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.