Reflection for "Out of Ammo" - Steven Villacis

Throughout any intensive review process, one is plagued with the idea of whether the final polished product will “be good enough.” This can take a typically enjoyable and fun experience, and mutilate it beyond recognition – transforming it into a nightmare. Although this wasn’t precisely the problem of my group, this fear loomed over our heads for the majority of the film making process. Fortunately, my group had enough cohesion to move the project along despite what seemed like an onslaught of setbacks.
Every person in the group made a concerted effort to add progress to our project. When we first began this endeavor, however, even our undying initiative couldn’t circumvent the problem that plagued us. Initially, we were fortunate enough to have a camcorder to film with; however, when it came the time to film and then capture the camera’s video onto a computer, we had met a dead end. We were stuck and had nowhere to run. This was a horrible omen that had come to us in the very beginnings of our creative process – consuming valuable time. Faced with a computer virus and a dysfunctional camcorder, our efforts became seriously dampened by a longing for food from the popular burger joint “Five Guys.” This may seem strange at the outset, but our film would later incorporate a scene in which the human resistance fighters would have their meeting – as lackluster as it may be – over a warm and greasy meal.
Our plot was strange, but reasonably abstract and unconventional. It would consist of a story that mixes humor and irony with a genre that is typically used to instill fear in all who set their eyes on it. This movie started off with a typical planning scene often incorporated into movies as the scene that takes place at HQ, but with zombies taking the place of the humans as the organized side in an ongoing war. The zombies would convene over a map of the area and make specific plans as to what should be attacked and when those attacks should take place. The cut scenes that we would include were laced with the zombie offensive plans that had previously been discussed; a vivid execution of what should be a human initiative. Our movie would progress through several human planning and training scenes soon after this opening act, filled with more than one’s daily dose of irony. These scenes would revolve around video games and pizza. In rapid succession, the zombie forces would come to dispatch numerous human guards and would infiltrate the defenses of the human resistance. Using a unique set of skills that include stealth and cunning, the zombies end the movie with a cliffhanger, targeting the gluttonous and self-indulgent demeanor of the humans as the weakest link.
As the group’s “stunt” coordinator for many of the zombie attack scenes, I would basically take the role of director for these particular scenes and organize the chaos of an attack scene as best I could. The camera angles used during these scenes were strong indicators of the feelings expected of the audience. During a zombie attack scene where the human guard was completely outnumbered, we used the high angle and medium shot to depict a situation that would hint towards the trapped individual being overtaken with minimal resistance. In the larger scale zombie attack scene, I had set up the actors (which included me) so that they would flow in from the sides of the frame as the scene progressed. The actor portraying the guard would again be easily overcome by the zombies’ joint operation, and the zombies’ strength in numbers would once again be deemed a source of triumph.
As one of the screenwriters in the film, I had allowed for a unique form of dialogue to take place. The zombies were given a sense of self-awareness, allowing them to accurately plan out their attacks on the human stronghold. The humans, on the other hand, were downgraded to a low level of preparation and even to a level of stupidity. The point of the film was to put a spin on the zombie apocalypse genre, switching the mentality of the zombie with that of the human.
We had allocated the front and back yard space surrounding the director’s as the settings for the zombie offensive movements. We took full advantage of the stability of the tripod in order to get the camera in proper position for a Dutch shot. It was essential for us to execute this shot properly because the very angle of the camera would impact the degree to which the shot was believable and effective in conveying the disastrous outcome of poor planning on the part of the human resistance. The film also included a series of close-up shots that were used during the planning scenes. Although the facial expression was not of the utmost priority, we decided to insert the close-up shots so that zombies could be seen as cold and calculating killers rather than the typical view of them as mindless and conspicuous. However, the zombies still retain their “strength in numbers” dogma, as we introduced scenes to the movie where they could act on that statement.
Our group was inspired by the horror movies that have recently emerged under the zombie apocalypse genre. We knew from the start that it would be a massive undertaking for us to make the film genuinely scary and frightening. Although we longed for a film that would blur the distinctions between a zombie apocalypse film and an action film, we were restricted by our resources and the amount of time that we could spend on this film. Ultimately, we couldn’t afford to spend all of our time on this movie – as much as we wished we could have done so. As a result of these limitations, we had decided to put more pressure on our script and plot, but our acting and the camcorder’s sound capture abilities made it difficult to have the effect we intended to have on our audience.
The film was significantly hindered and weakened by our acting experience, which for most of us was nonexistent. We did work at getting the lines in place and conveying the proper emotion, but this is where the cohesion of the group and between the group members met its match. We struggled to keep our state of mind in sync with each other, but we each spoke at different intonations which were rarely an accurate reflection of what the lines wished to convey on their own. Our film seemed great on paper, and our plot seemed well planned prior to filming, but it was nearly impossible to make sense of the movie with issues like background noise and music configuration. The actors of the film were very compliant with the screenplay’s content, but on the other hand, personal interpretations were necessary sacrifices that were made to maintain the group’s integrity. If the screenwriters and the director had decided to restrict behaviors of the actors, the group could have easily dismantled itself.
Fortunately, the strengths had masked the weaknesses to some extent. Our shots were very effective and they served as the soul of some of my favorite scenes. One of the scenes in the middle of the film included a match cut that would connect one of our actors with a video game character. The video game character was confronted by overwhelming odds, and after a valiant effort, would succumb to a heavy barrage of bullets. This character was completely outnumbered by a fleet of humanoid creatures, much like the situation in many of the zombie assault scenes that the group had filmed.
The scene that followed would be a display of carnage that was left behind by a single zombie, using the element of surprise to continue with the battering of human defenses. The actors are depicted lying lifeless in different positions, with one of the actors in a position that mimics the dead video game character. The sloppy cut that takes the audience from the TV screen to the death scene was intentional and was implemented beautifully. This transition, along with a sound that is difficult to describe, but easy to identify, created a scene that was likely the most believable of all of the scenes that came together to make the movie.
For my next film pursuit, I hope to spend more time on the execution of a screenplay rather than become bogged down during the planning stage. By doing so, I really hope to further the quality of the end product, and eliminate much of the disarray that consumed the group during the pre-production. The art of film was a major source of intrigue throughout the production phase. The group was constantly afflicted by the self-proposed challenge to make the film into a work of art that will evoke the proper and appropriate emotions from the audience. This particular process was difficult because we lacked the organization needed to leave enough time to screen the film to an audience of peers and work off of their reactions. I believe that such a procedure would be immensely beneficial to a film because although the population may not accurately represent the future audience as a whole, the feedback received is precisely in making a movie that can appeal to different people with different expectations.

reflection "in blind sight"

