Stress

It seems like the schedule developed for our short film projects has been abandoned for chaos. Authority has completely slipped away. People come and go as they please. Students turn in work with specific due dates anytime they wish. Film groups sit around doing nothing and wasting time and end up keeping a camera twice as long as suggested to create the necessary shots. I have already been through the filming process, and I do not see where the other groups are getting all of their confusion and scheduling problems. Perhaps they believe that this project, like the online assignments, can be finished whenever it’s convenient. We were only able to shoot for two days, but we were still able to shoot more film than we can probably use. Most people may read this and wonder why I really care. It would seem that the things other groups do will have little direct effect on me, but in a class of that size, confusion reigns. We finished shooting two weeks ago, and we have still been unable to digitize the film we created, because the other groups decide to ignore the clearly outlines rules and not show up to class with the camera we all need. What gives them the right to decide that they just aren’t going to come to class? Shouldn’t there be some kind of repercussion for such things? I’ve never realized how frustrating and unrewarding it is to rely on other people. When it comes down to it, you realize that others don’t give a damn whether their actions negatively affect the goals of others. I hope I can somehow manage to make it through my college life without ending up in another class in which I must so heavily interact with and rely on my peers.

That's a Wrap

So this past week, me and my group finally got our hands on one of those fancy cameras and began to shoot our little masterpiece. That initial excitement that comes from finally partaking in the action you’ve spent all your time thinking about for the past few weeks didn’t last quite as long as I thought it would. It’s hard to describe to people just how stressful and time consuming shooting films can be. Because of the scheduling issues within my group, we were only able to shoot three days total I think. In those three days, I only shot close to an hour of film. That’s doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, but many people don’t realize the time it takes to sit up each shot visually, and the run-throughs it takes to ensure that the scene goes off without a hitch when the recording process begins.

I think I’m luckier than the other cameramen in my class in the fact that I was under the control of a director that, for the most part, took care of all the behind the scenes casting and preparations, and knew exactly what he wanted each shot to look like. I felt kind of useless on set and, for the first time in my life, I didn’t really mind. It was kind of nice to not have to worry about anything but pressing the start and stop buttons on the recorder and hauling the equipment around.

There were several instances where the lighting on location didn’t really work for the shot. I was surprised that the camera will only achieve a relatively small level of brightness. Even with the onset lighting we brought with us, I spent a lot of time turning dials and flipping switches just to get the shot bright enough to see what was actually going on. I hope that the people who edit the film can find a way to brighten the scenes a little more.

Going into this project, my only worry came from the fact that we, as honors students, are used to getting our way. The thought of making something from scratch with a group of kids seemed to foreshadow lots of conflict and strife. For the most part, however, my little group was able to put our egos aside and create something that is both a reflection of our unique personalities and completely independent from them. We reached precisely that level of conflict necessary to develop key details and make the plot-line both fluid and to the point. Overall, the process was pretty stressful and left me feeling like I’d just sprinted a long race, but, now that it’s over, I’m proud of the accomplishments we made through it all.

Adaptation

In last week’s class meeting, we screened the film Adaptation. After a rough couple of days leading up to the first of April, I wasn’t really excited about the thought of sitting in a room for hours watching a film. I hovered towards the back like the other slackers do and tried to blend in with the crowd to the point where few would remember seeing me there at all.

The opening monologue of the film was one of the first stream of consciousness scenes that I can remember. I thought that it was definitely longer than it should have been and seemed to be the ramblings of someone who had lost touch with the real world. Donna said she tried to save the best for last, but I must admit, for the first 5-10 minutes of this work, I was ready to run for the doors. Anyone that knows me could tell you that I am far from the world’s most patient person, and when I am as run down physically and emotionally as I was that night, I don’t care for movies that are confusing, or take a long time to develop cohesion and comprehension.

For the longest time, I could not tell you who had written the Orchid Thief. Looking back on it now, it seems rather foolish, but I simply could not figure out what exactly Cage’s character was attempting to do. At first, it seemed as though he was simply trying to write a book. The way that the story of the work was recounted visually made it seem like he was reporting on some events that had occurred in the past. I’m still not quite sure whether the movie was just confusing, or whether I was fighting my impending unconsciousness. It all became clear in the end though.

