Merry Christmas!

New Blog

Since the dreaded 290 class has passed, this blog now has a new purpose: documenting my travels/experiences in England.

On January 7th, 2009, I will leave to study abroad at University of Sussex in Brighton, UK. No, I am not studying in London. Brighton is directly south of London on the southern coast, and University of Sussex is about four miles outside of the city. For my semester away from USC, I didn't want another school in the middle of a city. I wanted green space, quiet, but close enough to the city that I can head in if need be. Oh, and they have film classes, so that helps.

But yeah. So now you can bid goodbye to seeing more films on here and instead I'll have pictures and text devoted to England. At least, that's the plan. Chelsea's blog was weeks-sometimes-months behind, so I shall endeavor for that not to happen. :)

Side note: Happy Holidays to all! In case I don't talk to you on the actual days, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Vagabond Project

OK, so this is the final final project you will get from me. A little background...

We were assigned a group project to be finished entirely in class. The class was split into 3 groups, with 6 people in each group. Each person was assigned a job: director, producer/assistant director, director of photography, camera operator, boom operator (the big mic above the actors), and editor. We were all given the same scene for Waiting for Godot (worst scene ever). An acting instructor brought in a bunch of actors and we had a casting session, then picked the actors we wanted.

We had to create meaning to the "open" scene, imbue the scene with meaning and a scenario that is not specifically there. Very difficult, but whatever.

One class period was devoted to filming the scene. Then two class periods were devoted to editing the project. Each group had teams of 2 that edited their own cuts, so each group had 3 cuts of the same material. It was kind of interesting to see how everyone edited it together differently. 

Anyway, without further ado, my (and another guy's) edit of the scene. Enjoy.

Ugh. There are issues with this video. Unfortunately. Must have changed settings when I was exporting it. Crap. Sorry. The sound is not supposed to be that jarring in the beginning.

It's been great talking about all my production stuff this semester. Next semester look forward to blogging about my study abroad in the UK!

Film 5: Black Friday

LAST FILM LAST FILM!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!

I am officially all done with 290!! No more production classes for meeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Haha. But yeah. My last film was a documentary of Black Friday. I combined news reports from YouTube with my own interviews on Black Friday. Again, special thanks to Sydney for waking up incredibly early and interviewing everyone, and to Cecil for lending me her camera (major flashback to high school). 

And, without further ado, my last film.

One more film will be posted here. We did a group project in class, and I'll upload my version of the film and explain what the project was. But it won't be for another few days.

Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed living through 290 with me. I hope you've enjoyed watched all of my student films and learning about filmmaking from my perspective. Stay tuned to this blog for further postings about my exploits in and frolicking about England next semester!!

Film 5: Production

Filming on Black Friday went of with relatively no hitches. Sydney acted as interviewer and my cousin Jordan tagged along while my wonderful brother waited by himself in the cold in line at Circuit City to hold a place for us for shopping later.

The 2 interviews we did at Circuit City were decent but, unfortunately, I forgot to turn on the microphone. Therefore no sound. Egad. But then we went to the mall and got 3 good interviews and then went to Best Buy and got a great interview from these two women who are Black Friday aficionados. So now I've uploaded all the footage and need to edit it because the film is due Tuesday. Gag.

But Cecil so wonderfully lent me her camera and Firewire cord and made filming this weekend possible, so hats off to her! Thanks to those who helped out and made my life easier and a little bit more fun.

Expect a final Film 5 post Tuesday night or Wednesday!

Film 5: Pre-Production

LAST FILM!!!! YESSSSS!!!!!!!!

So, this is actually the only update you'll be getting for awhile. Because I'm postponing production on Film 5 until the very very last minute. Why, do you ask? Because of my subject matter.

Film 5 will be...*drum roll*...a documentary on Black Friday!!

So I'll film on Black Friday, edit all weekend and on the plane back to LA, and screen the film in class the following Tuesday. Fast fast turnaround, but I think I can do it. Plus, I'm too exhausted to do an actual film with casting and a story line etc. And the teachers want you to experiment with different genres. So it's good that I did an animation, and now I'll be doing a doc. And I've done a drama, a bittersweet dramady and a comedy-ish film, so I think I'm showing variety. I hope.

But yeah, the doc will feature interviews with people standing in line outside of stores, news reports on Black Friday and how the economy is affecting peoples' shopping habits (e.g. are they now shopping more on Black Friday for the deals, or are they not shopping as much?). 

Any ideas you, dear readers, want to add, please feel free. 

Oh, and Sydney is going to be my 1st AD (assistant director) for the shoot. Give it up for Sydney who will be up at 3 a.m. helping me! And for Andrew who will be up at the same time to save us spots in line. :)

If you'd like to help out, let me know! I'd love all the help I can get. If you need an incentive, I'll treat you to breakfast after. Now you have to come!