At first I was put to the test of being the main character as the blind kid, but sadly we found out I wasn’t the greatest actor and didn’t have the “skills” to pull it off. My group put me in as the doctor and when I wasn’t acting which was most of the time, I was the camera man getting those great angles and close-ups. We were assigned different roles in this project depending on who was best at whatever the part was. Gabe wrote a great screen play, Spencer played an excellent blind boy and was a co-editor, Daniel directed and played the priest, and I acted as the doctor and was the camera man. Its hard to say only because I feel Spencer did a great job acting, but Gabe was the main person behind this film writing the screen play and editing our great film, so I would have to give the MVP award to Gabe Stine.
We sure had an advantage being that we were all friends from the start. So we all felt comfortable acting around each other, I have a feeling that if it was anyone else like people I didn’t know I would have been pretty embarrassed doing what I did. We did goof off sometimes while filming and had fun but when it was time to get serious we got the job done, and worked great together without many arguments, we would find a way to work it out if there was ever a problem.
Me and Spencer wanted to make a funny video from the start but Gabe spoke us into doing a serious movie with some sort of message, we figured most people were going to be making funny silly movies and we definitely are not like most people so we did the opposite, and that’s really how it started then Gabe wrote his screen play. I am not really sure where he got the idea for it, but it was a well written screen play and it seemed like a good idea to do it. This film is about a boy Alex that was born blind and grew up with a messed up life style. His mother died when he was very young age and his dad is a drunk who doesn’t really care for him to much. Then a new surgery was made that would allow Alex to see as well as anyone with perfect vision. But Alex wont like what he sees when the real world is finally revealed to his new eyes.
I felt that this was a very successful film and I am not saying that just because I was in it. The editing, music, acting, and story line I felt was excellent. I would have liked it if it could have been a little longer, but due to our time limit we couldn’t make it longer. I don’t feel that there are many weaknesses at least none that I can see. I think we did a pretty good job in making this film being that we didn’t have money to work with and used all the resources we had just like everyone else. My favorite scene was when Alex was waking up from surgery and there is narration, music, and voices in the back round. Gabe did a great job putting that scene together it makes you feel like your really in the movie waking up.
Everything in my opinion turned out great but I feel like if we had a little more time we could have added some small talk in to it because I felt it was some what jumpy from scene to scene. But I really can’t complain about anything it came out just as I thought it would and hoped it would. Next time I make a film I will definitely make sure to give it more time because it was a lot of work and very time consuming more then I thought it would be. But when it comes to the group and effort put in, it was good and everyone did there job well making sure to get it done.
I learned many things from doing this project, for example, I learned how time consuming it really is to film, get the take you want, and edit the whole thing, and I learned that team work and getting along really takes you far in getting the job done as a group. Many of the views we used and lighting effects we learned from class like, we used canted angle for when Alex is running down the hall way in the hospital which makes it sort of questioning and different not like the normal shot where its just straight on. We used low angle for when he is sitting against the white wall at he end of the movie to make a bad energy effect because he says there is no point to going to church anymore. When Alex is talking to the priest we used a low key lighting shot to make the mood seem right, he is in a confessional booth having a very depressing talk so we felt we should make it dark. We used close up when Alex is looking at the park, to show how upsetting it is and how upset he really is to see it broken down and just an empty dirty lot. Lastly we used a far shot for when he is running to the park after his surgery to get the effect of the whole scenery and showing him really in a rush and running a good distance to get to this very important park.

A Reflection on "In Blind Sight"

Gabe Stine
ROTMI

A Reflection on “In Blind Sight”

“In Blind Sight” was a film I’ve wanted to put together for a long time, so when I heard that we were making our own movies, I was very excited. Naturally, my friends (Spencer, Steven, and Daniel), wanted to make a funny movie, well because, we’re teenagers and that’s what we do. Funny movies are always enjoyable to make, but I could have easily made one before taking ROTMI. I wanted to apply the skills I learned in class to this film, and I think “In Blind Sight” does a great job at demonstrating the skills that the four of us have learned.
Originally, I was just supposed to be the screenwriter of the film. The storyline was my idea so it only made sense. Writing the story, and the rest of pre-production went very smoothly. Everyone in the group liked my screenplay, and we were all excited to get filming. I did end up playing Alex’s (the main character) father in the film. I had never acted before so it was a new experience. Filming to my surprise went smoothly as well. We did have some schedule issues with some group members, but we got it done. Now the story starts to get interesting with post-production. At first everything was looking awesome, until Premiere Pro (the program Spencer was using to edit) had crashed with one scene left to edit. After plenty of hair being ripped out and a couple of head bashes to the wall, I decided to download Premiere Pro to my computer and start editing. The entire editing process had to be restarted, and basically finished within one night, but it eventually got done. I think it is fair to say that I was a vital contributor to this film, having major roles in all three production phases. However, I feel narcissistic calling myself an MVP.
“In Blind Sight” is a film about Alex, a blind highschool boy who finally gets to see for the first time after having surgery. Alex doesn’t necessarily like what he sees. The single most important thing to me while making this film is to incorporate a message, or at least something that is below the surface of the storyline. I refuse to share this message with anyone before they have seen the film, so ask me after class. Creating a serious and almost bitter film with a message, was extremely difficult to do, while keeping it five minutes in length. Many things setback my goal. Acting is such a crucial aspect of film, and without professional actors, I believe that some of the seriousness is lost. Also, since we were pretty much limited to having teenage actors, having characters that realistically look like one’s father or doctor was impractical. After all the setbacks though, I think the film’s message is still retained.
There is one scene in the movie that I am especially proud of. Alex’s first time seeing is when he wakes up from surgery. Seeing was something he wanted, but never expected to do his entire life, and I love the way the four of us captured this moment. The combination of acting, narration, lighting, and music make this scene in a way, beautiful. It had to be beautiful. This scene made Alex’s ultimate downfall that much worse, and I think the film would have definitely been negatively affected if this scene were to be shot in any other way.
Many cinematic aspects were used in our film. In the scene explained above (when Alex wakes up from surgery), the scene is shot in extremely soft focus when Alex opens his eyes. This had the effect of making everything blurry to the point where nothing other than shapes can be distinguished. The use of soft focus in this scene is purposely very ironic. The first time Alex gets to see the world clearly, the audience sees it as a blur. Irony was a way of foreshadowing in this scene.
Low key and high key lighting were used on the priest in a strategic manner as well. Alex is blind in the confessional scene and therefore cannot see his priest; well neither can the audience. The film purposely does not put religion in the greatest light (no pun intended), and low key lighting infers that something is being hidden. When Alex can see at the end, the priest is shown in high key lighting. Whatever was being hidden is now wide out in the open, and Alex rejects and ignores his priest in this scene.
The close-up was also used effectively in the film. The close-up shot allowed us to fully embrace Alex’s emotion when he looked at the destroyed and closed down park. A medium or long shot would not do this emotional moment justice.
My final cinematic aspect also has to do with foreshadowing. As Alex decides to run out of the hospital in the hope of finally seeing the park he loved as a little kid, a canted angle is used to film him running in the hallway towards the door. Naturally, the scene is uplifting but as Alex started heading for the real world, he is shown with a canted angle, which looks like anything but uplifting. The canted angle foreshadows what’s to come when Alex does finally see the real world for the first time.
Through all the bumps, setbacks, and missing hair, creating “In Blind Sight” was a great experience and has possibly opened my eyes to a career path I would have never thought of going into before this film and this class. I look forward to making more films and to continue applying what I had learned in ROTMI to every creative work I do.

