Work Day 3

This last week in class, we planned on digitizing our footage. However, as we waited for our turn to get digitized we realized that we really don’t have much to edit and digitizing now would be a waste. We decided to film over what we have so that it wouldn’t just be us yelling at each other. I also suggested to my group that since my schedule wasn’t flexible at all, I wouldn’t be an actor and that way our group could have more time to film. I also thought that having all of us in the movie, made the movie too stiff because it was non-fiction. With different actors, I felt like the comedy would be more effective.

Things got a little heated in class because our director wanted to go back to the second storyline about the mountain boys. I was just really upset because I didn’t want our film to turn out looking like a home video of college kids kickin’ it on a mountain. So after we convinced him that changing our plot again was not an option, we decided to film that weekend and continue with the movie about a movie story.

Even the Wednesday before yesterday’s class period, I was worried because we still had no footage and I had hoped that our group would have it so that the editors wouldn’t have to do so much editing during finals. However, I didn’t exactly go out of my way to ease any of our troubles and so I can’t really complain. I am just glad that things got accomplished and we can start editing!

Work Day 2

About two weeks ago, our film group met for a short time. Because it wasn’t our turn to have the camera anymore, we just laid out our schedules and came up with a more cohesive storyline. We decided that our characters needed identities and that our main events needed more substance. At first someone suggested making another screenplay, but then I pointed out that our group does not ever follow the screenplay, so an outline of events would probably be better. Destiny has been a great team member and always ends up with the creative tasks; so naturally, she volunteered to do the outline. The shooting locations would be around Farris and New Hall dorms and we were the main actors.

Because we only managed to get maybe 10 minutes of useful footage the week before, we couldn’t digitize and begin editing. I did leave class feeling very confident about our film once we get our pick-up shots days.

Work Day 1

So about three weeks ago Donna and Eric, gave us a work session during class. Because our schedules would not sync up, we decided Thursday class night would pretty much be the only time we could film while we still had the camera.

Our director and our cameraman, Sam and Tommy, began filming on a mountain with a few actors before class started. Katie, Destiny, and I met in the classroom to sign in and went back to the dorms to collect our supplies. We then thought we were en route to the mountain to continue filming, but Sam and Tommy call us to tell us they were on the way back. We were frustrated and confused because this was the only time we had to film and we were clearly not finished filming. Sam tells us that we have to let the actors leave because they had things to do and we were frustrated because we now had no actors.

We get back to campus and try to regroup in Sam’s dorm room. We watch the footage to see what we have and to see what kind of editing magic us girls were expected to do. Well….the footage looked good…but there was NO SOUND.

The group as a whole got really irritated and frustrated at eachother and situation we put ourselves in. So we changed our story once again. We are now filming a comedy about a group of students making a film project for a class. Sound familiar?

When we started filming this storyline, we all realized how much better and practical this idea worked out and we all felt the tension ease up. I was definitely excited because the new locations on campus and new actors (ourselves) would definitely make it achievable to film quickly and efficiently.

Adaptation

I am usually not a fan of Nicholas Cage. In fact, I was so repulsed by him in City of Angels that I just never watched a movie starring him again…until last Thursday. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, too. I thought it was hysterical—the movie completely transformed from a semi-depressing/boring film to a completely entertaining and ridiculous series of bizarre events!

We watched Adapatation—a film about a screenwriter, Charile Kaufman, who struggles with writer’s block and making his mark in the “industry.” I was humored by Kaufman’s neurotic voice-overs. I think voice-overs are normally utilized to simply narrate and accessorize the plot, but in this movie, the voice-overs really gave us another dimension of the characters.

It was very obvious that the movie was exploring the good ole’ sell out/get rich vs. stay true/starve theme. I didn’t really have a problem with it, though. I am still stunned at the level that the filmmakers chose to portray this. However, in discussion, it seemed like most people agreed that most innovative and real movies are not successful. On one hand, I think that this is sad because talent is probably wasted everyday because someone is told that their ideas are too “out there” or “not right.” On the other hand, I know I am part of the problem. I like movies that are different—not your average happily, ever after flick--but even those have a mold that they fit in.

Within five minutes of viewing Adaptation, many people got excited because it was very reminiscent of The Enternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Why do we do that? I do it…daily! Every work of art will always be compared and contrasted against some other work. It is almost like we can’t let anything just BE. Why can’t cliché movies just be? Where’s the line between cliché and reality? I know a lot of people and a lot of real life situations that just are cliché. So what makes these other movies so innovative…so “real?” Should we all strive to think outside of the box? I’m pretty sure almost every young writer is doing that, does that make them cliché now?

Okay, so I got on a rant…I haven’t slept in 24 hours. I’m sorry, blog world!