Anywho, I think it's time for me to cut the chit-chat and get to the chase. Here's to one last video complete with (some) editing and acting (believe me it took a lot to stifle my laughter every time Mr. Slothsky poised himself to speak), enjoy!
Friday, April 22, 2022
Creative Critical Reflection: As the Curtain Falls, I Reveal it All
Friday, April 15, 2022
Final Task Blog: The End of an Era
Welcome! Come one, come all to the first screening of our final task! It is with great pride and joy that I announce that said project is complete! After having put in so much time (almost two and a half months), work, and effort in, I'm glad to see that everything has fallen into place. To be entirely honest, I'm probably the most excited to be able to share our final project of the year with you! Before I do that, however, since I consider this to be the last time we'll officially "speak" (or rather you'll read anything of substance from me), I think now’s the time, more than ever, for a heartfelt and pensive message.
I've developed so much in terms of myself as a person, along with my skills as a fully-fledged cinematographer and self-proclaimed director, and I owe it all to this course. I fully believe that I've attested to my hopes of making "...my portfolio worth your while(!)," the very thing I set out to do all the way back on day one in my "Introductory Blog." There were times when I'd be stressed out and feel like I was on the brink of quitting, but each time when I would meet with my team and we'd finish a successful day of filming, those thoughts were quickly forgotten and replaced with feelings of gratification and fulfillment. That made me realize two things. The first of which is that "Patience is a virtue" (William Langland) and can truly make or break success, and the second of which is something that, despite being such a commonplace platitude, so often thrown around, it is not often understood. To put it in a way that will resonate with many, I'll use the words of the Puerto Rican sensation, Marc Anthony, "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." That basic concept is something I understood when filming and editing, that because I enjoyed what I was doing, even though it was a time-consuming and difficult process now and again, it was all worth it in the end knowing that the work I had produced was my own and the best that it could be.
As much as filmmaking is a huge part of self-discovery and the creation of one's identity by acting as a medium for their self-expression, I also see now that it acts as a way of joining people together. Every time my groupmates and I finished working on a film, the first people I would send it to are the ones whose ideas challenged my own, whose new perspectives brought light to flaws and imperfections in our projects, and whose opinions only serve to better our work in the end - my team. After I had ensured that they had all seen the video, I would then send it to the person who invested so much of their time, energy, and dedication to a project that wasn't even their own - our actor. I always do so with the intention that I might give them the opportunity to take pride in their work and learn something about themselves, sharing the passion I discovered with them. If that even has the possibility of sparking an interest in the realm of filmmaking and acting for them after having been immersed in the action in a major role in one of our projects, I'd say that it was worth it. And now, how could I ever overlook the people who gave me complimentary car rides, prepared delicious lunches for my team and I, went on last-minute store runs for forgotten props, and most importantly, always gave me their unwavering support, advice, love, and constructive criticism - my family. Without my family by my side, none of this would have ever been possible, so I cannot emphasize enough how important they are to me. Last, but not certainly least, I always ensure that my close friends get the opportunity to watch my films. Near or far, even my best friend, who has long since moved out of state, gets to watch my team and I's films, and every time she calls me to express how much she enjoyed them, I begin to wonder if maybe filmmaking is the calling I've been searching to pursue for so long.
Going past that, I feel like being given the chance to explore such a versatile genre, that being the science-fiction thriller, allowed my team and I to improve and move past the conventions of the genre, replacing them with our own innovative ideas. While we did stumble a few times along the way, we always dusted ourselves off and picked ourselves up, which led us to produce our amazing final task (if you've been keeping track and we wondering, we did meet the time limit).
Before I finally give you the chance to watch our opening sequence, I would like to thank my parents, my friends, our actors, and my teammates, once again, for making my final project possible and as great as it was! Most of all, I'd like to thank you! Thank you for accompanying me on this journey of self-discovery, for bearing witness to my frustrations and triumphs, and for coming to understand me as a whole.
Now, without further ado, I present to you my film, "Flicker," and as I have with previous projects, I apologize for the noticeable decrease in quality, but not much could be done given the large file size and need to send it across different platforms.
If you've just finished watching the film, I hope you enjoyed it, and if you haven't, don't forget to give it a watch, I can promise you that it was "out of this world" (see what I did there). Since today's blog deserves to end on a positive note (despite us being so close to parting ways, a saddening truth I'm currently grappling with), I think I earned the right to relish in its completion just a little, so I'd like to say that I believe our final task is "...unforgettable in every way..." (Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole 1991) (perhaps a bit irrelevant, but this is the song my dad and I danced to during my sweet sixteen).