True Life: Brian Bergman Reflection

Ever since I was a little boy the world of movies intrigued me so much that after I would see a movie I would beg my parents to take me to Toy”R”Us so I could buy all the merchandise from that movie so I could pretend I was a part of the adventure. My love for movies as grown at such a rapid pace that almost every week me and my best friend Derek go to the movie theater at least once a week and see a movie. The best part is that we see any kind of movie just so we can expand our knowledge of movies, and this year when Dr. Ganes told me about Mr. Daszenski’s Rhetoric of the Moving Image class I knew I had to sign up for it. The best part is that this class has actually helped guide me with my future and has helped me to figure out what type of career I might wish to pursue. So far the best part has been this project, besides the fact that I got to make a movie about myself, (what’s cooler than that????) I got to learn what it takes to make a film, which is something I had never tried before.

One of our first assignments to this project was creating a production company, after hours and hours of arguing Derek, Andrew and I finally came up with A Sour Diesel Film. We finally were able to agree upon this because we felt it was something that really represented us and one of the reasons why we are such good friends. In this group my role was to play the leading role in our film and to be the assistant editor in the post-production part of our project. These were to things that I knew were very new to me and were difficult tasks but I was up to the challenge. Andrew was our director of course, because I don’t know if you know Andrew but he is always the head honcho and he also can do anything else but boss people around. Derek was our head editor, we gave this position to Derek because of his extensive background in film editing and since he spent an entire summer working at a film editing company called Company 3. In our project there was no screen writer because our film was a documentary and in a documentary everything is real and unscripted. The only parts that were written down were the questions that were asked in the film. I’m sure that it is expected for me to nominate myself as the group’s MVP, but to be honest I can’t give myself that much credit, I really believe that as a whole we were all MVP’s because without each other our project would have never gotten anywhere.

I do not know how well our group worked together compared to other groups but I know we didn’t work as well as we had hoped. Most people would think that friends would work well together because you know what the people in your group are capable of and what they aren’t capable of, but the problem with our group is that we let personal issues interfere with our progress. In the pre-production we had some complications; our biggest problem was deciding what our film was going to be about. Even though we are similar people and we all have a very similar taste in movies deciding what we were going to film was almost impossible. The reason for this was because every time one of us made a suggestion about what our film should be about, one of us would immediately find reasons why we shouldn’t use that idea. Not until we had a “film-making conference” with Mr. Daszenski did we finally settle on our film. During the production stage of our film everything started out easy and of course everything went downhill from there. On January 13, 2010 our group was supposed to begin our filming process, but with our groups luck Andrew forgot to charge his camera, which ended up putting pressure on us to film everything we needed the next day. The reason we need to do all of this on the 14^th was because on Friday the 15^th I was going to be in school and without me (lead role) we couldn’t get footage. Finally everything came together with our post-production and we were able to work together as a group to make our film the right way.

The inspiration for our group’s film came from our teacher, Mr. Daszenski. During our “film-making conference” with him he gave us the idea to make a documentary about Brian Bergman. The reason he did this is unexplainable, but if I had to guess it’s probably because he finds me to be an interesting individual. A True Life: Brian Bergman is about a high school student named Brian Bergman, and what his fellow students and teachers think about him. To me I feel our film was very successful, yes it had some weaknesses such as the planning of our film and the constant fighting that took place during the production. Strengths of our film to me were finding out what people really thought of me, even though most of them were joking around and trying to be funny, I still as able to get a jist for what people thought about me. My favorite scene in our film is the opening question, in this question we ask people to describe me using one word. It was my favorite because we got to really play around with different transitions and we were able to make 12 seconds of our film hilarious. To be honest throughout the production I would have been able to come up with several reasons of things that didn’t come out the way I had hoped, but after we finished the film I was very happy with the way everything turned out. Next time I have the opportunity to make a film I will certainly not choose a group the consists of my closest friends, this way my group will focus on what’s important not who looks the most important in the group. In our film the 5 cinematic techniques we utilized were inter-titles, tracking shot; close up, medium shot and long shot. In order the portray the scene of “Brian being Brian” we had to use a low angle tracking shot to represent the emotion and significance of the scene.

Test on Friday, 1/22

The test will focus on Fred Zinnemann's High Noon, David O. Russel's Three Kings (Period 4 ONLY), Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting (Period 8 ONLY), Fritz Lang's M, and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso. You should also know the terms from the second half of chapter 4 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. In addition, be familiar with all critical terms that we learned earlier in the course, from cinematic terms (such as "birds-eye shot") to other terms such as "metonymy."

Look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

Be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• High Noon: Establishing shot; motifs; Judge Mettrick's lesson in civics; Will Kane as "hero"; montage; the famous "boom shot"; subtext; HUAC; allegory; politics & film style. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• Three Kings OR Good Will Hunting: Story structure: exposition, setting, protagonist, conflict; inciting incident; rising action; crisis; climax; falling action/resolution; final thoughts about how the film does or does not fit the classical paradigm. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• M: Establishing sound; cross-cutting between cops & criminals; match cut; close-ups; Peter Lorre's performance; low-angle shot of Lohmann; off-screen space; final image; Weimar Republic; metonymy; German Expressionism; Megan's Law; non-classical structure; kangaroo court. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• Cinema Paradiso: Establishing shot; characterization of Toto; minor characters & how they develop (character arcs); Italian life post WWII; symbolic imagery; Magical Realism; Alfredo's 3 "magic tricks"; jump cut; final images (before & after the credits); the "Cinema of Life." Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• Miscellaneous Key Terms: editing & storyboarding (see the second half of chapter 4 in our textbook)

This is only a general guide and not a complete list of everything we learned and everything you should study!

Extra help will be after school on Thursday, 1/21 in room 452. Good luck!

True Life: Brian Bergman

The Making of True Life: Brian Bergman

Over the span of the past 7 years I have been learning on a consistent basis more and more about filmmaking. My interest in cameras and film started in 6^th grade when I had the opportunity to join GNPS TV/75 in the middle school. I have worked with top of the line equipment as well as with top of the line student filmmakers. This final project was by far the most difficult, stressful and overall the worst production I have ever worked on.

My roles in this group were director, cameraman, and assistant editor. Granted, we only had a crew of 3 people, everyone had to pull their own weight and do things they did not want to do. Unfortunately (without naming names) not everyone was able to do that. It was as if our group was fighting fire with gasoline most of the time. If I had to choose an MVP for this project, I would choose Derek Barocas. His skills in both production and post production were utilized to the fullest and he was the only one able to maintain a clear head at all times. Unfortunately our group chemistry was sub-par. I guess personalities have a lot to do with how well a group can function together. You would expect that because all three of us are friends, we have similar work ethics. Much to my dismay this was not the case. During the pre-production process, it was hard to communicate with my other group members because they simply are procrastinators. There were no personal problems involved, simply the fact that they were lazy. I had a feeling from the start most of the work would be done by me, so I wasn’t surprised when that ended up being the case. As the due date got closer, the group effort improved a little bit and the production phase went relatively smoothly. As for post-production, this phase was by far our highlight. We came together and were able to incorporate all of our ideas into an excellent documentary.

The inspiration for our film came during a discussion between me and Mr. Daszenski. During the pre-production phases we were having trouble getting our project off the ground. I took it upon myself to meet with Mr. Daszenski and utilize his creative mind. Finally we came up with the idea of doing some type of documentary or story of Brian Bergman’s life. Brian’s life is full of stories both happy and sad. Although we didn’t have the materials necessary to make a Sundance Film Festival, I am happy with he way we conveyed Brian as a person and as a student. If I could, I would revisit this project and perfect it for the sole purpose of showing the world e exactly how Brian affects himself and the people he interacts with.

