Project Ratings

Rankings #1-7

#1. Multiplane Animation

This was one of my favorite assignments because I happen to really enjoy animation. I was intrigued by the idea of using the Bolex to do stop motion. I loved getting a chance to experiment with multi-plane animation in real life. I have always worked with computer animation using interpolation. Working by hand definitely made me appreciate the artistry involved in the processes I have come to take for granted.

#2. Camera-less Filmmaking

This was a great project to start out with. I feel like I should have done this in the 201 class. My generation of filmmakers are disconnected with physical medium itself. Just being able to touch and manipulate real film helped me to remember how new the digital age truly is.

#3. Bolex Long Take

Again, this long take was so important to me realizing how precious film really is, and just how much you can communicate in one minute. I though messing with the frame rate and loading the camera was fun. I loved being there for the whole process. It made the film so special to me, in a way DV never will (I mean it was basically like watching a child being born). Good times, loved planning and blocking, made the actually event seem so special because we really only had one time to get it right.

#4. Star-Wars

I like this because it was so spur of the moment, and creative. It was so fun watching just acting like kids again and pretending to fly into space. I loved that we didn't have to worry so much about the the aspects we normally do in film classes (lighting, exposure etc.).

#5. Recycled Footage

Had I not been held up by some serious technical difficulties I feel like this would have been my favorite project. But in the end I had very little time to get it done. But I love editing found footage to make ridiculous looking situations. I only wish this project were allowed to go over one minute.

#6. 48-Hour Video Race

Loved the viewing process, but I was irresponsible and waited until the last minute. Truly regretted doing that after seeing the other films because I could have had a lot of fun with it.

#7. Rhythmic Editing

Interesting concept. Glad I had to do it because it helped redefine the possibilities of the medium for me. For me, however, it just wasn't as fun as the other.

6x1 part II design

Here is a list of things I would do in 6x1 part II

Projects

1. Every group is given the same shoebox of materials and they all have to design and shoot their films within the class period. The parameters would be strict with regards to time limit and techniques used.

2. An "on the spot" exquisite corpse project. Assume there a four groups. In four rooms/spaces there will be 4 shoeboxes, each with a unique set of items. In 10-20 minutes each group has to create the first sentence of a story and film it using only the props given to them. Any editing must be done within the camera, on the spot, by rewinding/fast-forwarding and recording over bad takes. (NOTE: Voiceover narration of the sentence should not be done during filming). At the end of the 20 minutes each group should have their completed sentence filmed and edited. Before moving on to the next room, each group must rewind the tape to the beginning of THEIR finished sequence. Then each group moves on to the next room, presses play on the camera, and watches the previous group's sequence (with the volume muted). They then build upon the story by filming a new sentence based on their best interpretation of what the previous group's sentence was. Each group repeats the process using the only the props in the box and in camera editing. They continue to switch rooms every 20 minutes until they are back to their original room. At this point the tapes are taken to the editing lab where one of a few things could happen.

1. The teacher or student takes the written versions of the sentences for each group and adds makes a single voiceover track for each tape.

2. A member from each ads a voiceover track to only their sequence on each tape.

3. (An interesting twist) Each group creates a voiceover sentence track for the previous group's sequence based only on what they see.

Mystery Workshop Response

I thought the whole Star Wars uncut idea was really unique. Even through its going to be hard as hell to keep with the whole story when the scenes and characters are changing every 15 seconds, but thats just part of the fun. Its empowering to see how amateurs and professionals alike can work together at such a fast pace to recreate one of the greatest movies of all time. I happened to bring a lot of technical looking junk computer parts to decorate our set to be the inside of the millennium falcon. In my mind I had this fantastical image of how it would all look when we finished shooting, but we were so concerned with decorating that we forgot about camera, lighting and acting. Needless to say it looks like a piece of shit, but thats what makes it so fun because that piece of shit still has a good chance of making it into the final movie which would be hilarious and well worth the time. We had a green screen sequence in there somewhere, but I think we decided just to leave it up there fun comedic effect instead of mapping over it. In all it was a very fun project, it really made me think back to my days as a freshman when I truly loved film. I don't know why, but getting together with a group of friends, a camera, and some crazy ideas will never get old to me as long as I live.

molitov Man

Its hard to know how to feel about this situation because I sympathize with both artists. The photographer is an intimate part of the context in which the photo was taken, and Joy is attached to his emotions. It was unfortunate that she didn't look into the context more deeply to understand that this was not a riot. But at the same time, to views of her paintings, it might as well have been and who really cares what was really going on in the picture, he is still displaying riot like emotions. It sucks that this wasn't a better know image. That way everyone one know the original context and perhaps Joy wouldn't have used it because of its historical significance. I do feel that it is important to research images you get off the internet a little more closely, but at the same time, it was amazing how fast the image was appropriated by different artists.
After reading the second article, my thoughts have changed a little bit. The photographer of Molitov Man really owns nothing she just happened to be there to capture a moment in time. That moment was not created by her, she was just presented it and snapped the shutter. This is the same for Joy, who was presented the online image and painted that moment. The same is true for all subsequent artists. It is very interesting to think about how much of what we create can actually be claimed as "our own". As humans we have been exposed to so many past artists and other artforms that it inevitably becomes part of our subconscious and is reinterpreted through our work in one form or another.

