Spring Break felt like Summer!!

Two weeks ago, since we had lovely Spring Break last week, we had a class where Eric showed us tips and videos on editing and also a student named Corey Womack presented his film called "The Last Summer."

The short film was approximately 15 minutes long but yet it seemed like the timing was not enough for the movie to show everything, yet the film and storyline itself was kind of slow. It scared me, because in our films the average time should be 5 minutes; I was afraid that either we will have too much footage and need more time in our film, or not enough time to make the five minute line. Looking at our script right now, I'm not sure what to expect for the total time that the movie will run. I thought it was really neat to see a student made film, in some ways it made our confidence boost up, but then I realized that he was a film major student, this was his thesis...I wonder what expectations Donna and Eric have for our film then? Overall, the movie seemed very cleanly edited, and the background music fit well in each scene. I was a little disappointed in the acting and some of the lighting and camera angles. But then again lighting and camera angles are usually elements that the director thinks, but I felt that sometimes these elements were not relaying the same kind of message, or the correct message to me. But then that might also factor in with the fact that I could not relate to the character at all because I did not have similar experiences when leaving/making a choice to leave for college and which college to attend. But the complete project, I could tell that he worked really hard in the entire process, and one must consider that he worked with really low budget where the only pay that the actors got was being fed a meal; I believe in the making of this film, it is quite impressive.

After watching that film, we got to watch some fake trailers and movies, and some trailer versions of movies like "The Shining," and "Mary Poppins," but they were edited in such a way to show that sound and editing play a great role in film-making. Like Eric always says, editing can be so effective that it can even make a bad actor look good on-screen. I haven't seen "The Shining," but if my memory is correct I think it was a horror or scary film. And the spoof that we saw made the movie look like a "happy" movie.

But I think my favorite one that Eric showed was definitely the spoof for Mary Poppins which made it look scary. Honestly, when I watched the movie, I watched it in my teens one summer day, and I thought that this movie was really weird, and very happy like. When I saw the scary version, it made me laugh and glad to see it in that form also.

We also split into groups to work on our scripts and films. Our group seems to be pretty confident about our script. That day we just worked out the things we are going to need for each scene. We basically realized that everyone's schedules are crazy, everyone is going to have to make some sacrifices but we want to make the week with the camera as efficient as possible. I'm a little afraid that with so much concern in trying to be efficient with time and what we film, that the film will lose its detail part of the film. I intended to have a lot of subtle detail in the background of the scenes, but as we plan more some things are becoming easy to visualize but hard actually grasp on how we will obtain certain things. Maybe when we meet this week, things will go better, and the film will start looking like what we had visualized in the very beginning. Overall though, I'm excited about planning things for our film (since we get the camera last, we have plenty of time to plan things) and trying to figure out how we will accomplish the task of filming things that we thought would be so cool to have in our film.

Also, as discussed in class many times, to make a film you need to study other films! So next few weekends, my intention is to watch a lot of movies and analyze the movies! Which already happens now with anything I watch, which I'm thankful for, but also sometimes I wish I could stop thinking why the editor cut a certain scene or why the lighting seems to be dark in a certain area compared to the other places in the room, and actually concentrate on the story. But I do remember that there have a couple of times when I watched a movie, and half way into it, I realized that I haven't even analyzed this movie. In general, I think its really cool that I have a completely different understanding of films now.

So my question? I know that everyone plays a major role in film-making. But yet the director gets most of the credit for the film, and more than the director, the actor I think gets even more credit. Why? After knowing the deals that happen behind the scenes, do the actors even play a major role compared to the director and editor? I ask this, because I noticed in my group, that we didn't worry about who the actors were going to be until we had everything else decided!

Griffin is The Player

The movie we watched last week was very different: The Player. The opening scene was just brilliant, it was so cool to watch even as just an audience and not someone studying films. But because I knew that I was suppose to look out for things, it made that long 9 minute shot even more amazing.

The film has different genres that bring the entire movie together. There's suspense, noir, and because of that our main character is an anti-hero.

Griffin Mill was quite the interesting character. He had a lot of awkward scenes/moments in the movie for example when he is talking to June on the phone, and he's basically walking around her house creeping on her. Another time when he is sitting at the police officer's desk, and the camera does an extreme close-up to his eyes. This wasn't creepy, in fact I thought it was a brilliant way to show the perspective of what Griffin is feeling at that moment. I think the biggest thing I learned from this movie is that subtle things, and things in the background speak louder than the actual dialogs said by the actors.

It seems to be a running theme of watching movies which talk about the movie industry itself. And it seems like every movie is trying to relay the same message: Film Industry is fake, and not all glamor with happiness at all. This is mostly seen by the costume of the characters. Griffin gradually started to look darker. His clothes became darker, and his hair was more un-kept. There was a scene where he is sitting on the couch, he simply looked evil and tired (really weird combination). Another character, June who ended up marrying him in the end, was almost the complete opposite. She wore white all of the time, even at the funeral for her dead boyfriend. She represented an innocent and angelic person in the movie.

The story was also very convoluted. It came to a point where Griffin had killed David Kahane who happened to be June's boyfriend, but after time goes Griffin and June are in love, and Griffin is totally neglecting/ignoring his girlfriend Bonnie.