Overall the success of the film can only truly be measured by the audience reactions. Having a personal involvement with the film I would like to think of its success level as high but yet again I have a biased opinion. My favorite scene(s) in the film are the montage of different adjectives that Brian’s fellow peers use to describe him with. I think this aspect uses good cinematic and editing techniques. I think it adds to the comic relief of the film while at the same time portraying the true Brian.

Like I said earlier, the film is in no way perfect. I had high hopes for this film, on the other hand I’m a visionary not a realist. One thing I hoped for this film was that its quality would end up somewhat professional. Unfortunately, there were many factors that were out of my control. For example, because we shot in an environment that was not staged or full of extras, real people had no idea what we were doing. Therefore the continuity and flow of the documentary was interrupted with bystanders staring, laughing, or interrupting our production. Overcoming that challenge in addition to using low grade equipment and two days to film, led this film to a standard lower then what I had hoped for. I always like to think to myself “there will be a next time”. Being a senior in high school, there aren’t many occasions when you can say that. I am overjoyed to know that when it comes to making a film, there will always be a next time. When I engage in my next production there are a few things that I will for sure do differently. For starters, I will take a lot more time to plan the story and shot selection for the film. Planning is always the most important process yet most of time the one most overlooked.
In this film we were able to incorporate a wide variety of cinematic techniques. Five distinct techniques that I found most prevalent were the long shot, medium shot, close up shot, tracking shot and intertitles. The long shot was used to show isolation of Brian in a classroom full of student; him doing his own thing (texting). The medium shot was used during an interview of two of Brian’s peers, due to the fact that there were two people. The close up shot was used to show the true expression of a person being interviewed and how they reacted to the question(s) about Brian. The tracking shot was used for the purpose of audience enjoyment. An audience likes excitement and movement, if we kept the camera in a stationary position the entire time, we would lose the audience’s attention. Finally, we incorporated intertieles. We decided to use this technique because we saw it effectively used in Gus Van Zant’s Elephant. Being a documentarian myself, I like to use other director’s ideas especially when they are successful. I would like to say that although there were many low points during the making of this project, there were also many learning experiences. N a totally non0cheesy way, I like to think that everything u do teaches you something new, no matter how boring or how basic the task may be. This project may have ended up a total disaster, at least I learned for next time what not to do.

‘True Life: Brian Bergman’ Reflection

‘True Life: Brian Bergman’ Reflection

My group being Brian Andrew and myself first got the idea to do a mock-MTV style documentary after thinking about how funny Brian’s interactions with other people are. We knew from the start that the film was going to be about him, we just didn’t which style of film would best convey Brian’s quirkiness to the audience. After thinking long and hard, we deemed it best to shoot our film in a “mockumentary” style. I personally thought shooting it this way would make an already funny topic even funnier. As far as everybody’s experience within the group goes, Andrew is the one with all of the equipment so he took on the roll of cameraman. Brian was obviously the star. And for me, I was the editor of this glorious film. Creatively, everybody had their own input and we bounced ideas off each other. Honestly, there was not an MVP within my group. Everybody added to the group, as well as subtracting to the group.

Brian, Andrew and myself have been great friends for a while, so instinctively they were my partners of choice. While picking them as my partners there was no thought in my head of fighting within the group, but boy was I wrong. There was a lot of tension between Brian and Andrew. You obviously know Brian, always having an opinion and not really caring what other people have to think. And when it comes to Andrew, he thought that because we were using his equipment, he was higher than us, he thought that he was the sole director. Pre-production was the worst for us. From the start we knew that we didn’t want to procrastinate. So we would occasionally text each other saying “okay, lets meet up and just get this project over with” but of course that never happened. We just kept on putting it off and off, which happened to be our biggest problem! Once we finally established the direction in which we wanted our film to go, things went a bit smoother. Production wasn’t too bad, since we filmed in school it was convenient for everybody. Post-production was a disaster though. We waited till the last minute to edit our piece, neglecting the fact that post is a very slow and tedious process.

Our film is about Brian! Everything that Brian does is amusing. He just has a way with words that makes you laugh. So the premise of our film is what other people think of our beloved Brian. We have a segment on people describing him in one word. another of what teachers in our school think of him. And one of younger kids looking up to him as a role model. I happen to think that our film is successful. From the start, we all decided that we wanted it to be funny. And after seeing it multiple times, I still laugh. So as far as that goes, it is very successful. It is also successful in a sense that we set out to portray who Brian really is, and I think that we accomplished that as well. If there is one thing that I would do differently when making my next film it would be to leave more time for everything. Making a film is a very daunting task that requires much time and effort. By allowing more time, chances are, your film will be more thought out and effective.

My favorite scene is when Mr. Mooney is asked to describe Brian in one word. He looks right into the camera and say “does it need to be clean”, which alone could describe Brian. Later he goes on to call Brian “passionate.” Over the course of the film we used a bunch of cinematic techniques. The most common one being the medium shot. We used this shot because it doesn’t show too much detail, but at the same time it gives enough detail for the audience to take it. The next technique we used was a tracking shot. We used this type of shot when we followed Brian through the halls in between periods. This was effective in giving the audience a view of Brian day. Also we used inter-titles to convey a message to the audience of what is to come. Another technique we used is the close up. We did this to show a specific detail that another shot wouldn’t show. Lastly, we used the long shot. This technique was most effective in showing Brian through a large group of students in the main hall. All in all, through the knowledge I gained in RotMI, I feel that I now have a better understanding of film in general.

reflection

 

 

Perri Bernstein

                                               

Final Reflection

 

Within our group we used a collaborative-type method of creation and creativity.  As we were filming, new ideas would jump into our heads.   Everyone did a great job envisioning and creating the thoughts that came to their heads.  Our group worked effectively and cooperatively together making the film a stress free production environment. We were also able to incorporate all of our thoughts and ideas that were in our heads into the film itself.  The main idea of our film was the first step we took in making it. This first step was to agree upon a common understanding and concept for the movie between Elena, Ali and I.  We all liked the concepts of a silent film, ran by music, and portraying human relationships.  Elena did a great job with editing and putting together our ideas on the computer.  She  was able connect and arrange our ideas for a final production. 

The song in itself was chosen before the idea of the movie was created.  The song was also the soul inspiration of the movie.  We liked the fact that it was upbeat and with that we could make an inspirational, upbeat and creative short film with the sounds it provided us with.  Our film is cute and powerful; we can guarantee a smile just from the plain old good vibrations our film gives off. The easy and calm concept makes it easy and compelling to watch while the underling relationship and plot make it compelling to watch.  My favorite scene within the film is the sequence that shows Josh, one of our main characters, opening up a pop-tart. In my opinion this scene explains the simplicity of individuals and their morning routines. It exemplifies how we are all different in the order and routine we go through but the feeling and outcome that we achieve by doing different actions ends foreshadowing similar thoughts and behavior. I overall enjoyed making a film and loves collaborating the different thing we learned in Rhetoric of the Moving Image into one final masterpiece.

Crazy Cookers Inc. How to Make a Gingerbread House

Jonathan Sozomenu and I made an instructional cooking film. Pre-production we worked together to formulate ideas about what kind of film we should make. We determined that a cooking video would be a plausible option for our group of only two people. Our film entitled, How to make a Graham cracker Gingerbread house and Frosty the Marshmellowman was developed over the course of two weeks.