And with that, it has been a pleasure writing to you, and if I haven't said it before, I'll see you in A-Level next year!
Yours truly,
Jordyn Minnis
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Editing Blog: Working Against the Clock
Hi again! Today we worked on our final edits for our project. I am proud to say that I finished adding in all of our titles. It was a tedious task that I'm glad is finally done. I don’t believe that I’ve said it before, but on our last day of filming when I was working alone, I had my parent's bedroom set up to film the shots in which the subject’s room would need to be arranged in a different way. With that being the case, I needed to both add and remove various props from the set to make a noticeable difference between the two sets of shots when I eventually compiled them together. In the haste of filming said shots, since I was already behind on time, I seem to have overlooked one of the props appearing in a shot earlier than it was supposed to. The prop I’m currently referring to is the bicycle in the subject’s room. Given that the programs I currently use are a mixture of iMovie, ClipChamp, and DaVinci Resolve 17 (the free version though; as I’ve said before, my teammates and I are all just broke high schoolers) their ability to help me edit is limited to the paywall that stands between me and some of their more "exclusive" features. Therefore, my group and I needed to turn to the only place we had left to look, the internet. After spending the better part of our class period scouring the internet for one such program, we stumbled upon an application that could successfully remove the unnecessary object, for free at that. That program being was "Simplified," a fitting title for the navigatable and beginner-friendly app.
I've provided a screenshot of the website's homepage layout below:
Now, granted, it did take a bit for me to become acquainted with the new program since it was an unfamiliar platform; however, it was definitely not the hardest thing I’ve had to do after having experimented on so many different applications. By using a masking tool, I was able to cover up the bicycle and blend it into the wall in the background, which wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be since it was a static, stationary shot. Those edits in particular took up the majority of my time today, with the rest of it being split on making some minor tweaks that I thought would better our project on the whole.
As I’ve said before, my group and I decided that we should darken the filter and coloration of our clips at the end of our opening, as to ensure that we created a captivating and nail-biting ending that leaves our audience in suspense, wondering “What’s next?” After a bit of internal debating, I determined that I should take things a step further, using the more abstract concept of a color change and pairing it with the more noticeable zoom-ins at the end of our video. I felt that, in doing so, I could mimic the iconic “Dun-dun-dun(!)” effect that is often used in thrillers, whilst also putting my own fresh spin on things. I was able to accomplish this feat through the use of an inaudible, but just as effective alternative. Aside from that, today was not an overly strenuous day when it came to editing because I feel that we were able to mediate the amount of work that needed to be done by gradually editing our video throughout our production process.
All things considered, I feel as though everything I did today was just as important as the rest of the editing sessions I’ve done during this project, even if it was mainly focused on cleaning up and making small improvements to our already complete project. In light of the fact that today was comprised of last-minute editing, I think that MC Hammer's 1990, "U Can't Touch This," hit is the best way to capture how I felt when I understood that it was time to "Stop..." messing around because it was I needed to busy and down to work since it was "Hammer time!"
Monday, April 11, 2022
Film Review Blog: Editing- Improve, Revise, and Compromise
Yello! The perfect greeting for this blog, since the portmanteau, parallels the fact that I spent today combining the suggestions I had gathered from my film review with revisions and additions of my own. The easiest choice my team and I made was the removal of our establishing shot, which saved us valuable time that we could use later on. Getting rid of this shot, in particular, was of no concern to us given that we never once made a reference to anything happening outside of the house and instead gave our sole focus on the interior of the subject's home. In doing so, we were also able to ramp up tensions because the audience and subject began to get the feeling that they are trapped in this house, the closet seeming to be the only means of escape, but as seen with our cliffhanger ending, it may instead open up its doors to more troublesome situations. When it came time for us cut down on other areas of our opening, we did choose to shred a few seconds off when our subject initially walks into what is now our first shot. While my groupmates and I were quite excited that we were able to use the places different people pointed out to us to cut down on time, we actually ended up needing to do the opposite after a while once we began to dwindle too far below, or rather an exact ten seconds under, the two-minute mark. While to most people, ten seconds may not seem like a lot, to us, making up for that time seemed to be an eternity. However, everything ended up working out in our favor. If you recall, in my film review blog I mentioned that a few people stated that they thought the "apple in the garbage can" shot was too short for them to read the electrical bill we had deliberately placed within it. Since we were now short on time, I lengthened the clip, which was a bit difficult since I needed to allow for it to look as natural as possible in terms of the amount of time it took for the apple to come into contact with the trashcan after our subject had thrown it. On the bright side, I was thankfully able to save myself from needing to refilm anything this late in the game, which I'd say is an absolute win!