Film 4: The Blank Page

Film 4 is officially done! I screened it today in class! 

This will be a semi-massive post because you didn't get the benefits of separate pre-production, production, and post-production posts.

So quick synopsis: A guy has writers block while trying to write a screenplay but can only think of famous movie quotes. He then goes out to try to find inspiration from everyday life.

I wrote the script after developing an idea of someone presented with all this inspiration from everyday life but not being able to be inspired by it. And, of course, being a movie geek...have to put movie quotes in it!

This is my first film where I tried casting. I didn't hold auditions, but I did post on LA Casting and get actors who showed interest in the parts, then contacted them. Slightly stressful, but I think it worked out OK.

Filming was done haphazardly in the park across from USC because I didn't get a permit and thus wasn't actually allowed to film there. Oh well, it all worked out.

I really loved the performance from Lala, the main girl. I literally filmed her for about 12 minutes because she was just so entertaining with her antics. I actually think she stole the film (it might be because I put her in more because of her great performance), but shh, don't tell the male lead.

Because I was sick the weekend I was supposed to be filming, this past weekend when I did film was supposed to be my editing weekend. AKA I had to cram 2 weeks worth of work into 1. Meaning the past 2 nights I've been at the editing lab until it closed. Which is only until midnight because they close ridiculously early, but still.

People in class had problems with the ending and clarity in general, but I'm officially done with the project and am thus moving on. I can live with a little ambiguity. And since I'm the filmmaker, what I say goes.

Now I only have one more film left...

Film 4: Pre-Production Part 2

 "What is Film 4 about?"

Good question. When I figure that out I'll let you guys know. :)

So last weekend was supposed to be a production weekend, but I got a nasty virus and was out for the weekend. Which I guess was a good thing because I didn't have anything to shoot.

Tonight I'm ironing out the details of the story and emailing out to see if I can get actors. When I have an actual story, I'll post it here. I've got an inkling of an idea, but we'll see how that goes. 

Parameters for this film: less than 8 minutes (I'm aiming for a four-minute film...I'm really not into making masterpieces, just into getting through this class), and we can now use sync dialogue. Sooo...yeah. 

Hopefully this weekend a guy in my group won't need the camera all weekend and I can get it for a day, thus shooting.

Film 4

Can you believe it, after all that work I have to make yet another film. 

So this weekend was supposed to be pre-production for Film 4, but I was too exhausted from my last film to do anything. So this week I have to plan it all and then shoot this weekend. Ugh. Life is just peachy, isn't it.

Expect a more comprehensive update for pre-production on Film 4 when I actually get around to working on it.

To keep you entertained until I update again, click here.

Film 3: Hat Trick

It's here!! AT LAST!!! Are you excited? You should be.

I'll be posting comments my classmates made later. But it went over really really well in class. 

Film 3: Post-Production

I'm slaving away! Don't believe me? Check the time stamp. Monday night I was up until 2 and slept for 5 hours. That means today I've been up for 20 hours. Ew.

D-Day is Thursday. Wednesday will be spent finalizing music and sound effects. As you know, everything in an animated film has to be created. Images and sounds. Lucky lucky me.

Film 3 by-the-numbers:

38 hours spent animating (drawing the frames, moving them little by little, and importing the images into iMovie, adjusting the length of the clip, etc.)

663 individual frames

8 hours spent editing, figuring out music, etc. (so far)

Daaaaaang. Even I'm exhausted looking at that. 

Final update on Film 3 should be up Thursday, along with the film! Get excited.

Film 3: Production Part 2

Still animating. So far I have 1:30 out of (at most) 5 minutes. Quite a tedious task.

To give everyone an idea of what I'm doing, I draw the basic scene in Adobe Illustrator. I make minute changes to the image, then Save As another document. Then convert to a .jpeg file. Then import into iPhoto. Then import into iMovie. Then edit the length of the frame and make sure it fits with the rest of the project. On average, one second of film is taking about 6 separate frames (remember, normal film has 24 frames per second). So far I have around 275 frames in the film. This means I have personally made minute changes to 275 images. 

It's a painstakingly slow process, but it's actually quite a bit of fun. And it's really cool to see the film in progress, to see all these separate images coming together to form a moving image.

Back to animating...

Film 3: Production

I made my first bit of animation ever!! I'm actually quite pleased with how it came out. So pleased, in fact, that I'm sharing a scene. It's just the video track, audio track will be added later. But hopefully you get an idea of what I'm trying to do.

Film 3: Pre-Production

Yet again I have to make another film. So not fun. There's no break with this schedule! One film every three weeks. I feel like an assembly line.