The first step was to choose what we wanted to make. We decided on a Gingerbread house because the ingredients were easy to acquire and the making of it would not waste very much good food. We spent one day filming the entire process. This worked out well because we each have very busy schedules; however another day of filming after the editing could have been very useful.

Our roles in the making of this film overlapped in many areas. Jon was the only actor. However, we both worked on the development of ideas and the how we should approach the project. I did most of the post production work. I was the editor but also received help from an out of group source, Ben Ratner. I had minor experience editing short films but this project forced me to learn much more than I ever would have learned on my own. I received assistance in the learning of the imovie program from my cousin, Kate Rose Itzkowitz, a professional editor for Woody Allen.

Jon and I worked very well together to produce this film. We spent days discussing our ideas and forming storyboards of what we would hope to do in the filming of each of these ideas. This good dynamic led to the final success of our film. The film is not professional quality or perfectly edited but as a whole I feel that the film was a success. We were able to film our project in a few hours and didn’t surpass our designated filming time. I feel that the greatest strength of our film was Jon’s ability to keep his composure while building the house. It is a very funny film because it is not common to see a teenage boy making a video of how to make a gingerbread house. He was able to keep his composure and not laugh all the time as many people in that situation would have. One of the weaknesses of our film is the group size. If the group had included more people it would have been less taxing on the people involved and the amount of time that each person would put into their part of the project would have decreased. Also having more people and hopefully more actors would lead to a more comedic atmosphere.

There were many different cinematic elements used in this film. We have a high angle shot at the very end of the film to show the entire house and property along with the Chef. Background music was added during the editing process because it was a very Christmas themed movie and holiday music added to this. Titles were also run on the screen while the film is starting to save time as well as to keep the audience’s interest. We have many close ups during the making of this film because it is essential in an instructional video to show exactly what you are doing so that this can be reproduced. We also attempted to include a match cut. There are several attempts during the film but one stands out. This is when Jon is adding the gummi bears to the roof, he puts one on and then there is a jump cut to him showing the gummi bear decoration complete. A match cut was also attempted during the making of the base of the house and the placing of the graham crackers on the cardboard foundation.

My favorite scene in the film is the making of Frosty the Marshmellowman. It is a very funny scene but also very fitting to the project. Unfortunately, a large portion of this was removed from the final version because the film was excessively long and this was the best place to cut from.

"Dreams Come True" Reflection

A foreign film derived from a Korean story, “Dreams Come True” is a formalistic film. Each of my group members had specific roles as director, screenwriter, actor, editor, and cinematographer. I took the role of the editor in my group. We each took our roles in this film seriously which might be the reason that we were able to finish it on time, even though it might not be professional work. Even though we were all amateurs and created a film for the first time, I am satisfied with our finished film.
At the starting of the pre-production state we each had different ideas for our film which was difficult for us to conform it into one. This phase was unproductive for our group because we kept talking about different ideas that each of us wanted to do. However, after we finally agreed on a final idea, we worked together progressively. It was during the production and post production phases when everyone’s schedule needed to be considered to meet up and start filming. As a team, we had to understand each other, even though it was difficult to. We all meet up without any real script or complete layout of our film. We only had a plot and decided to make a script as we went along because it would be easier for the actors to act and therefore, more ordinary. One of the difficult issues in this state was the time of day. We weren’t able to film it late at night because the shot wouldn’t be captured on the camera, so we had to carefully adjust our time and schedule, to fit in with our film.
Our film is derived from a Korean scary legend that most people are familiar with. We took this story and changed it to a more suitable state that was appropriate for our film. Instead of the plot of the story occurring in reality, the plot of this story happened in a friend’s dream. We wanted to elaborately show how dreams can affect someone’s fate. Briefly summarizing the story of our film, it starts off with a friend (dreamer) who dreams about her friend, running away from a person who’s wearing a kimono (ghost). The ghost asks the dreamer if she saw the direction to where the friend went to, at two lanes showing where the friend could have ran to. The dreamer lies to the ghost, because she judges that the ghost looks dangerous on it’s outer appearance, and therefore wants to protect her friend. The next day the dreamer dreams again at the same time of day. She sees her friend run pass by her, and a minute later, a person in white shows up and asks her if she saw the friend. The dreamer tells the truth because she judges that by the person’s white clothes and kind features, the person looks harmless. However, the person in white is actually the ghost from the dream from the night before, who had been following the friend around, wanting his soul. My favorite scene in the film is the ending. It is when the screen turns black and there’s a sound of a heartbeat. It shows what happened to the boy who was being followed afterwards without directly visually showing what happened. This part closes the whole story and brings it to an end.
I learned that the art of film is something that needs effort and time. It is not only the actors who worked hard, but also the hidden directors, editors, cinematographers behind this film worked to their best ability too. As audiences, we only see the actors in the film, but it is actually the whole team work of director, actors, cinematographer, and editor who contribute their effort to a film to make it successful. There were a lot of techniques learned in class that influenced our film. The long take was used at the beginning of the film where three people started off with a conversation that gives a hint of what our whole film is going to be about. The dutch angle used, when the ghost appears in white clothes, gives an impression of warning and to watch out. There was also a close up to show the dreamer’s expression. This shot was appropriate at this moment because it shows how the dreamer felt after realizing something at that particular moment. A long shot was used to show roads and the emptiness and loneliness of it. This loneliness of the road shows the dreamer’s feeling, while she is trapped in her own dream world, alone and unable to escape it. Lastly, a subjective point of view shot was used, when Paul was running away. It showed us what he was looking at breathlessly, and gave us a sense of how he was in a life threatening situation at that time.
This experience of creating a film of our own was different and new. With all amateur director, screenwriter, actors, cinematographer, and editor, our film might not be the best, but I am indeed satisfied because all our hard work was involved, and we had worked the best to our ability.

Reflection of How to beast the Bully movie

My group’s film consists of weird acts of fighting and training. Therefore, it is categorized as a action film. My group was very cooperative and such, except for coming on time for the shooting. In fact, the group is very bad in keeping times and dates in order. But anyways, I was just an actor in the film and Clifford did everything else like writing, shooting, and editing. He was the group’s “MVP.”
So in the pre-production, our group was very unorganized until we all came together. I didn’t have half the group’s phone numbers and the dates for the shooting of the film changed about 3 times until we decided that we would shoot it on a Saturday. However, in the production, the group was actually becoming efficient and we even had time for a lunch break. We finished the film in around 4 hours and I think that could be the shortest shooting of a film anyone has ever done. Also, the post-production had the same progress, but I didn’t get to see the final product of the film so I will be in for a surprise on the day we watch the film.
The inspiration for our film was not really anything. It consisted of people speaking about random things and someone suddenly said kung-fu, so it went with the flow from there and it blossomed. We decided on kung-fu and the film ended up consisting of a bully, teacher, and student. It was about a puny kid always getting bullied by a bully. But on one fortunate day, a teacher comes by, who knows kung-fu, and ends up training the kid, but in the end, sadly, the kid gets beat up once again by the bully. Also, my favorite scene is the intro when Eric was sitting on the swings because it’s the only scene I watched and he’s wearing an Elmo t-shirt when it was below freezing outside.
This was my second film I ever did and I learned after the second time that I would need a planner and an organizer the next time a group does a film with me. I also learned that we need a skilled person that knows how to handle the technology required to make a film and Cliff was that guy. Our group was very lucky to have him.
In the film, we used cinematic techniques that include close-ups, long shots, low angles, jump cutting, and having a canted angle. A close up of faces was provided in the movie to show that he is speaking or he is being introduced. It made the fact that he was the dominant figure in the scene. Long shots were also used in the film when the kid met the bully again at the end. It didn’t really mean much but maybe we can say it meant that he still has a long way to go. Also, low angles were used in the film. It also is saying that this is the dominant figure. The fourth cinematic technique is jump cutting which is to cut from scene to scene with no sense of time. We did that from when I met Eric and to when we started training. In between those scenes, we had our lunch break. And lastly, we put in a canted angle of Eric laying on the floor. It usually means that something bad is about to happen but we used it because he lost and he was angry about it.
The movie was pretty much a success because I heard that it turned out good from a few friends (I don’t get how my friends watch it when I don’t get to). It was a fun experience but the date of the movie was horrible. I was outside freezing with sandals and a bathrobe.

