Guy Maddin

Watching surrealist films is always such an interesting and definitely unique experience. I think it is really cool how even though Guy Maddin has access to color and video, he still chooses black and white film for the most part. I would be interested in experiencing one of his art installations.

Aaron Koblin

I have learned about Aaron Koblin in Andre's class, so learning about the different projects he has done that I didn't know about was interesting. I didn't know about the Netflix-esque virtual reality website, and I am definitely going to explore that more. I think Koblin is a genius and I am glad to alive during his era because I think he is doing stuff that will completely change the game.

Final Class Reflection

This class was a roller coaster for me. There were moments where I seriously considered dropping the class, and there were other moments where this was my favorite class. I definitely believe that my classmates contributed a lot to those good moments. Though I like working alone, I learned that having other people contribute to one project can create amazing work and it can be fun making them. I also learned that working with others is hard, especially due to the range of schedules and personal life activities. I have not made many experimental films before this semester, and doing so has made me grow in many ways. I have learned new editing hacks and techniques, and I have now worked with actual film. I learned that you can create mesmerizing films only using still images and sound which is something that I am definitely going to continue to explore. Because of this class, I have attended my first ever film festival which taught me a lot about being filmmaker and what it takes to reach that level. I have also grown in the sense that I made a few friends from this class that I would totally work with outside of school. It is important to have the option to work with a group, because sometimes that's just what a film requires. I still don't have my life figured out, I don't know exactly what I want to do but this class makes me want to go towards the experimental path because of the freedom you have to create art unlike any other. My biggest takeaway from this class is that I am a filmmaker. This class and the people in it, especially at the end of semester screening, gave me the confidence that I did not have before.

Martha Colburn

I find Martha Colburn's work to be astounding and I have no idea how she is able to add so many layers and different elements in her work without going insane. In the films presented today, there was so much to look at and I felt like I could stare at one of those stills for hours, and I could still find something new about. In my notes I wrote: Pug Adventures     wut? And I think that's all I have to say about that.

Self-Portrait Experience

I am someone who prefers to work by myself, so this was definitely my favorite project of the semester. I was pleasantly surprised by my end result, especially since my ideas were initially separate and I put them together. I wasn't expecting it to work so well, but it did! I had a fun time shooting, especially on the beach. The hardest shot for me to shoot was the bathtub scene. For one, it was hard to frame it the way I wanted it since I was in front of the camera rather than behind it. SECOND, breathing underwater isn't a thing...so I couldn't breath. LAST but not least, I had to do it twice because I didn't like the framing of the first one. But of course, I used the first shot so I almost died a second time for no reason. I had a lot of fun with the soundscape in the first half of the film. I had layer after layer, and listening to all of it come together to convey a sense of panic was really awesome. I was a little disappointed in the transition from claustrophobia/anxiety to my boyfriend and dog. Once again, getting the right framing was difficult and people on the beach were staring so I really didn't want to keep laying on the sand and sitting up. It was also really interesting to see everyone else's self-portrait, which I think connected us all just a little more.

Installation

Our idea is to really play around with people’s fears and anxieties. We have a lot of ideas but not a concrete plan yet. We want to have an enclosed space where only a few people can fit into it and have anxiety inducing sounds playing. We’re playing around with the idea of blindfolding the audience and have them touch and eat something that looks and feels gross, but is completely edible. We want to possibly project found footage of things that give people anxiety onto three scary looking girls in a white gown, and possibly have them move around and perform something. Overall, we want people to leave completely freaked out!

Self portrait Revised

Originally, I had two separate ideas that I didn’t think I could put together, but after thinking about it they can go perfectly together. Now, my idea is to start with the feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia. I want this section to be in black and white and I’m going to film myself in small spaces reacting to the lack of air. I want the soundscape to be heavy breathing and sound bites from a monologue layered on top of each other. I have other shots planned out but I am mostly excited for a specific shot where I am going to be “drowning” in the bathtub, and then I’m going to come up for air and “break free.”  I want to do a match on action where I come up from the bathtub and then I end up at the beach coming up from the ocean. The video will then turn from black and white to color, and I’ll begin to focus on what makes me the happiest, my boyfriend and my dog. I want the first shot of this half of the film to be a POV looking at my boyfriend and dog out of focus, and then I want it to come into focus.  I want to use some candid footage I have of them as well as other planned out shots. I’m not 100% sure about the sound but I think I want this section to be completely quiet to show that the chaos stops when I’m with them.

OK Go - Trevor and Will

I think it’s pretty awesome that in this major, we get to learn about people like Ok Go. It was really awesome to see the progression of their talent. It’s insane that they went from dancing in someone’s back yard to creating elaborate videos with Rube Goldberg Machines. This presentation brought back memories that I forgot I had, like the treadmill video. What was really insane about this presentation was that the next day my boyfriend was playing music, and he started playing Get Over It by Ok Go and I was like “??????”

