thought it was interesting during the class screening that you and several people in the class took the juxtaposition in a completely different way than I intended it. In the end, the project that I thought I would hate the most ended up being one that I really enjoyed. Aside from struggling to find footage early on, I really enjoyed the entire process.

New...inspiration???

I found this video first on MySpace, and it gave me some new ideas for what we could do with our animation footage:

It was almost too terrible to post on here, but at the same time too funny not to. While the concept of the video is a bit ridiculous, the animation is really good. I love how the filmmaker even played with rack focus in one part of the video. I never thought of making a music video out of our footage, and while I don't want to do that, it showed me a new option for this type of animation.

I was so excited to watch our stop animation footage yesterday! I was really happy with how ours came out, and I am ready to hit the editing room. Most of our shots turned out exactly as I hoped, and I am glad we used multiple angles in our filming.

I was a bit disappointed with how our rayograms screened yesterday. I had fun making them, but was sad that most of the details that looked so cool on the actual filmstrip went by too fast to be recognizable on screen. I know this is something that could be changed in Final Cut though. My favorite part (I think it was everyone's favorite part, judging by the reactions) was when the film strip hovered over and spun around the bottom strip. That looked really cool.

I was pretty impressed with the 100-frame animation. While it did go by even faster than I thought it would, I was happy with how my animation came out, and I know I could slow that down in Final Cut as well. I'm glad that I'll finally be learning how to use Final Cut next week, as that has been dangling in front of me for about 3 years now. I want to take Intro to Editing next semester to learn even more, but I will be glad to have more than an abstract vision of what Final Cut really is.

More blogging to come...

Rayograms

I'm excited about this week's class and getting the instant gratification of hand processing. I enjoyed laying things on the film strip last week, and I really enjoyed seeing the images I created appear before my eyes.

I found this video on YouTube that is very similar to what we'll be doing:

I like what the filmmaker did in this film. The pattern of chains and headphone cords (what the summary says he used) looks really cool when it flies past. I think the filmmaker edited this video in Final Cut or some other program, because certain frames seem to hover in place for extended periods and the film changes colors, which I'm not sure is possible using the process we did in class. Some parts even look like the filmstrip was either double exposed or digitally superimposed. I didn't even think of using chains or headphones this week, but this video broadened my thought process for this week's project!

Stop Motion

I've been thinking back this week on my group's stop motion project last week, and I think we did a good job coming up with creative ideas and shots that will look good in the final edit. While I can't be sure until we get the footage back, I what we shot will edit together really well. We shot two different setups (Mouse Trap Apocalypse and mice under a neighborhood), so what I'm NOT sure of is how we'll integrate both setups into our edit. I guess we'll decide that based on how the footage comes back (i.e. some of the things we tried might have failed miserably, so we will easily decide to leave them out). Towards the end of the shoot, we were all tired and a little bit frustrated with the constraints of the technique and the tripod, so we attempted some different shots by propping the camera up on tables, chairs, and even our legs. These might look terrible, but I'm hoping they'll add a unique element to our shoot that maybe no other groups used. I also think our project will be unique because our Mouse Trap setup was multi-level but only on one plane. While I suppose it's still too early to say how successful we were, I feel that our shoot went really well, and I hope our footage will reflect our hard work and creativity!

Paint Splash Movie

I found this video on YouTube and really liked it. The artist splattered paint on canvas, then tracked across it with a camera to create the image. I really like how this is a different technique than we've used in class, but it is still reminiscent of how we painted on film strips. I also really love the colors that the artist used, as bright colors are something I always try to incorporate into my work. The music also adds a nice touch. I first watched it with the computer muted accidentally, and I liked it, but I liked it a lot more the second time once I realized there was audio. The film is upbeat and chaotic, and I really enjoyed it. I like how, like painting on film, there really is no wrong way to make a project like this because anything you do will look unique. If I ever have the chance to get my hands on that much paint and canvas, I would like to try it myself!

Brakhage Article

When I saw that we had to read an article written by Stan Brakhage, I had a very preconceived idea of what it would be. Having seen a number of his films and knowing his style, I assumed the article would detail mainly creative techniques for creating art on film. While the article did contain hints of that, it was far more technical and mechanical than I expected. To be honest, the article was very difficult for me to read. Not only did Brakhage use tons of technical language, but he has a long-winded style that is hard to read and follow. Having taken a good number of film classes already, I felt that I already knew a lot of what this article said, and that I had heard it multiple times before. It is always good to get a refresher on the basics, but this article was not an easy read by any means, so I really struggled through it.