Reflection on The Bully

Saruen Reyes

The making of "The Bully" was more difficult than what I thought I was going to be.. Evan, Ian, and I couldn't come up any good, feasible ideas. For example, as Ian drove me to school, he says something like, "we should make a movie about one of us going home and playing Halo, then go to the bathroom and when we come back its not there anymore. It could be like a horror film or something." I don't think I even bothered commenting back to the idea. There was another idea that dealt with a dream inside a dream inside a dream, something similar to the short film we saw in class. It took us a while to come up with something decent and we couldn't really film anything during anything during the break because Ian went to Florida and he was kind of the brains behind everything. We came back to school and we were still juggling ideas around. So that Friday we decided to go to Evans house and get something done. And still nothing came to mind. I forgot who came up with the bully idea, but we decided to go with that. Little by little we pieced parts of the puzzle together. We all contributed as it went along. Someone would suggest an idea and someone else would add on. Like Ian said something about the victim wanting to get back at the bully and Evan had some workout equipment in his room, so I suggested that we film him working out with the Rocky Balboa music in the background or something along those lines. Like I said earlier, Ian was the brains a.k.a the director, but we all pitched into things like how the frame should look, the dialogue, angles, cuts, little things. Like he would come up with the ideas and we would alter them somehow.

I was the cameraman, but we didn't have one, so we had to borrow one from Simon. After he had what seemed to be a good idea for the movie we started to film. The 1st day was somewhat productive. We finished up, and ian took the footage back to his house to edit it, after a few hours he calls me over to his house to ask me what I thought of the editing. I was okay with it, not amazed, it was alright for the 1st day. The 2nd day of shooting, caught me a little bit off guard, apparently the music was too dramatic and the footage itself was too boring,plain. We basically wasted a day, so again, we sat down and tried to come up with some good ideas, we were going to do this thing on the terms we had learned and compose a song and make a montage out of them. I didn't like it. We decided to stick to the bully idea, but this time we got serious about it and thought out and planned out beforehand what we were going to shoot and set up a basic story line. And we did.

Shooting was actually pretty funny. I think it always is, last year I had the privilege to work with Simon, that might of been the funnest project I did throughout high school. We found out that Evan could change his voice pretty well and it fits his character perfectly. We went to the playground too. That was funny too, there's a part in one of the chase scenes where a little boy rides his bike across the camera, and also in the confrontation scene, there's this elderly man who walks along the edge of the frame, after we paused it he offered Evan a ball. It was a little strange. We were actually set back a day because of the weather, it was raining and the camera wasn't ours and I didn't really want to break it or something.

But overall making this film was very entertaining. I think the hardest part of it all was getting the ideas cemented. I think we did a good job in implementing a little bit of everything into the film. There are several low angles, we have close ups at the moment when they meet up at the basketball court, long shots, I don't think we have high angles shots because it was probably too difficult to get that high up. We have some montages, and I think we used sound appropriately too. The films well balanced. The film we made last year, was a great film and everything but we didn't know anything about cinematic aspects. We didn't know about all these different kinds of shots, how to use cuts or when to use long takes. This was a really insightful course, it opens your eyes and now I pay attention to the little details that I would never did before.

True Life of a High School Senior

Our film “True Life of a High School Senior” produced by the company “True Life” is based on four different high school senior students. Each one tells us about their experiences in high school compared to other years, what they expected of senior year, what they enjoy about senior year, and about their future in college and how they see the rest of their lives.

Our group came together in an unconventional type of way. We formed our group not based upon a vision of what we wanted to do, it was a coincidence that there were two people in a group alone and too many in our original group. Aleena and I decided to join Marisa and Elaina. They had a great idea to make a documentary on the lives of high school seniors. I thought this was a great idea because I am a high school senior myself. It would be very interesting to see different views of high school seniors that attend various schools from different areas.

In our group, we all shared our roles, but I really enjoyed being the interviewer. At first I thought I was going to actually interview the people, have a microphone and state each question but, instead we decided to let them restate our various questions. Before each scene I spoke with our subject and made sure they were familiar with the questions and had something of substances to say. I enjoyed doing this, meeting new people and learning about their different senior year experiences. Coming up with questions wasn’t so challenging because I am a senior myself and I thought if someone were to interview me what could they ask me that would help me best describe my senior year.

This was a very fascinating process to participate in while we controlled the cameras and the questions that we presented. We did not dictate how the subjects would answer. I personally enjoyed seeing the different perspectives that these students had about their senior year in high school and how they saw their future.   Because we are in a senior class I believe that all of my peers will also enjoy our film being able to connect with some of the interviewees and perhaps even shocked about the answers and attitudes of others.

The inspiration for our film was, the real television episodes of “True Life.” I had fun making a movie based off of a television show, it was enjoyable to make a film that I could probably see while flipping through the channels.

 My favorite scene by far is the medium shot of Justin standing next to the sign that shows the year his school was built. I like the balance of him next to the large numbers while he is speaking about his senior year. These numbers make you think how long this school has been around for and how many people have been through this amazing senior year experience.      

I feel that our film was very successful, so successful that I could see it on the show we based it off of. At first I did not know how it would come together, because I have never made a movie before. Our M.V.P was Elaina Epifan, I would say this because we all put tons of effort into the project by filming, interviewing, and directing but Elaina did the editing that brought it all together.

 There are many techniques that we learned throughout our course in Rhetoric of the Moving Image. I enjoyed learning about them and putting each thing we learned about into our film. A few examples of what we used were high angle, long takes, tracking shots, transitions and close up. Our high angle shot was used during Silvana’s basketball game. This was appropriate here to see not only our subject but our subject in an environment that made her high school and senior year special to her.  Our long takes where during the actual interviews. These were appropriate at this moment to allow the interviewee to continue speaking without stopping. The tracking shots were used as we followed our interviewee taking a stroll while they spoke to us, which made this technique appropriate at this moment in our documentary. Throughout the documentary we used transitions of fading and having the screen role into the next so it seemed as if they did not stop speaking. Other transition shots were iris shots and dissolving. Lastly we used close up, this was used at appropriate times while our interviewee was speaking allowing us to get more involved in what they were explaining.  It gives the viewer a feeling as if the person is talking just to them. We made our documentary flow by using the same plain black slide with the persons name, age and school on it before each person spoke.