Anyway, I think I'm going to try my hand at animation!! This might be biting off more than I can chew, but if I don't make it now I never will. We shall see how it goes.

Inspiration: Man in Black Hat from online comic xkcd. He. Is. Brilliant. And well deserving of a film. 

A quick look at some of his best moments...

And now the inspiration for the story. The comic did a brief mini story on how the Man in Black Hat met his match--in more ways than one.

So yeah. Basic plot line for Film 3: Girl steals Man in Black Hat's hat and he has to get it back. While realizing she is his match and equal. This should be interesting...

Film 2: Spin Cycle

Project 2: 5-minute film (or less), no dialogue, detailing a conflict

So hopefully by now everyone has seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. Absolute genius. Anyway, I was sitting around and thought what a cool location a laundromat is. Well, to establish the conflict, what is something that laundromats--or washers and dryers--can do that can have a detrimental effect on us? Besides eating socks. Ever put a piece of paper in your jeans, send it through the wash, and have it be completely illegible? OK, so, inspiration. What would be important enough to lose? Answer: an aspiring actress' callback to an audition. Brilliant. Now we have a story.

So I wrote the treatment (movie told in story form in third person present) and started casting. I remembered this USC student I saw at auditions that I thought would be perfect for the role. Emailed her, she was available, so we set a date for the weekend. Good thing about being a student filmmaker: you don't have to pay for actors. It's nice to buy them lunch though. But no compensation other than food and a copy of the work is required.

Anyway, so I shot the film no problem. Edited no problem. Except I was kind of unsatisfied with the ending. I wasn't sure how to make it work. The ending I wanted (Version 2) felt almost tacked on, a forced ending. Also, the film ran 5:30--30 seconds too long. So I asked one of my professors for her feedback (director of Real Women Have Curves) and she helped me tighten it up and cut it down to 3:05. Lots of exposition needed to be cut, plus she wasn't a fan of the extra ending. So that's the version I screened. Version 1. Watch it before proceeding

Then I screened it and everyone in the class was disappointed with the lack of resolution. So Patricia (professor) asked me to add the ending and we'd screen it next class. So, below, Version 2.

I definitely like Version 2 better because I love that ending. I love the performance Taylor gave me, and I love the success the character achieves despite her earlier mishap. See if you can catch the plant (clue to the ending) earlier in the film. You might not because of the sub-par quality, but see if you can. 

That being said, I still almost feel like it's a cop out, that the ending feels tacked on. My other professor said, "It's like you have Act 1 and set up the conflict so well, then you jump to Act 3." Which is kind of understandable, because it's hard to do a full-out conflict in a short student film.

Anyway, which version do you prefer?

Film 1: Escape

So this was our first project. They assigned it the first Tuesday of class--a 3-minute character sketch with no sound. Due the following Tuesday. Crappy first week back, yeah? Shoot it in one day with in-camera editing. For those who don't know (and I didn't), this means filming everything in sequence. Not being able to edit on a computer. So if a take is too long, you have to go with it. As Statler will attest to, there is an art to starting the camera and allowing it to cue up and actually start recording before the actor can start acting. If you have to rewind and accidentally film over something, too bad. 

Well, first week of school I had a lot of stuff going on, understandably. So I didn't have time to cast for the film. Which is a problem, because it's a character sketch film. AKA I need an actor. Well, who do I know if California who acts? No one at USC. But luckily Statler recently enrolled as a freshman at Pepperdine!! Woot. It took some serious begging, but I eventually coerced her into acting in my film. She really came through and spent part of her Labor Day weekend filming with me. In a door room with no AC. Poor Statler. But she was fabulous!

Anyway, so I had to think of a story/character. Because the professors wanted emphasis on the character and not on plot. Thought of something, Statler and I filmed it, and then I was done. So yeah, here's the finished product. I did minor edits and added end titles, but this is essentially what I screened in class. 

PS. There isn't supposed to be sound, so don't turn up your speakers.

I apologize for the semi-crappy quality. I had to compress it from 24 fps (frames per second, standard speed for film) to 15 fps to make it the correct size to upload.

And...Action!

Let the fun and games begin!

Purpose for this blog!!

I've finally figured out a purpose for the blog!! Or at least a purpose that may get me writing more about...stuff.

Anyway, I shall now devote this space to...filmmaking! More specifically, 290, the production class that is the bane of my existence. So here I'll (ideally) list/brainstorm ideas, tell how pre-production (treatment, casting, finding locations), production (actual filming), and post-production (editing) are going, and post links to the finished products. Sounds good, right? In theory, yes. Will I do it? We shall see.

Already I'm two films behind blogging-wise. Uh oh. Maybe I'll have some free time in the next days.

Hmm

Chelsea has inspired me. We'll see how long this lasts.