While I did feel that the article was mostly information I already had, I did find myself relating some recent film experiences to what I read. For example, I used the information about f-stop and light meters just this morning during a photo shoot for my Intro to Doc class. My group went down to the beach and had to figure out the light meter and how to adjust the f-stop for different lighting conditions. I also related the parts of the article about both splicing and using the projector to our class last week, as we learned about both techniques. I enjoy being at a point in the film program where I can read an article like this and be familiar with most of what it is describing. I feel like I'm finally learning something!

Still working...

I'm still working on my Elements project. I actually haven't made much progress this week, but I'm still excited about my ideas. I'm probably actually going to finish the animation project first, because I really enjoy making objects come to life on film. I can understand better ahead of time how my work will come out when I project it when I'm doing animation than I can when I'm just making "blobby blobs."

I really enjoyed making the magazine transfers last week, and I enjoyed even more seeing them projected this week. I'm also glad that I now know how to load and run a projector! The transfers were a little bit frustrating at first, because I wasn't sure how hard I could press and rub on the tape without messing it up. I realized by the end that I really couldn't mess it up, which took the pressure off and made it a lot more fun. I don't see myself using this technique on my Elements project, but I would definitely like to experiment with it more on my own in the future. I got some ideas from seeing what other people did in class that I would like to test out.

Right now, I am a little bit apprehensive about our stop motion animation project coming up this week. First of all, I am a little worried about the fact that half our group was absent this past week. Even if they do show up, they will not know what's going on and may not be much help with the project. Matt and I could end up doing most of the work ourselves, and I'm not sure we'll be able to get it all done in the time we have. I'm also not completely clear on how the project will be set up (the glass panes, etc) and how the camera will be positioned, so I don't know how to prepare for the activity. I brought back some toys from home that we could potentially use, but I guess I won't really be able to come up with any story ideas until I see the set up next Tuesday. In the meantime, I'll still be working on my Elements project!

Working on elements project

I've done a little work on my Elements project, and I think I have the whole thing planned out in my head. Sarah and I have done some of this before, so we know what techniques we like or don't like to use. I really enjoy animation and seeing an image I drew actually moving, so I'm going to incorporate that into my two elements. I'm working on earth and fire, while Sarah is working on water and wind.

I did think that I was only going to use Sharpies and nail polish on my film strips, but now I think I will play around with some other materials as well. I haven't decided yet if I will buy and Rapidiograph ink to use, because in the past I was not happy with what I created using it. However, I would like to experiment with salt and oil, so I might at least incorporate a little of that into my project. Only time will tell!

Vision '06 Preshow

This video is of a film that I made along with several friends for the Vision '06 preshow at Cucalorus. I was on the committee that organized the student showcase, which was a great experience in festival management and planning. Lexi was also on the committee, and she was in 6x1 last semester, so she taught me all she knew about painting on film. I in turn got a few friends involved (Sarah being one of them), and our film was born! I had a great time actually painting on the film, and it was a very rewarding experience to see my work actually projected in front of 75 people! I would like to continue painting on film in the future even if just as a hobby, and I would also like to learn how to project and then videotape my films to put them online.

Still Unsure...

I've hesitated to write anything here in the past week because I still didn't feel sure what I was supposed to write. Andre's email today helped, and I think I understand now the purpose of these entries. Anyway, last week's class felt like a review for me, because I have done some painting on film on my own in the past. I worked with Lexi Lefkowitz last semester on a film for the Vision '06 preshow at Cucalorus, and I had a blast learning this new filmmaking method. I loved seeing my drawings on screen, and I developed a whole new appreciation for experimental films. In the past, I was bored by filmmakers like Stan Brakhage. After painting on film for about 10 minutes, I had an entirely different perspective on the creation and viewing process.

I'm very excited about this class and the opportunity to learn six new filmmaking techniques that I have maybe never even been exposed to before. The more I learn about film, the more I enjoy seeing just how far the medium can go. I think this class will expand my horizons and creative abilities even more. I feel very comfortable in particular with this first project since I have done it before. Sarah and I have a pretty set plan for our earth, wind, fire, and water themes, but I know from experience that having a plan and executing that plan on the filmstrip are two different things. Hopefully everything will go well in class and we will be happy with our final product!

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