Self-Portrait

I have been struggling between two very, VERY different ideas for my self-portrait. My first idea is to capture my love for my little family (my boyfriend and my dog). I would use really fluid camera movements and a peaceful soundscape. I would include things that mean a lot between us, like my promise ring, the ridiculously large anniversary cards, and of course my dog. The beach will be a reoccurring setting, because that's mainly where we spend our time.

My other idea is the complete opposite emotion and feeling. I am very claustrophobic and I think it would be interesting to explore how to make the viewer also feel claustrophobic. I would also include a theme of drowning because I feel like my claustrophobia has more to do with my anxiety, and always feeling like I am drowning. I would use rapid editing and a lot of close-ups. I'd convey tight spaces with tight framing. At the end, I want to break free from something. Not sure what, but something.

Cucalorus Reflection

This was my first ever film festival and large crowds intimidate me, so unfortunately, I let my anxiety take control of me. I was so close to talking to the people that I wanted to talk to, but for some reason I just couldn't. I was also alone for all the events and I didn't recognize anyone at the screenings I went to, so that was also a bummer. Another disappointment was arriving to Jengo's Playhouse to watch our films, because that's what Facebook said to do, and finding out that they were, in fact, not playing at Jengo's Playhouse. This was the first thing I did, so it was a rough start to the weekend. I wasn't expecting the crowd to be so...old and I wasn't expecting to smell booze throughout all of the screenings. The disappointments of Cucalorus didn't stop me from having an amazing experience. I am obsessed with every film I saw, as well as the directors that spoke about their films after the screening. I watched Burning, Abigail Falls, Birds Without Feathers, and Miss Arizona. I left all four of these screenings overwhelmed with emotion and inspiration. The latter three films were all directed by women, which definitely boosted my confidence in being a filmmaker. My favorite experience was watching Abigail Falls because it was shot entirely on an iPhone, which blew my mind because of how beautiful it was. The director, Erica Dunton spoke afterwards as well as some of the cast and crew. This was my first ever Q&A with any type of filmmaker, so hearing what they had to say was just awesome. Walking into Birds Without Feathers, they handed everyone a piece of paper and a feather. I'll attach a picture of what it said because it was adorable and made me feel all warm inside. I feel like all of the filmmakers that I saw speak just knew everything about their film because they were obviously so invested in it, so I feel like if I were to present at a festival I would be able to answer any question thrown my way because of all the work I put into creating the film. 

Assignment 1D Reflection

Through assignment 1D, I have learned to really appreciate how important sound is. My initial thought was that sound comes after image, but sound is way more than an afterthought. It was really interesting to listen to a soundscape and then try to figure out what images would best accompany the sound, instead of vice versa. I learned that it is not always the sound emphasizing/conflicting with the image. Sometimes the image is putting an emphasis on/conflicting with the sound. I have learned a lot about the different image and sound effects in Premiere as well, so I believe that this entire project has made me a better editor.

Cucalorus Pre-Event Intentions

Intentions

Cucalorus will be the first film festival I have ever attended and I am really excited for this opportunity. I plan on getting out of my comfort zone by trying to engage with as many people as possible. I hope that this experience will make me a better filmmaker and more confident when it comes to networking.

Plan of Action

Burning - Friday @ 3:45 pm // Thalian Main
Abigail Falls - Saturday @ 4 pm // Thalian Main
Bird Without Feathers - Saturday @ 7:30 pm // Thalian Black
Miss Arizona - Sunday @ 1:15 pm // Jengo's Playhouse

Challenges

1. Meet someone new

2. Talk to the directors of each film I see

3.  Talk to the editors of each film I see

These are all very difficult challenges for me because I am quite introverted. It's hard for me to open up and have the confidence to talk to someone I don't know. My end goal is to become an editor or director, or maybe both. I am hoping that getting the chance to talk to actual editors and directors will help me figure out if that's what I want to do. I'm hoping Cucalorus will guide me into the right direction.

Assignment 1C Experience

Shooting on film was a new experience for me, so I learned a lot about the equipment and how to use it. I learned that where you put the light meter when taking a reading is very important in order to achieve what you want to achieve in the photo. I also learned how important composition is. It was interesting going through three pictures of the same thing and seeing how just the slightest movement of the camera can ruin the picture. I also learned that mirrors can do amazing things for a picture, as well as something as simple as a water bottle.

