In Da heights 2

Justin Park

ROMTI 8

In da Heights 2 is a film about a couple of boys going to a Jam. This Jam is where people get to cypher and battle each other. The journey pretty much takes them from their homes to the city. Not much is said in dialogue, but from the pictures and the film you get the idea of what Break dancing is all about. It was interesting to film this project because this was something that I trained for beforehand and the film is like a clear representation of my experience. It was my first time and it became a movie, since when does that happen? I had at least a months’ notice, but I was trying to finish up my college apps at the same time. My partner Ashley was very helpful with the filming and directing. I was mainly an actor in this film so I could not film that much of it. One interesting thing was that we met someone named Owen on the way there. He saw us dance for like a split second in the subway and asked if we were Bboys (Break dancers) and we said yes. We got to know and he tagged along on our journey.

A word that comes to mind about this project is “HOT.” Going to the Jam wasn’t really the problem. The problem was inside. It was crowded and very hot from the body heat. After an hour anyone would get fatigued. It was like a sauna in there. At first when we walked in it was just cyphering. This is when circles are made and people just dance in the middle for fun and to show off. It is pretty much a warm up. Next is the battle. The battles were two verses two. It is pretty nerve racking to just be up there with like a million eyes watching you.

Would I say this film is successful? Yes, I thought it pretty much represented like a documentary/ movie of what a jam was like. It has people not just acting, but doing real live things they do as hobbies. Even though it is a trailer to the film, I think if I were to make the actual film it would be really fun and exciting. This project opened my eyes to film. I realized that filming is so not easy. No matter how many people you have with you it’s still really difficult. The angles presented in the film were definitely the best we could get because it was so crowded. However, as the finished product I was very pleased with what came out. My friend helped so much with the editing that I was blown away at all of his efforts. It takes hours to edit even just a five min film. A real Hollywood film must take at least a year. This project was interesting and it gave me a new perspective on films and how they are made.

There is much to say about any weaknesses about my film except for the cinematic techniques.

I cant say this film had that many cinematic techniques, but we tried our best to try to incorporate some. At the jam you were lucky if you could sit down. Food was provided also but if you get some before it ran out you were lucky. I think my partner hated me…….. Well probably not, but she was just standing and watching for four hours. Anyways I wish we could have gotten more angles and multiple shots. However, due to Ashley being short it was difficult. Well not really, we had help from my friends that were very generous. A lot of the shots were medium shots because of the distance, but we did have some close ups we got the chance to film it. A cool thing that I would have liked to have more of was the cross cut of My friend jumping on to the floor. This is just a surprise and it really emphasizes the moves and him just dancing. Honestly I think Ashley did a good job with what she did going through that pain of just trying to get good shots. Another cinematic technique is the diagetic and nondiagetic sounds. We used some nondiagetic sounds when some battles occurred and when we were traveling. If the whole movie had sounds that were diagetic it would have been boring because of the music from the jam was mainly funk. Therefore, it was good to have a mix up in music for the audience. The music was a good choice because it is “breakable” meaning that it can be break danced to. When the diagetic sound came in it gave the trailer a real sensation of what is going on and what it is like to be there. As for the lighting the camera could only do so much so we used natural lighting and we put a black and white effect in the beginning to make the trailer stylistic.