This project has shown me that the art of film is an intricate web of details.  It takes many people and many hours to incorporate and send the right message to the audience. We were able to use the techniques that we learned in class to make our subjects come forth and exhibit their true feelings and experiences about their senior year.  Thus bringing about a very successful film. 

Out of Ammo Reflection: Stephen Ngo

The movie making experience is one that I will definitely remember from the Rhetoric of the Moving Image. It was my first attempt at creating a movie replete with filming techniques and make up. A zombie apocalypse genre was chosen mainly because we all enjoyed some violence in movies and personally, zombie apocalypses are one of my favorite genres. However, because zombie apocalypses are generally all the same, with the humans struggling to fight mindless hordes of zombies, we decided to alter our movie so that it would stand out. Instead of having the humans as the main characters, the emphasis was on the zombies. The zombies were the ones to launch the coordinated strikes that overwhelm the human forces. The zombies employed in the movie are fast moving zombies, mainly inspired from such movies as 28 weeks later or Dawn of the Dead. Zombies from Resident Evil, which are extremely slow-moving, would make the movie drag on and lack excitement.

However, I found firsthand that just because you have a great idea for a movie doesn’t mean the movie is going to turn out nearly as planned. The pre-production stages started off very well and we had conceived of a plan well ahead of other groups. However, during the production process, our excitement was put on hold through the laborious process of actually shooting the scenes. Overall, the members of my group assumed many different roles since we all started with relatively little experience. Also, scene discussion was tedious and it was much harder to film the scenes that we imagined using outdated camcorders from the school. I learned that scenes had to be carefully set up and many takes are required. Being in the audience for my whole life made me take for granted the tedious efforts movie directors and actors must go through to shoot the perfect scene. During production, the film took a much longer time than any of us had ever anticipated, due to failures in the devices and other distractions. However, the process of movie making entailed enjoyable distractions such as video gaming and ordering dominos pizza. We finished the movie with a sigh of relief and the editing process went smoothly again. Simply adding sounds and music was nothing compared to the shooting of the film.

However, with more experience after this film production, many of the mistakes we’ve made can be corrected. Before scene shoots, a well defined plan should be developed. At times during the film, we ended up improvising. Furthermore, a better location should have been chosen. During many of the shoots, family members were everywhere and disruptions of the scenes caused some errors of continuity. Finally, better camera equipment and software are needed. A lot of time was wasted figuring out which of the camcorders to use.

The film does have a plethora of cinematic techniques. One of the effects done was the distortion of time. Since the planning scene is tedious, we decided to put in the actual plan being carried out as the zombies are saying it. This way, the audience would be able to hear the plan and watch it unfold immediately. Also, in the opening, we unanimously chose a close up shot of pieces on a map which represented human forces and zombie forces. The following montage of the map along with the menacing music is meant to display the deadly sophistication of the zombie forces. Another cinematic technique used is a low angle shot of the zombie commander (me). The low angle shot portrays feelings of power and firm control expected of a zombie commander, especially one leading a force of highly intelligent and scheming zombies. Our movie also utilizes a jump cut. As a zombie is about to assault the secret training center, the audience will see him enter the room of the unprepared humans playing video games. The zombie opens the door and enters. Then the following shot shows the zombie limping out of the training center. It is only in the next scene that the audience is able to see what has happened to the three humans inside the training center. They were killed in the time between the two shots. The zombie attack scenes were also filmed carefully. In the first attack scene, the unsuspecting human is totally overwhelmed by ambushing zombies. For this scene, we deemed it appropriate that a high angle shot be taken to emphasize the helplessness of the human. During this scene, the zombies ambush and snap his neck. In the second attack scene, the scheming zombies struck again and this time the camera was at a canted angle. The flanking maneuver and the bloody outcome warrant another cinematic technique and we chose the canted angle so as not to be repetitive. Actually, this canted angle shot arose accidentally, due to the carelessness of setting up the tripod. However, we realized that a canted angle could definitely be used.

Overall, this movie making experience was enjoyable. We might have fallen short of conveying our imaginations in this film but it was an experience nonetheless. Being rookies at filmmaking, our mistakes are understandable and many times, the mistakes were hilarious to watch over again in the camera. This experience allowed many of us, including myself to get a level of comfort in front of the camera and laugh at ourselves during the editing process. Now, next time filming, this movie making experience will definitely result in a more refined film with a clearer plot.

Reflection on The Bully

Evan Rubinton
Our short film project was a valuable and enjoyable experience. From the beginning, when nothing was decided on for the film, we had an excellent group dynamic. Three proved to be the perfect number. Each us of had enough of a role in creating the film for us to influence the final outcome in our own ways. My role in the film was primarily actor though I also helped create the plot. While we all had specific roles, Ian as director and Saruen as cinematographer, we all contributed to every aspect. Ian definitely came out as the leader in the group which was appropriate for his role as director; he was our MVP because he determined how the film came out more than any of us.
Pre-production was surprisingly difficult for us since we could not agree on any one idea for weeks. In the end, we compromised on a comedic story about a teen and his bully. Even then the majority of our ideas had yet to be thought of. The magic happened in the production phase of the project. A combination of improvisation and preplanning was used to decide both the content and cinematography of a scene. As an actor, I invented my character’s persona on the spot. “Evan” the nerdy victim of “Ian” the rude bully was an improvised effort. None of our speaking lines were written down, only thought of moments before shooting. My resulting acting performance, in my humble opinion, was a roaring success. Post production was Ian’s time to shine; he did the editing on his own except for some input from Saruen and I.
The Bully is a successful short film but it did have some weak points. One of the few weaknesses is the choreography which is clearly unprofessional. I’m unsure whether the intended brutality of the bully came across. Perhaps it would have benefited from the inclusion of condiments. As a lighthearted film that provides the audience with a decent amount of laughs, The Bully is a success. My favorite scene is the beginning wakeup scene where my character gets out of bed in an extremely joyous mood. It was not only the most enjoyable scene to shoot but I believe it was the most hilarious scene of the film.
More than five cinematic techniques were in my film so I can easily recall just five of them. The final battle at the end of the film utilized a point of view shot to intensify Ian’s last blow to my character’s face. That final scene also included a close up of our faces, showing just how serious we were about beating each other up. The music in the film was all non-diagetic, I argued for a boom box touting Ian but we all have to make compromises. For the bully’s interview scene we used low key lighting to make Ian seem a lot more evil than he really is. Finally, the many medium shots used when filming the less emotional scenes of the movie including the intro scene of me preparing for the day.
I never would have expected to have been able to create such an entertaining film in the small amount of time allotted. Having created other short films with friends before, I’m glad I was able to work on this one especially. This project taught me you didn’t need to be a movie buff to create films. All you need is an idea, the equipment, and the people to create something you can be proud of. I’m proud of the experience and the result of this short film project.