I rather enjoyed the scenes with the toothless man. Forgive my inability to remember character names. I think I liked that character so much because, in a way, he is much like I am. We both have a unique way of looking at the world that, in most cases, leaves people thinking we’re complete assholes when all is said and done. I don’t know what it is about me or him that seems to bother people so much, but I definitely admire his individuality.

Looking back at the film overall, I’m not quite sure whether I have completely unraveled what exactly took place. I am aware that some of the scenes did not actually occur and that the timeline was rather out of order. There are just some films that you have to screen a few times to gain complete understanding. I enjoyed the film overall, and I would rather enjoy sitting through it again.

Showtime!

It’s finally time to see what we’re made of, and needless to say, the nerves are starting to set in. As of Thursday night, I will abandon my place among the honors students of UCA to step into the roll of motion picture camera man. Earlier this week, a few members of my film crew and I took a tour of various locations around town to determine the setting and order in which we will attempt to shoot each shot. Using a digital camera, I took some placement snapshots so that we could construct a more detailed storyboard of our film and determine the placement of the camera for each particular scene. It seems that the schedule for me and my crew is more complicated that I initially thought, and I feel like it’s going to be truly difficult to get everyone in the same place to get the project underway. Anything I can do now to make the stressful process flow more smoothly could mean the difference between the success or failure for my group.

One thing I have noticed about this entire situation is the fact that, even though our group only consists of five people, it is extremely hard to find things that we all agree on. I’m not sure if the teachers thought about the repercussions of throwing five highly intelligent, opinionated teenagers on a project and giving them the freedom to create anything that came to mind. It took my group hours to produce an initial draft for the script, but even it isn’t complete, because we couldn’t agree on a few key aspects that function to tie the storyline together. There were only three group members present, counting myself, when I began to take snapshots for our storyboard, and even we had some trouble reaching a consensus on simple things like the amount of extras in the shot or the placement of the camera.

It’s odd to see how much each person’s personality is portrayed in the decisions they make and the ideas they offer. Some members in our group are perfectionists. They strive to make the film a memorable cinematic experience by putting all of their energy and resources into creating new and exciting scene structures. Other members of the group are passive and don’t contribute much to the project overall. They don’t really care about the small details of the film that a tuned critic will notice, and they aren’t really picky about the way that the plot is developed or any other choice that must be made.

Because I am one of the perfectionists, I don’t really know how to go about shooting this film. I want the shots to look like they came from an actual film. I can’t stand the thought of turning in something that looks like it was thrown together by some amateurs. I hope that I can give my editors something to work with.

The Player

Last week in class we screened the motion picture, The Player, from the early 1990s. Prior to class, I’d never heard of the film, so I didn’t really know what to expect going in. The opening scene was one memorable continuous shot. Because I didn’t really know what was going on in the shot and the content was kind of cluttered and random, I found myself focusing on the film making aspects used. I think that the director of this motion picture definitely pulled out all the stops when it comes to film making techniques. The dramatic close ups of the main actor are some of the most captivating I’ve seen.
The wide shots and odd shooting angles helped make each scene unique from the last. I just kind of sit there wondering what would come next.

I enjoy the way that the director uses his particular art media to point out and illustrate his views of the world. What other reason is there to produce art? If you’re not infusing your creation with some small portion of yourself to share with the world, you’re pretty much wasting your time. I may not agree with his cynical approach but you can’t argue with its effectiveness. Not many people can say that they came away from the screening Thursday without taking a moment to reconsider the way our culture functions. The corruption portrayed in this film focused on writers and small sections of the motion picture industry, but they are not unique to those areas. We inhabit a despicable world. If justice, fairness, equality, or and other moral I can name actually extended past the words on my page and meant something today, the world wouldn’t be such a harsh place. We live in the world’s greatest society and we’re still bombarded with images of people struggling and going without. America, the land where dreams come true, chews people up and spits them out. We really don’t have a chance.

