EXPERIMENTAL! YAY!!!

We are not only going to learn about the different elements in film-making, but actually get the chance to make our own short film. This film should be about 2-5 minutes. Our class has been divided into groups and each group has a specific genre, but every film has to have a common prop, that was assigned, and a one line dialog. Overall, this is really exciting, even more exciting because the genre of movie for my group is experimental.

So far, there is a director, editor, sound editor, and a cinematographer! With four people, we will also soon have to decide on the break-up for who will do screen-writing, dialog writing, and so on. This should not be a big deal, especially because we already have ideas for what our story will be.

When we heard that Eric, one of our instructors, is going to assign a genre to each group, my group made sure that when we get our assignment we have an idea for each genre. So we thought of ideas that would fit for comedy, horror, drama, romance, etc. All members agree (those who were brainstorming) that the running theme with any movie will definitely have a love story of some sort. And along with a love story, we want to have a crazy plot twist in the ending, so that our film will be memorable to everyone.

In the end though, we got the best possible genre! Along with being assigned genres for our films, each group is required to have some of the same props and one line dialogs. Each film must have a mime or a clown. In any part of the movie there must be a cheese grater, guitar, and skull. The dialog which should be in every movie are: "Why is this happening to me today of all days?” and "It would be better for us not to talk about that." For each element needed, we have an idea for how it can incorporate into our film.

Along with the story, the camera and how every scene will be recorded is also very important. For one story idea, we thought we would make the entire movie in the point of view of a person, and just have an over-voice for when that character needs to speak. Also we anticipate to have really cool effects, most likely this will be added on during the editing process.

A factor that scares me, is the availability of equipment to show quality in our work because of cost issues. But I think with a good story, and a good way to relay the message money will not be a major issue. But another major issue might be on trying to understand the different subliminal messages that are sent during the movie, and if we will be able to have that element in our movie. For example, if they are talking about something sad then there is a shadow on the actor's face, versus if the character is having a happy moment, then the face has complete brightness shining on it. Other subtle messages that are put in the film and never directly talked about is one of the greatest features of a film, I believe, and I hope that our group will be able to accomplish that!

Overall, I'm excited to see what our story will end up to, how we will work as a team and get through the technical parts of making a film. And really nervous for what the finish product will look like!

I can't make love to a BUSH!

Singing in the Rain, is probably my new obsession, is a movie that I would like to rent right now and show all of my friends if they haven't seen it. The entire cast was wonderful, especially Gene Kelley, who I had never even heard of until this movie. And the movie in general had so many different stories that was very entertaining throughout the entire thing.

I thoroughly enjoy watching movies and especially with those which have some singing and dancing. The color and lighting of this movie was extremely bright and detailed. In this video, , it shows a remake of the song by Usher alongside the actual scene from the movie. From this, you can just compare how significant the color was to the director and cinematographer. Even in the other song, when Gene and Donald were giving a suggestion for a song in the movie, the color had so much detail, it was almost as if they were trying to show and signify that this is not a black and white movie, but the time period was set when only black and white films were being released.

The film's story itself, showed the transformation that occurred from silent films to the films when sound came into use, talkies. I thought it was really cool to actually see their point of view, and how such a phenomenon was doubted, while we are so use to the fact that people talk in movies. Also, not only did they show the transformation of silent movies to talkies, but also the transformation of how the sound was recorded, from having the microphone hidden in the bushes to the art of dubbing a sound. I thought it was very ironic, when Donna told us that in the songs that were sung in the movie, which were being dubbed by Cathy Seldon, were actually also dubbed by someone else. I always was aware of dubbing, but this movie gave us the chance to see the actual process on how dubbing is done. I know an Indian actress who has a rough, scratchy voice, and in her first film her voice is dubbed. I never had watched that movie until I knew her as her established self, so when I sat down to watch her first movie, I couldn't finish watching it because it bothered me so much that whenever she spoke, it wasn't her real voice.

I think I enjoyed watching all of the songs in the movie, and especially watching the actors do their intricate tap dancing. My favorite song was Make them laugh, the choreography was just amazing, and the song really did make me laugh! Another song that I loved was Good morning. I also found the lyrics to that song very relative to my nights/mornings. I think it was hilarious how well I could relate to that song. Moses supposes, I thought was the most random song, but yet enjoyable to watch.

The editing and the way the story was put was also really different and amazing to me. The opening scene, where we are introduced to the characters and their world in Hollywood as an audience gave just enough distance for myself as an audience. But when Gene started going into flashback and telling his story, I thought it was really cool that we were unraveling a layer at a time, and getting closer to the characters for who they are and not what they show themselves to be. I also felt a little sorry for his friend, played by Donald, for both of them started their struggle together, but he got left behind in all of the fame, which could be seen on how the reporter treated him. But I thought that Gene was a sincere and good friend, and that both together made a wonderful duo. When Donna told us that Lena's voice was part of the acting, that was a little believable, but more than that it was relieving to know that because I almost felt guilty for laughing every moment she even spoke a word. If noticed, she was really silent the first many minutes of the movie, she didn't speak until later, and that was because she had no other choice. Cathy Seldon was my favorite character after Donald's character. I kind of have that negative point of view on some actors who seem to act the same in every movie, so if you've seen one of his movies, you've definitely seen them all. I also liked how her character grew throughout the film.