My Experience of the Saturday Shoot

I didn't feel very enthusiastic about shooting on Saturday because the weather was nice and I imagined we would be spending most of the time in the classroom or developing in the dark room. In the end it turned out to be a really fun experience and, especially because of the weather. The actor movements for our film were very heavy and I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time to get to our location, don our outfits, and teach everyone the steps. I think we got everything shot right on time. I liked that the other students were so helpful and listened to everything we said. We all ended up getting really relaxed and just having fun with the whole project. I loved the enthusiasm. It was much more worrisome to be shooting on film, knowing that we only had one shot. It really made me think about every aspect before shooting. In the digital world I usually just shoot and correct people after the take. It was amazing and relieving to see all our efforts culminate on that tiny strip of film in the dark room. So many things had to go right to get there. I appreciated watching that backwards, sped up, negative 23 second projection of our film more than anything I have ever shot on DV. The realness of that strip of film and the time it took to make it and project it truly made every second miraculous. I just kept saying, "we made this, all of this" over and over in my head. That magic is easily lost in our generatio--where pushing a button can give you everything you want.

Capturing Images for the 48 hour video race

Ok, so here are a few things I had in mind for the 48 hour video race.
I could use a scanner to grab some really cool textures of interesting materials. Bagged liquids, squished foods, and colored clay were a few ideas that came to mind. I could also use my crappy cell phone camera to get a few clips. I thing I will end up doing a lot in photoshop and after effects for this project. I can see myself using the scanned images as backgrounds for animation. I would also like to try some original, hand drawn animation using photoshop. What is really want to do is look online at some hacking sites to see if there is any way I can make my own primitive video camera from scrap parts. It would be neat to try and modify an old scanner to do this. Found this video for turning one into a sweet still camera if anyone wants to check it out. Reminded me of the pinhole cameras in my freshman photography class in high-school.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1763261/turn_a_flatbed_scanner_into_a_camera/

This is another link to a cool video made using only a scanner.
http://vimeo.com/6359800

Second Scratch Film Junkies Response

It was very interesting to see ow they got text to scroll, and how they could keep shapes in the same place while others moved around them. Supprized me that i felt some sort of rythym matching the picture. It wasnt as "in your face" as other films like that one guy with the matching movements of lines on the film with the sound of bass strings. This was much more complex in nature. I didn't question why this was being done--why someone had decided to make this film. Rather I entered this film with an inquisitive mind and let the images take over. I think the soundtrack may have also made this a much more enjoyable experience for my. It was actually musical in nature, making it feel like a music video (unlike the last video which was just an annoying compilation of drum banging). I found myself not being able to wait for the next frame to see what kind of techniques they used to make their film.

Response to Wells

After reading this I did a lot of research on the process of cell animation within Disney studios and other big production companies. Needless to say I was amazed at the amount of work it takes to animate a short film, much less a feature. I couldn't believe they had secret ink formulas they protected in a vault. In a way it is a shame that all this hard work is never apparent th the viewer, but that's the beauty of it. They worked so hard to created a world that sucks the audience in and makes them forget these characters are hand drawn. They put so much into each character that they become real and people actually identify and respond to a figure some guy drew on paper as if he were living life in front of everyone.
On the other hand it is also amazing to see other "unorthodox" styles of animation such as the work of PEZ. In some ways it takes more creativity to do what he does because he only works with materials that exist in the real world to create his illusion.

My experience with camera-less filmmaking so far.

Camera-less filmmaking has been much more challenging than I expected when coming into this class. At first I figured it wouldn't take much to scratch a few things on film, experiment with different methods of coloring and so on. Now I am finding it is much harder to achieve a particular effect by these means. Time is very limited and the timing aspect has been challenging for me to grasp. It is also very challenging to do animation on such a small scale. I can't understand how the hell animators did anything before there were computers. It has been eye opening to me so far. I love and hate the fact that I have no clue what something I create will look like when projected on screen. I hope I am able to create the feel of earth and wind in the first project. But we will have to wait and see how that goes.

Response to Synesthesia in art.

I am very interestd in the ability that synestheses have. I think its insane how complex our bodies are, that a tiny mixup in microscopic nerves of the brain can cause you to taste a color or see music. it pisses me off that people have theses abilities--especially in the mathematical sense. I really want to experience it moreso in the artistic sense. I remember the only time i really "got" an experimental art film was at a showing at cucalorus. I had quite a few beers in me at the time but it changed my entire experience. Being a bit frunk helped me to relax. Unlike my usual self I was a able to sit back and enjoy the show. I wasn't nticipating anything, i didn't care about the outcome or writing a paper on my experience. i was just there--letting everything pass before my eyes and coming as close to sleeping as you can get with open eyes. Only in that state was I able to actually absorb everything I was seeing to the point where it actually stimulated other senses. I don't know if the artist intended this effect the way a sound designer can play with pitch or add subsonic noise to evoke an specific emotion, but it was cool. In my free time found this really cool link that related to synesthesia in the world of audio. It is called holophonic sound. Read the description on the site (it is almost as interesting as the sample) and listen to the audio sample. You need to wear headphones to hear the effect. Just prepare yourself because the experience will blow your mind! I still can't believe someone figured this out.

Holophonic sound link
http://gethighnow.com/holophonic-sound/

Response to Scratch Film Junkies "To the Beat"

For starters I didn't really know what to think as I was watching this film. With very little background in experimental film I didn't really know what to look for. I tried focusing and looking too much into it. I also tried just letting the images pass before my eyes, but the beat began to get annoying. About midway through the film the combination of colors and crashing percussion started to agitate me. I got the feeling of chaos surrounding me. I felt like a middle school band director in a room full of bratty kids bashing on and misusing all the instruments. Just wanted to yell, "STOP! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!" I don't have a good understanding or appreciation of the techniques they were using. Hopefully I will be able to make some sense of it all to better appreciate it in the future.