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: 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 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 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.