On a side note. I was watching an award function the other day, and I found myself more interested on which film won awards in things like editing, directing, cinematography, sounds, and many other categories more than finding out who would be the best actor for the year. This class has already started to change my outlook on film, and I'm glad.

And I thought it would be cool to look at a trailer from the 1950's. So here it is, enjoy!

I Want Everything in My Movie!

Image by chunter01 via Flickr

Before I didn't realize the different techniques and effects used in movies, and now I'm so overwhelmed with the question of how I can make such an effect or technique in a movie which I will make.

I never realized that there are so much detail into each shot of a scene from lighting of the area to the angle of the camera recording the scene. It fascinates me how the effects are so subtle that for a person who doesn't know much about film, but they will still receive the effect trying to be relayed by the director.

After we had a class/workshop about lighting, the next thing I remember watching is an episode from Lost. And in once scene, a character is describing the decisions and life of another character, when he talks about the happy things, the speaker is seen under the light, but when he talks about the sad parts, he is in the shadow. I don't think I would have noticed this before, but watching it after having class made me realize that subtle intention of the director. I think this kind of lighting, using shadows, could not be hard to manipulate and use in a scene. Even the picture to the right shows a different kind of lighting which is also used in movies. This kind of lighting is to get rid of extra detail distraction, and have your attention only on what is being shown in the light. This is also highly possible to do with limited equipment. I think in general, as a crew, we are going to have to make sure the lighting is appropriate for the scene. I think also, we can use the effects of shadows from lighting and also use lighting to show some subtle details that aren't important but is still appropriate for the scene and character.

I think the transitions and effects that the editor adds to the movie is really significant also. I was watching an episode of Carnivale, and they had a scene transition where the scene and settings change instantly, but the last said words in the previous scene is the same said word in the next scene and setting. That brought a comic relief between these scenes, and almost a sense of coincedence that both characters were using the same words but they were in different settings. I feel like this was not intended by the director, but instead a trick made by the editor. Things like this amaze me how it was thought of while making the scenes and dialogue. Also another effect and transition used in videos are the different coloring of the shot to show mood. And I think the best transition I've seen is the scene from Citizen Kane showing time progressing between the married couple. I think transitions and coloring are the most important things in trying to relay subtle messages. And as important, they are also easy to use with not highly technical equipment.

I say this now, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to change the lighting of a room to give a depressing look, or to understand that detail is so important and sometimes some detail occurs unintentional. We'll see in time to come, how easy and hard it will be to use different techniques in trying to make a good movie.

that Black and White movie....

Image via Wikipedia

Coming into class, the first day when Donna showed us clips of old movies, they were in black and white, so the concept of watching a movie with no color no longer scared me by the time we got to the third class and watched: Sunset Boulevard. Learning about the transitions, and editing, special effects, and basically everything else that goes on behind the scenes of a movie made me concentrate on that than on the color, in fact I don't think that I even realized that it was black and white until emphasized.

When surfing the channels, I distinctly remember that whenever I would see the flash of just black and white, I would wait to see if I could recognize the face, feel disinterested and change the channel. I would feel that because the movie is in black and white, there is a distance between me and the movie, for example, I wouldn't get the familiarity feeling, or the feeling to relate to the movie, only because I could not see the color of anything in the movie. But I can't lie, some of my favorite movies are actually in black and white, but they are Indian of course. But the concept is the same in both genres of films.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Sunset Boulevard itself was a film noir. And for this genre of movie, they are always in black and white. Also these kind of movies usually do not have a happy ending, all of the characters have a flaw, the story in general is depressing. The movie is also shot in dim light and/or with shadows. This movie specifically was in flashback, where you already know the ending, but they are telling you how it all got to that ending.

The characters in this film were quite interesting and flawed of course. More than the character, this film had two dimensions of the world. One in which there was Norma and Max who lived in the giant mansion with luxury, but still everything seemed gloomy and depressing in there. The other world was more realistic for the audience and a relief at times when Joe would go to that world, for example when he went to the New Years' Eve party filled with people, compared to the party at Norma's house, where he was the only guest.

A lot of transitions were used, but what I thought was the most fascinating thing was the idea of how the credits and movie title was brought into the movie, and how beautifully the setting didn't even have to change, and the movie had started. I also found it interesting that whenever they would show a scene of a person driving the car, the background was fake. I have seen this done before, and especially in old Indian movies, and I always thought that it was a flaw in their movie, but I now realize that this was also a common way to show a car scene here also. Little things like this, makes the process of film-making so universal. The sound effects were also interesting. I noticed that there was never a moment in the film of silence, through out the whole movie, orchestral music was playing in the background. And also, this movie had a narrator, and it was Joe himself who was telling the story. I noticed that they used narration in parts of the movie where the dialogue would not have been able to do justice to the scene. And other times, simply the music in the background did the magic for the scene. The acting was also a little different from movies that I've seen; in general was very dramatic. But I think it was needed to add to the effect of each character and how they effected the other characters.

All in all, I really did enjoy the movie, although some parts I did think Norma was creepy, and that Joe should've made some better decisions when it came to love, and that Max all in all was a creepy character but he was loyal, and that made him stand out. The only thing missing I think is that there were some stories left unfinished, like wouldn't the audience want to know if Betty came back to see Joe dead, if she gets married to Artie or not, what happens with the obvious murder which occurred. But other than those questions, I really did like the movie, I know I was giggling most of the time, it was full of entertainment! This movie is definitely worth your time to watch.