I really liked this movie, I think the movie got my attention from the beginning, because it looked so different that I felt it was really important to watch. Because often you find movies that even if you start watching it five minutes later, you haven't missed much, but this movie seemed important every minute of it. Another concept that I loved was how the police station was set up, and how it was completely not like normal police station set-ups in normal films. I laughed so hard, when Griffin continued to walk into the main room which actually wasn't the place he was suppose to go. And then when Detective Avery is having a casual conversation about tampons. That entire set-up was priceless.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this movie. But I must say, I wonder how I would perceive the films that we watch if not in the environment we watch it in. For example, if I watched this movie at home on a Friday night, would I still be able to catch and analyze and understand the movies that we watch? So on that note, does the environment in which we watch a specific film play an impact on how we remember the film and how it affects us in general?

Making Progress!

Last week our scripts were due, and so our team finalized on a story and put a pretty good, but short, script together. It was a good thing that we had a working script to work on, so that when we got time in class to work on the scripts, more and more ideas and changes were brought to the script. That was a learning experience for me, because it showed me how when it comes to things with creativity, you will continue to think of different ideas and that to not make your first draft be close to your heart for the next day it will be even better than the day before.

I'm really happy that every member of my group is always bringing new ideas, that we actually have to stop and think which idea to include. Plus I think its easier to think of wild ideas and present them, when of course the genre of the film is going to be EXPERIMENTAL! The first time we got together, we were more concentrated on how to make the story be different but yet relative for the audience. The next time the group met, I think since our story was really established, we decided to think of adding other scenes to make the story flow in a better way, and also to relay the message without using a lot of explanation.

The story is set. I'm sure we will get even more different ideas for the different scenes, and sequence of the scenes. But I'm worried about the shots. We have an idea on how to do some shots. And since we have no rules or boundaries for our movie, I think it will be cool if we think at the set itself on which angle/shot any scene should be recorded in, but also it is quite risky. But I guess that will be the beauty in it, taking risks.

Last class, we also had a workshop for sound editing. Although I'm not the sound editor for our film, but I still thought it was really interesting. He also showed us the mike that we will use to record the sounds. I think it will be fun to find sounds that actually don't even go with the scene, and see how that will affect the movie.

Overall, I'm really excited about making this movie. Thinking about our present script makes me feel really proud of our team and I hope the final product reflects our hard work.

Blew My Mind!

Cover of Blow Out

Last week was another movie day! And we watched Blow Out by Brian de Palma. The film itself was great, the story showed aspects of film making and a glimpse of how this world is always trying to cover things up and showed this connection with how films are made today.

After the transition from silent to talkes movies happened, it didn't take long for film-makers to start utilizing sound as an advantage in their films, and manipulating all sorts of sounds and noises that aren't even the real sounds. The entire film had a background story going on, where Jack Terry is the sound editor for a film he's working on with a director who he often works with. he's looking for a particular scream for a scene, in the end he uses the scream of Sally when she is dying. The basic message was to show how America covers things up to present to the world, and how films actually do that also.

I've never been able to see the exact process of how films actually come together when it comes to the technicality, so this movie was almost an eye-opener. I was amazed on how he was able to use simple pictures from a magazine, put them together and make a little flip-book, and then turn that into something that is a motion picture. And plus, be able to obtain the sound and actually do a really good job in synchronizing with motion pictures.

Throughout the movie, I noticed that the sound of the movie was very detailed and sharp. Its something I've noticed in movies, where the director and sound editor can make you hear only what they want you to hear. In this film, I felt like Brian de Palma made us hear all of the little detail sounds that were occurring in the background. I know, after watching this movie, it made my senses of hearing much sharper for a while, because I was listening for little detail sounds which I probably never notice before because I never direct my attention towards them.

Another thing that was superb in this film was the cinematography. I could tell that a lot of thought went into each shot and how to actually present each detail needed. I think through the different kind of shots like the split-screen, Palma almost made us, the audience, realize that this is only a movie, and yet he made the story seem so real. As real as the story was, there were some shots and scenes that I didn't like much, and at a point reminded me of some Bollywood movie that was made off of cheap budget. The scene when Jack is in the ambulance, and he hears Sally's voice on the radio thing that was hooked up to her, he dramatically gets up (although he was just in an accident) and is able to run so fast through a large crowd and starts to search for Sally. This made no sense, and what made it worse was the slow motion scene when Jack realizes where Sally is, so he starts to run to her. It just didn't seem fair to have this in the movie, when before we were able to watch a story that has been told, but in a completely different way. But I really did like how the movie went in a circle and showed how Jack had grown/matured and how the movie ends when the scream is obtained! (which was the problem in the very first scene, where the scream was not working out for the film, so Jack was instructed to find a better scream sound)

I actually liked how diverse the characters were, and how some had importance but necessarily weren't shown that much. I also enjoyed some of the shots that in my perspective looked quite experimental. In fact, the movie as a whole seemed a little experimental, which made me happy, for that is the genre we have for our short film that we have to make. I think the idea of how a camera should just sit there and the actors do everything is what I use to think is a good shot and is a good movie, but after watching this movie I realized that some of the best shots are those that are trying to make the viewer more limited in what they can see, and more involved into the characters of the film by simply doing some camera tricks. I definitely would love to use some of his techniques of shots in our short film.

Over all, it was a great film! And I'm really glad we watched it, and surely was much different from Sunset Boulevard and Singin' in the Rain.

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.