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!

Making Progress

The last class period was primarily spent discussing how our short films were coming along. Group 2 gave us some helpful advice—they had discovered that not all members of the group had to be on location to shoot since they (editors, sound operators) were doing post-production.

We began the class by watching a short film created by a senior honors student. I was very impressed to see someone not too much older than us write, direct, act, edit his own film. The movie was about 15 minutes long and it was a biopic. The plot was about the student’s own experience the summer before he went to college. Although I thought that his film was certainly something to be proud of, many of us had a problem with the lighting. Many in the classroom were turned off from the film because sometimes the characters’ faces and bodies weren’t visible, which caused a disconnect between the audience and the characters. We were overall very grateful to see the importance of lighting in our own movies.

After a discussion with the film student, Eric showed us some short films and guides to give us some pointers on how to make props, sound effects, use shots, etc. Then we divided into our little groups again. Our group finally came together and committed to one idea. I am stoked about it! We jotted down some ideas and were able to make an outline. We decided a couple of people would initiate the script, then a couple of different group members would make revisions and additions to it, and then Sam (our director) would have the final proofing of the script. I feel really good about our film now because it really will be collaborative creation. We begin shooting sometime after Spring Break but I am not quite sure if we decided on actors yet. I know Sam really wants to be in the movie!

The Creepy Player

On Thursday, March 16^th, we watched, The Player, directed by Robert Altman in 1992. The film is about a man named Griffin, a studio executive whose job is to find good screenplays and writers. At the beginning of the movie we quickly find out that Griffin is being threatening through post cards by an disgruntled writer. Griffin does some investigating and decides to confront the writer he believes is behind the scary post cards. He ends up killing the writer but makes it look like a mugging. I began feeling uncomfortable when Griffin becomes involved with the dead writer’s girlfriend. After a string of cover-ups and lucky events on Griffin’s part, he gets away with murder, even though he murdered the wrong writer.

The player was a film noir, which I have decided I appreciate but do not like. I was grew progressively uneasy and squeamish throughout the movie. I thought Griffin would be our “hero” but he was just so vulgar and BAD. After discussion, it turns out that what he was in this movie was the “anti-hero,” because he is the bad guy, however, the audience is still on his side (what a freakin’ art). June, the dead writer’s girlfriend and Griffin’s new girlfriend, also gave me a bad vibe. One, she gave way too much information to someone looking for her boyfriend on the phone. Two, she doesn’t mourn the deaths of her parents nor her boyfriend. To top her creepiness, she engages in the most grotesque sex scene I have ever seen with Griffin, even though SHE KNOWS he killed her boyfriend. Any sympathy about her oblivion to Griffin’s crime was brushed away after this scene, because he was TELLING HER at this point.

In the end of the film, the couple lives “happily ever after.” There is a scene that shows him on the phone from a convertible that is just like a scene early on in the movie where he is on the other end. At this point, it is evident that any good in him has been lost and he has totally transformed into a bad guy. We see this transformation of Griffin throughout the film though. As the story progressed he becomes more disheveled in his appearance and he becomes conniving and manipulative towards his co-workers and girlfriend. I usually enjoy endings that don’t end happily, but I don’t like this ending. It ticked me off so bad! However, it was a perfect ending for what Altman wanted to achieve with a story of evil triumphs good.

Not Another Teen Movie

Scripts were due on February 27^th. We turned in a 5-7 page script which was okay. We were set to base our comedy around the first day of college for some freshmen. When we sat down to discuss our script again, it was clear that we had created a stereotypical teen movie. After much debate, we sought advice from Eric. It wasn’t that anything in particular was wrong with story, only that it was so predictable and tired altogether. We ended up changing our idea completely. Eric also pointed out to us that 7 pages is far too long of a script for comedy. Sam showed us a clip from the Flight of the Concords that we all agreed was funny. It was apparent that situational comedy was the direction we needed to steer towards. When we finally got going on ideas, we couldn’t stop. Each one of us would come up with a great idea inspiring the rest of the group. The energy we have for this film is really good and I am excited. The only problem we are running into right now is committing to one idea and allowing that one to shine.

Eric also provided the entire class with a handful of advice during this class session. He strongly suggested that we have a producer. The producer’s job would consist of setting work-days, keeping the cast and crew on the same page, arranging shooting locations, etc. Having a producer would just make this project happen more smoothly. Eric also said it would probably be best to make a list of every scene we plan on shooting and the order in which we plan to shoot them. This is going to help us be more efficient with our time and resources since we’ll go ahead and shoot all the scenes at one location at once rather than driving back and forth everywhere.

I always enjoy when Eric shows us videos to inspire our projects. The video he showed us in an earlier class depicting three guys reenacting an entire battle scene from Saving Private Ryan made us realize that it doesn’t take a whole professional production crew to make something good. This week Eric showed us a documentary on Robert Rodriguez. It was about the production of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I have seen this movie before and was always amazed by the special effects in it. However, never would I have guessed or imagined how low budget this movie was to make. It was very inspiring to listen and see how innovative Rodriguez was about the special effects to keep a low budget. This documentary reinforced the idea that we don’t have to sacrifice quality to maintain our time and budgets!