Turds to Birds Reflection: Lauren Eichhorn

My role in the film Turds to Birds was that of the main character. My co-star’s were, Sherin Jacob, Gavin Pang and Jessica Mazurkiewicz. My role as the main character was the young girl who wanted to lose weight; she subscribed to the turds to birds workout plan after seeing an infomercial about the plan and its deals. Gavin, Sherin and Jessica all worked for the Turds to Birds work out corporation. Gavin, Sherin and Jessica were also a big part of the movie in the scheme of acting. Our screenwriter, editor and director for Turds to Birds was the famous Benjamin Ratner. Ben took on the role of perfecting and catching certain moments in the film with great cinematic effects. The groups MVP I have to say must be Ben. Our two-time Oscar winning director Ben was there to catch our amazing acting and bring it to life.
The group as a whole worked very cohesively, we had many similar ideas and everyone in our group was flexible. Pre Production we all brain stormed in the library a bunch of great ideas, after brainstorming we decided to incorporate all our ideas together. The group put together ideas including, dance, commercial and a story put together to make one brilliant short film. The production was one of the hardest parts of making the film, aside from the editing which Ben had did the production was a long and tiring process. We took many takes and learned some new things like dance and even step aerobics. Ideas and other little scenes to make the film unique also took many takes for perfection. In the end the group had fun during the process we hadn’t disagreed or fought. It was the most relaxing filming could get. Postproduction was really about Ben making four drafts of our film. After each draft was complete we would review and give Ben music and tips on what to add and cut from the film, I would like to say we all helped edit but most editing credit is due to Ben.
The Inspiration for our group’s film was really just to produce a movie that will make people laugh and for them to really appreciate the hard work put into it. There was really no one inspiration; it was kind of a bunch of ideas that inspired us to make something enjoyable. The film Turds to Birds is a comedy; the film has a story behind it as well. The moral of our story is never to trust what you see on TV and what promises infomercials put out to the public. In the film I am the young girl who is looking to lose weight. I found the workout plan Turds to Birds on TV and decide to join for just 9 dollars a month. I find out by the end of the film that I gained weight, that the teachers were not trained and therefore realized I got scammed out of my money.
My favorite scene in the film has to be the ending when I take all my frustrations out by talking directly into the camera. I like this scene the most because there was a build up of suspense through out the movie, you were just waiting for me to blow up, and I did. What didn’t turn out the way I hoped was just the music and some transitions in the film. I had wished in certain scenes the music was louder to engage the viewer more. In addition better fluidity between some scenes. What I think I will do differently when I’m in my next film is most definitely get better props and costumes. I feel that our group also could have gotten better props and costume. It was our first film and there always has to be some room for to change. Costume, props and set can make a film just as well as the acting and storyline can.
I defiantly learned that the art of film is a lot harder then it looks. There is really so much to be though about before even beginning to film, the pre film processes is just as important and takes just as much time as even filming can. The equipment to capture some shots are also very complex, movies cost a lot of money and by making my own short film I really see where you can spend a lot of money. For the film Turds to Birds we used a number of different cinematic effects. My favorite technique, which was influenced from my learning’s in the RoTMI class are the high angle shot and the low angle shot. The low angle shot makes the viewers feel small and the person talking feel big, while the high angle shot makes the viewers view the person as being weak. We also used for our film a jump cut, cutting from one section fast forwarding to what’s going to happen momentarily. Parallel editing is another one we used to show different peoples reactions to a situation at the same point in time. At the end we put a split screen to show the credits to make our film stand out. All in all we worked very hard as a group on our film and I hope you enjoy it.

Out of Ammo- Reflection

Our short film, "Out of Ammo", provided many experiences for my group and me. Everyone in our group was actively involved, so I don’t think there is a MVP in particular. When we started out, we planned Yousuf to be the director, Steven V. to be the cinematographer, Stephen N. to be the producer, and have all of us become actors. However, many things changed as we faced the challenges of producing the film. Eventually, I became co-executive producer, editor, make-up supplier, and actress. Yousuf was the director, actor (cameo), editor, and provided us his house to film in. Steven V. was executive producer, actor, editor, and provided a camera. Matthew and Stephen N. were the editors, actors, cinematographers, and provided props. We all had to share the roles and help each other out because it was extremely tough to do everything ourselves as novice filmmakers.

Personally, during the pre-production stage, it was a bit awkward for me because I didn’t know most of my group members and didn’t know some of their names. Because of this, I don’t think I was able to help plan the plot as much as I wanted to and interacted as much in the beginning. Also, as the only female in the group, I expected to be “bossed around”; however, things were much different as everyone was diligent in trying to get the movie finished. Overall, in the Production and Post-Production part of the filming, our group had great chemistry, and I am tremendously thankful I was able to work with my group members because I was able to make four new friends, who are all extremely sincere and hardworking.

The production stage proved to be a great challenge to our group. We used the school’s video camera to film the beginning scenes for our project, but when we played back the scenes, there were random horizontal, gray streaks across the film, which ruined it. Thankfully, Steven V. had his own video camera, and we were able to use it to film our project. However, less than a week the film was due, we tried to edit the film by connecting Steven’s video camera to the computer, but it wouldn’t connect for a couple of days since the computer couldn’t sense the camera’s driver. Steven V. eventually figured out a way to download all of the film we took, but the video had a time stamp and the quality was tremendously degraded and very “pixilated.” In the long run, we had to re-film the scenes with only a couple of days and used my Mac to edit the film.

The inspiration for our film came from the zombie apocalypse movies we watched in class. Usually, in these types of films, the humans prevail over the zombies in the end; however, in our movie, the zombies are smarter than the humans. Our film basically shows the zombies planning their attack on the humans. In between the planning, there are cuts in the scenes that show the actual attacks occurring against the humans, and show the lazy humans always just eating and playing video games. The zombies ultimately find the “weapon” that kills all humans through their many raids.

The first cinematic technique occurred in the establishing shot. In this shot, there was a close up on the map with zombies, and we zoomed out on it in order to show the long shot of the zombies and humans positioned strategically on a map. This technique allowed the audience to get an idea of the storyline. The second cinematic technique we used is a canted angle. We used this type of shot in the scene where the zombies first attack the guards. This shot was appropriate because it foreshadowed something dark that would happen to the humans. Third, we used a tracking shot when the human (me) went into the “Human Top Secret Training Center”. This shot was significant because it showed how lazy the humans were. Fourth, we used the camera in a first person perspective of a human in the last part of the film to show what the zombie will use toS destroy the humans. Last, we used a low angle shot whenever we filmed Stephen N. because he represented the leader of the zombies.

The different cinematic techniques used strengthened the film, but there were many weaknesses. After editing the movie, we came to realize that the overall storyline didn’t make sense when one watched it unless one had the basic summary of the film. This will most likely be the main problem when we screen it to the class. Also, there were some errors in continuity, and even though our movie is a zombie movie, it isn’t very frightening. My favorite scene in the film was all of the attack scenes because it was entertaining to film, and interesting to see the expressions of the neighbors who were passing by the house while we had on our face paint.

Next time I make a film, I will spend most of my time using a storyboard and writing out the entire script before filming. Before we finished writing the script, our group decided to start filming, but we ended up spending about 6 hours filming only two scenes because we kept on adding and removing lines from the unfinished script and we kept on changing the story line to try to make it more understandable. From this project, I learned that producing a film is a very challenging process. Before taking this class, I never knew anything about cinematic techniques, and didn’t realize that certain shots can create certain effects. Overall, this project was an unforgettable experience.