I Didn't Hire Her For Her Scream, Jack...

The movie Blow Out was definitely a change of scenery from Sunset Boulevard and Singing in the Rain. It was what some might call, “more exciting.” It had sex, nudity, action, cursing, and all those other intriguing elements that make movies entertaining. While it was of more modern subjects and situations, there were many shout outs to historical film features.

One of the things that struck me the most about the film was the plot. There were many important details and important facts revealed throughout the story that answered questions that arose at the beginning of the film. For example, why was Sally in the car when the tire blew out? Story lines like this that gradually answer questions and reveal a more detailed story are great for pulling audiences in and keeping their attention. The film makers did a good job of this and keeping the story moving so as to not lose the audience. The film was action packed, with suspense and anxiety hanging on every scene. It was nice to see a movie that didn't necessarily have “a happy ending.” Sally escaped death once but didn't quite make it the next time. John Travolta’s character did get what he wanted in the end, “a real scream.”

It was really interesting to watch a scene from Blow Up, and compare the two films. Both of the protagonists in the films started off doing trivial things such as taking pictures in the park or collecting sound clips for a movie. However, in both cases after detailed analysis of the photographs and sound, the protagonists believed they had stumbled upon something fishy. In class discussion we mentioned the fact that the movie Blow Out stole a lot of ideas from other films and directors. There are only so many original ideas, and why reinvent the wheel? If Alfred Hitchcock was able to create a unnerving scene by dollying in and zooming out, why not just mimic it?

Blow Out was a great film to watch as we gear up to make our own short films. It had a lot of really great shots in it like the vertigo effect, 360º rotation, shots from ceiling, chase scene (in the jeep) etc. It will be interesting to see how the small groups are able to incorporate some of these ideas into their own films.

The Planning Begins...

Our big assignment for this class is to produce a short 2-5 minute film implementing all the skills and techniques presented through other movies and workshops. The whole class has been divided into 6 small groups with 4-5 people. Every group has a different genre of film—drama, action, romance, comedy, horror, and experimental. While the genres are different, every group's film must include a clown/mime, the phrases “Why is this happening to me today of all days?” and "It would be better for us not to talk about that,” and guitar, cheese grater, and skull props.

My group's film genre is action. I am very excited.

As camera operator, I missed out on most of the team discussion from last night's workshop. Camera operators were busy with their test footage assignment while the rest of their team members brainstormed ideas. Imran filled me in: we'll definitely have a chase scene. Action film—chase scene, enough said.

I can see many many things being possible for our short film. I'm glad our team has only four people, I think it will be easy to better incorporate everyone's ideas than if we had even one more person. Everyone has a specific role. Imran=director, Bryan=editor, Jordan=sound operator, myself=camera operator. I think Jordan and Imran are going to tackle most of the script with ideas and suggestions from Bryan and myself. I think this is a very strong team. But I suppose I should wait and see how things actually play out before I go tootin' our horn...

After the workshop last class I am doubly excited as well as nervous about this film assignment. Every class opens so many new doors of opportunity as far as creativity and inspiration are concerned; it's amazing and overwhelming at the same time.

My ambition, I'm not sure? Well, I guess something on par with StarWars or the like. A condensed StarWars might actually be pretty cool.

If you've seen one, you've seen them all

The movie, Singin' in the Rain, was a sensation! It was vibrant, energetic, and all around intriguing. I especially loved the character Cosmo, he was extremely entertaining. His slap-stick routine to "make 'em laugh" was hysterical--it really made the film for me. Something that struck me while watching this film was the difference between Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) and Don, Lina, Kathy, and Cosmo (Singin' in the Rain) playing to the camera. All of the characters were essentially entertainers, but Norma's self-indulged ignorance looked a lot different than the others. I actually wanted to see more of the latter characters.

I don't think I've mastered the "take notice of cinematographic elements while watching film" art just yet. Or maybe Singin' in the Rain was just too exciting to not be completely enchanted with. I was only able to write one word down on my Notes page and that was "witty." It was the wit and charisma of the characters that I think really drew me in. I guess it could have been the bright colors (technicolor) or the lighting, but I didn't notice those things like I did the wit.

Maybe I am biased towards the film because I feel like we have a personal relationship. My mother used to sing the "Good Mornin'" song to me and my sister when she'd wake us up in the morning. Now that I'm in college, I still sometimes even sing it to myself when I wake up. I never knew where the song came from, and I don't think my mother did either. Hearing Kathy Seldon break into that song rocked my world. I COULD NOT BELIEVE my ears. The feeling I had was probably synonymous with a person who grew up together with this one particular friend and had to move away in the 7th grade to the other side of the country, and then 20 years later running into that friend at the neighborhood market. It was a beautiful reunion and made the film experience that much more enjoyable.

I can't wait to watch more films for two reasons:

-I may rediscover some memory that will add new meaning to my life

-By that time I might be better at analyzing cinematographic elements and can contribute to post-film disccusions

How to make film, film.