The closer we get to kicking off our film making projects, the more I find myself scrutinizing film and television clips for their shooting styles. There seem to be endless possibilities for setting up and capturing any particular scene. I love the fact that the exact same, well developed screenplay will turn out unique from one director to the next based on their personalities. Our most undiscovered and subconscious character traits are illustrated in the art we create. Perhaps, when this semester is over and I look back on the film we turn in, I will be able to discover some aspect of myself that has gone unnoticed. Perhaps I’ve stumbled upon the real meaning of the project. Am I supposed to be learning something about myself? Is there some aspect of my psyche that’s been left overturned? I’ve reached the point in my life that all people struggle with at some time or another. I’ve really found myself struggling to keep going this semester. I don’t know what it is about the collegiate situation that bothers me so much, but I don’t believe that life is supposed to be a routine. I’ll never be okay with laying down to sleep and knowing that I’m going to wake up tomorrow and have to do the exact same thing that I did today. I hope that the week spent behind the lens of a camera will open my eyes to the world. I strive to find my niche. Where do I belong? Where am I meant to be?

A Short Tour of Film

This past week in class, Eric screened a few short clips on various topics that correlate to the act of film making. One particular clip, by an upstart company whose name I can’t quite remember right now, showed how we could go about making a corpse from inexpensive objects that you can usually find laying around your house. I’ve seen other episodes created by that group and I have always found them interesting. I’d like to try one of the projects they outline, but I’ve never been any good at that sort of thing and I’d rather not waste the money and make a mess trying.

Eric also screened a couple of college humor clips to demonstrate what you can pull off with a few minutes of footage and a couple dozen bored people. We watched a short documentary style film from the director of Desperado discussing the techniques he used to pull off the special effects shots in his movies. It’s odd to see the spontaneity of the whole process. If asked about my thoughts before class, I certainly wouldn’t have suspected that a major director created his effect shots as the scene was being set up. It seems like a risk that few people would be willing to take.

After screening the various short film clips, we split into our film groups to work on our plotlines and overall layout. I didn’t have much input in the group this time, because as I keep seeing all these examples of short clips, I’m starting to doubt that we can pull off something as epic or memorable, and that thought is lingering. I don’t think many people in my class would say that they are used to setting their mind to something and not coming away successful. We have spent our lives working towards the position we are in now and, to this point, everything has worked in our favor. I know that, because of this, I am going to stress over this project until the moment we turn it in. I know the expectations that I have placed on my group, mentally, and I will not be satisfied unless I can use my camera to bring those expectations to life. Eric wants us to have fun on this project but I don’t really think our personalities will allow that.

The Illusion is Over

It seems like this semester’s voyage through the long, evolving history of motion pictures runs parallel to life. We are born (in my opinion) with a clean slate. We know nothing of the world around us. We do not understand that there are things happening outside the range of the landscape captured by our eyes. As a young child, there is only hunger, fatigue, and the wonders of an unknown world.

As we mature, we naturally begin to question the world. For some strange reason, parents take it upon themselves to shield us from the world and create this fragile facade of an environment teeming with joy, love, and compassion. We believe that we are safe from harm; that no evil acts befall the citizens of the world and, when it does, everything turns out okay in the end. This is the same way that I view the film making styles in the first few decades following the introduction of motion pictures. The films that we have seen from that era are cheerful and full of song. The settings, themselves, teem with color and a joy so vibrant that is almost contagious. The good guy always comes out on top. Love always finds a way. The sheriff always catches his man. It’s almost nauseating to witness such a naive and optimistic representation of the world.

Then the teenage years come along, and that old viewpoint gets shot to hell. We gain first hand exposure to terrible realization that the world just generally does not give a damn. Through peer pressure and rated R movies, we witness the effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll and, oh god, is it exciting and frightening. We realize that those old noises we heard were fights. Our parents get divorced. We read accounts of war and famine. We wonder the streets and take notice of the filth. We see the homeless man on the corner. We get our hearts broken. Parents wonder why we’re an angry generation; why we rebel and lash out. The anger stemming from the collapse of a decade long façade leave a kid hating life. Teenage rebellion should be known as teenage awakening. Blow Out represents the teenage years of our semester. The Technicolor is gone. The streets are bland and the colors are dull. People die. People cheat. People cry. Nobody cares. We walk along the street not realizing that a lady is being strangled in the ally just five feet away. We march up the stairs of the stadium not noticing the girl struggling against a captor in the corner. The accident plastered all over the news wasn’t an accident at all. We get rushed with more media than we can manage, and the person we become in life is a direct reflection of our interpretation of that media. The film industry came to a crossroads with the rebellion of the 1960’s filmmakers and I’m anxious to see the way that it evolved in the wake of that rebellion.