Maya Deren - Tristan and Ashley

I thought that Tristan and Ashley did a great job of representing Maya Deren in a way that we, as film students who have all seen and studied her, have not heard before. One thing I didn't know that I learned was that she traveled to Haiti and made a film. One of my favorite Maya Deren films is At Land, so I am happy they discussed and showed it.

Harry Smith - Matt and Kyle

After this presentation, I could really get a sense of who Harry Smith is and his personality. I definitely believe that his personality shines through his films. I am truly amazed by his precision with painting and directly manipulating the film. I had to do that project in my 6 x 1 class, and I truly cannot understand how he is so precise.

Jonas Mekas - Lily and Rory

Before this presentation, I was not familiar with Jonas Mekas at all and Lily and Rory did an amazing job of changing that for me. He has done so much for film and he's such an important figure that it really was difficult to fit all of that in a 20 minute time period. My favorite part of the presentation was learning about and actually seeing some of the 365 Day Project. I know everyone can agree with me that "to be normal is a disaster" is such an iconic quote from that project.

Light Observation #2

The pot of boiling water prepares for the angel hair noodles I am about to cook. The microwave light is shining down on the water. I notice bubbles beginning to form at the bottom of the pot, and I see that every single bubble has a tiny reflection of the microwave light in the middle. The studio light above me acts as a soft spotlight, as if I’m hosting a cooking show. I look down at my feet and I see two different shadows of myself overlapping each other, one from the microwave light and the other from the studio light. The shadow is dark where they overlap, yet very faint where they are separated.

Light Observation #1

I’m sitting at my dinner table and I only have the studio lights in the kitchen turned on. My shadow while I sit and type is casted on the wall and the blinds next to me. There’s a high contrast between my shadow and the white wall, but the hard lines diffuse as the shadow leaks onto the blinds. The light illuminates the top of the faucet and the handle on the microwave. My dogs are standing beside each other and their shadows are exaggerated onto the floor. The contrast between the big pit bull shadow and the tiny chiweenie shadow is amusing.

Sound Design

Through assignment 1B, I learned how important sound design is to evoke certain emotions. You don't even need an image in order to convey something, which is something that I never thought about before. I also learned that you can make a soundscape with literally any sounds, because you can create so many different variations of each sound in Premier using something like reverb or any of the many audio filters. While editing the sounds together with my partner, I was amazed at how much you can do with them. This project taught me a lot about how to put sounds together and how to create a sense of fear through sound!

Theory of the Film: Sound

I thought that this article was really interesting and made me think of sounds in a different perspective. I feel like sounds are under appreciated because they seem to be just the "background" noises of our lives and we aren't necessarily always conscious of them, yet sound is a huge part of our everyday lives. I think that it is really awesome how much a film benefits from the use of sound as well as the lack of sound to create different feelings and emotions. This immediately makes me think of horror films specifically. A door slamming in a silent, abandoned house definitely evokes a fear in the characters as well as the audience. One of my favorite things said in this article is that "No other art can reproduce silence, neither painting nor sculpture, 'neither literature nor the silent film could do so" because I really feel like that is too true. Many films would be nothing without their score!

The Sounds of a Beach House

I hear the piercing sound of pool balls clacking together as someone breaks them up to start the game. Beside me is my dog slurping his watered down food and I can hear the food swishing around and hitting the sides of the bowl. An upbeat rock song with an almost screaming singer plays in the background. There are many voices and conversations, but I mainly hear one in particular that is deep and carries throughout the whole house. I hear the clacking of flip flops as well as the brittle sound of flip flops being dragged across sandy hardwood floors. A startling noise erupts what seems like out of no where, the loud crash of ice falling from the ice maker. I hear the crack and fizz of someone opening a beer.

The Sounds of Carova Beach

As I sit in my beach chair, I immediately hear the soothing crash of the waves. The radio next to me emits the sound of a song with a high pitched singer. Drums dominate the tune while the radio dominates my ears. I hear low murmurs of multiple side conversations. I hear the bassy smack sound of cornhole bags hitting the board, with the occasional loud WOO when it goes in the hole. Someone takes off the ankle strap that connects them to their surfboard and it sounds like a major rip of a pair of jeans. I hear the "chk chk" of someone trying to light a cigarette but failing multiple times due to the wind. I hear a low, heavy panting coming from my dog as he basks in the hot sun.

The Student 7

I think that this guide gives great advice for surviving a media production education. I agree that it is really important to get out of your comfort zone and explore new concepts and ideas. I love the phrase “create dangerously” because I think that it applies perfectly when you’re creating anything. Art isn’t a “safe” field to go into and you have to take risks if you want to do anything remarkable. It’s important to create things that are fresh and stray away from the stereotype. One thing I need to work on is definitely watching more movies outside of what I know and outside of America in general.