Lighting is one of the most important, and lucky for us one of the easiest, aspects of film. After the workshops, we all have a better understanding of key light, back light, and fill light. This will help to recognize different lighting techniques in films we watch from here on out and hopefully fill our heads with ideas to use for our own short films later in the semester.

Along with lighting, photography aspects such as aperture, shutter speed, and ISO will help us create a one-of-a-kind film that expresses tones and themes the way we imagine it will. For example, if we wanted to focus on a particular person or object in a scene and blur out everything else, we can change our f-stop from something like f/4 to f/28. What this does is make the hole (aperture) bigger which decreases the depth of field. The smaller the depth of field, the less there is is focus. Using shutter speed and ISO we can affect how much light is let in and how sensitive the camera is to that light, respectively. The techniques become very important when trying to create a mood based on lighting.

These photography techniques along with lighting will definitely be in our reach when our small groups get to work on our short films. The photography techniques are easily controlled with the equipment we will be using and lighting is not hard to get. It will be really important that the camera person know how the different aspects of photography fit together so that the effects are filmed with the footage and the editor doesn't have to work extra hard to get the footage to say something that wasn't actually filmed. For example, it wouldn't be very fun for the editor to try and make a few minutes of footage look darker and gloomier than it currently is just because the camera person didn't know how to to it while filming. It will definitely be a lesson in team work and efficiency!

It will be fun to try and imitate some of the dramatic film noir effects that were used in Sunset Boulevard. The stark contrast of black and white with deep shadows and creative lighting really made Sunset Boulevard the uneasy yet melodramatic film that it was.

I can't wait to watch more films and get more ideas about how to make it say what you want it to say!

That's the trouble with you readers, you know all the plots!

I enjoyed watching Sunset Boulevard very much. I kept forgetting to take notes about all the cinematography and such, the discussion at the end of class made the movie 1000x more interesting (not that it wasn't before the discussion).

After class I was thinking about a lot of the things that everyone said and it occurred to me that we could have talked for hours about themes, cinematography, sound and all those other aspects of the film. Once one thing was said, five other people would realize or remember something else in the movie that meant or expressed the same idea. For example, Camille realized that when Betty and Joe were discussing one of Joe's pieces, Betty told Joe she liked the part about the teacher because it was real and heartfelt. She added on to take out the part about the psycho. The comment ended there but I kept thinking about that scene: After Betty tells Joe to take out that part about the psycho, he claims that everybody loves a psycho! Well, everybody loves Norma Desmond. At least to the point of humoring her insanity. So I just have to ask, is everything that we pointed out, whether out loud or just personally, intentional?

It will take lots and lots of practice for me to be able to watch a film and take notice of things like lighting without prompting. That's ok, I don't mind watching lots and lots of movies if it means a more comprehensive film experience.

I guess it's time now to venture on to a short film of my own. I can't promise that every little cohesive detail will be intentional, but I can promise that it will be at least 2 minutes long.

WOW.

Let me just say, a lot of shit goes into making a film, a LOT.

Art for me is personal and intimate. It is hard to fathom a work of art such as film to be created by so many different artists (script writer, director, editor, sound editor and more). If I were a scriptwriter, I'm not sure how well I would take a director "making it his own." What if my vision was lost? What if it doesn't convey the story I intended it to?

Maybe I just don't play well with others. When I have something specific in mind, I find it hard to accept others' suggestions or changes. Making a short film in class will definitely be a challenge for me, and the people who have to work with me... I apologize in advance. I will try and keep an open mind :)

I'm glad this first film assignment is individual work. I hope it will get me comfortable enough with the editing programs and concepts to be able to contribute something productive to our group film. I really am excited about the project, don't let my hesitation fool you.

So, last class was pretty long. I open this paragraph with that statement because it is the first thing that I remembered about class. It felt chaotic and the terms/concepts were definitely overwhelming. I repeat, a lot of shit goes into making a film. It's disenchanting but incredible at the same time. This box o' footage is either going to be a piece of cake or living hell, I hope the former... The StarWars and LotR clips seemed very helpful.

I look forward to our next class.

First Impressions

My first thought about a "film class" is the pronunciation of the word "film" with two syllables, "fil-lum," spoken in a high class English accent (how my mother sometimes says it). It makes me feel very defensive in the sense that I want to shout, "Just because I don't know the director of a movie doesn't mean I can't enjoy it!"

Camille, I was laughing to myself when we were talking about this class because you said something about how you like film because it's not elite at all, anybody can enjoy it or be good at it. I don't know anything about film. So when people talk about it, whether it's actors, directors, philosophies behind it, or history of, I feel excluded, inferior, not elite; therefore making film and anyone who enjoys film to a greater extent than me, elite.

These thoughts are film are just first impressions of the world itself. I know that just because people like a subject a whole lot and love to talk about it with their friends doesn't make them elitist pricks. I suppose I just have somewhat of a "men are inherently evil.." opinion about it.

That aside, I really enjoyed my first day of film class. Syllabi are always fun to go over and the bathroom break was welcomed enthusiastically. But really, I am very excited about the weeks to come. This class will bring me out of my element, something I have been expecting to happen eventually in the Honors College.

Bring on the fil-lum.