The Part that makes Movies look good...

Its a lie if I say that I always wondered how they were able to obtain the sounds for different 'things' and objects, even some animals that in reality do not even exist. But once I realized that there are movies with sounds that just doesn't exist in reality, I wondered how they thought of the ideas on how to do what they have done. Watching the many different genre of films, especially in the Indian Film Industry I became keen to what the director/editor wants us to hear because there can be a scene where they are showing someone washing dishes, but you only hear the dialogue, and other scenes when you are able to hear little details, which then shows the significance of that object in that scene. But of course watching to see how each sound was thought of and made for such classic movies like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars is even more fascinating.

The internet has everything. That is a statement often used and we take granted for it also. When I was watching the making of the two movies, and specifically of The Lord of the Rings, I was so surprised to see that they were so honest with any of the sounds that they obtained for the movie, and I feel like this is probably because we are so influenced with the fact that if you want some song or anything, you can simply go onto the internet and find it, and then even use it if you need to for something. The sound directors took care of each little detail for the sounds and they were also very creative. I think the fact that they were so creative with the sounds by mixing them and using animal sounds that doesn't even relate to the animal in our mind was fascinating. After watching the making for the sounds for that movie, I wished that I could see how other movies and shows are able to use their sound effects with such great ability that everything seems quite real.

Not only is sound editing important, but in general the editing of the clips is such an intricate job. There are countless of scenes where I remember that the actress had her hair to one side, and in one glance her hairstyle has changed. Well thats extreme, but little things that change once the camera just turned is exciting for me and to some extent also makes me realize that this is definitely not reality.I also can appreciate those scenes now that have a little segments of just showing the same scene but from different perspectives. The fact that the editor can think of something chronological for the audience and actually make everything look very smooth is impressive.

The scene below doesn't exactly have creative sounds, but it does seem to have some sound effects that are trying to convey the message of emphasizing what is happening in the scene. As the subway is leaving, you can hear every detail that is going on in the surrounding in fact the sounds of the bus is in a way is the dialogue for this scene.

First Thoughts

I've always liked watching movies, and recently I've been thinking of all of the hard work that goes behind making a movie. I feel like there is a lot to learn from this class about the basics and techniques of making a complete film.

I am familiar with the films that come from Hollywood and the Indian Cinema, also known as Bollywood. I think I am more familiar with the actors and directors from India more than Hollywood. Watching a movie seems to be the simplest task, and many times you sometimes even change a slight bit once you've seen a movie. I personally don't realize what makes someone a good actor or bad, for me the story is first most important and then comes the casting. I think reasonably everyone do great work, being in the film industry, except for a select few people who I believe have the acting capability but do not deserve all of the fame they tend to get. But this is all from a Bollywood watcher's perspective, of course.

This winter break, I got the chance to be a part of a little short film we made in our community to present at the annual New Year's Party. This was when I realized that the actors are merely puppet dolls, its the camera man, the director, the editor, the writer, the story-teller, the props manager, and the list can go on who do the important work. The actor merely is told about the scene, their lines and then Bam! they act it out! And that is all they do, but then again some actors do deserve credit, there are actors who really try to study their character they are playing and try to be a new person each time a new movie is being made. For this short film that we made, I found myself having to direct people and tell them what their lines are, and later I realized that someone had to do this job for some sanity to remain during the time we were recording all of the scenes, and me and this other girl helping to direct each scene helped everything to go faster. Overall, it was a great learning experience, and I didn't even connect this experience with the fact that my class this semester would have any correlation with actually making a film.

The first class in general was really fun, I wasn't bored any minute of it. Although it did get kind of uncomfortable for sitting around for so long, but the breaks were very timely. I was really fascinated by how everything really started. In hindsight, the concept seems quite simple, especially because even our phones are capable of video recording these days. Technology has grown so much, that people find life impossible without a cellular device. Perhaps the discovery of the picture in motion becomes even more significant and amazing. I was also amazed by the amusement (I don't know if that is the right word?) that people found in the segment from How I Met Your Mother about Suits, probably because the entire situation seemed normal to me being Bollywood influenced. Each movie usually has at least three or four songs, sometimes the song is how movies are recognized, and sometimes the songs are the only thing good in the movies. But the fact that Donna brought up how much work and effort goes for segments like that made me wonder how much more burden it seems the Bollywood Industry has, they have to have a good story and good songs. Another thing that amazed me was when Donna mentioned about the fact that the extra people in a scene, people casually walking in front of the camera, that was all thought and planned out before. Even the extra people make a significant difference to a scene and the overall effect of the movie on the end, before it was the natural movies that fascinated people, and I believe we have gotten to the point where we like to see movies that are looking as real as possible and those movies which have characters with whom we can relate to often.

Overall, I'm excited about what I will learn in this class, and really excited about making a short film also, and learning how to edit videos. I've always wondered how the people on youtube make such great edited videos, the best I've made is one with pictures!..