Moving on, I would like to celebrate the fact that I happened upon a very important discovery today! After fiddling with my iPhone's features (some of which, despite having had the cellphone since December I am still unfamiliar with), I found a way to keep my shot focused on the film's title when our subject stands up from the dining room table in one of our scenes. By doing so, I was able to ensure that I provided my audience with an adequate amount of time to read and understand the title so that they would "get" its connection to our film later on (the flickering of the closet lights being a major plot point). Now, contrary to the statement I made in my first film review blog, I didn't actually end up shortening the stairs clip, as I drew it out instead. I did also end up muting that clip entirely, so that the ambient noise of our filming location would not overlap and shift the focus away from our film's non-diegetic music. It was as if luck was on my side because the music swelled at that exact moment, acting as a foreboding warning that paired nicely with the fact that the shot lingers a bit longer than it should, creating an eerie and perturbing feeling when both of said elements worked in conjunction with one another.
When it came to the more minute, but still bothersome inconsistencies (at least for me and a couple of the more attentive and critical people that watched over our film), such as the disconnectivity between the shots of the subject as they walked over the phone and the one facing them from outside of the closet, I ended up removing the "stepping over" part of the clip entirely. In lieu of this decision, I chose to follow along with what I deduced would have been the natural progression of his movement had the shot been continuous, which actually enhanced the quality of the shot overall. Furthermore, I did speed up the second pan to match the quickened pace that our subject was moving at so that the shots were better transitioned between and connected.
As much as it pains me to say it, from the looks of things right now, we will likely not be including our planned news anchor voice-over because of audio layering issues with the different programs we've tried, including ClipChamp, iMovie, and DaVinci Resolve 17, as well as difficulties with blurring out the television screen in the background (which we did purposefully as to make it look like there was actually a news reporting occurring). It took a bit of convincing for my groupmates to agree that it would be improbable for us to be able to incorporate that particular aspect into our film given the now limiting time constraints, but we decided that it was the best decision overall, since it would give me one less thing to worry about as I made my rounds and conducted my final touch-ups when editing. On the topic of audio, my group and I ended up deciding that it would be best not to drown out the cries of the subject at the end, but instead have the jarring, high-pitched, and quicker tempo non-diegetic music begin after the final call for his mother and the cut to black where the director's name is displayed. I'm not sure if you caught it, but I did indeed use the word "is." Aside from the editing that I conducted from what was laid out in my film review, I also got a jump start on the insertion of titles since it is likely to be a more time-consuming process being that I will need to create the titles on a separate file and transport them in, one-by-one, on Davinci Resolve 17.
I am actually so proud of myself for accomplishing the "daunting" feat that I have decided to include a picture of one of the many titles I put in today as a way to commemorate this milestone.
Anywho, I'd say that's as great of news as any because it can only mean one thing, that we're nearing the end. While I will say that this was probably my favorite project this year because everything was entirely our own (aside from the music that is), since we did not need to hinge on whether or not we appealed to our audience's material desires by applying overused commercial clichés, as we did with our advertisement, nor did we need to ground our film in the lyrics of a song as with our music video, I will not hide the fact that I am excited to see how all of our hard work will finally pay off once our final product is complete.
Of course, since our project is due this week, the only thing on my mind is that it's almost time to see how everything will come together, meaning that I can initiate my "final countdown(!)" (Europe 1986).
Thursday, April 7, 2022
An Unconventional Blog: Getting a Much Needed Break Amidst the Madness Seen at the Start of Testing Season
Hi! I know that you might be expecting an editing blog today as a follow-up to my film review, but after having taken a statewide exam and having worked on a project for another AICE class already, I felt that I deserved somewhat of a break. I find that taking the time to decompress and destress is essential for me to work efficiently and refrain from burning out.
At my school, today was an early release day, or rather a professional study day, which meant that we were dismissed earlier from class so that we could go home and complete any assignments we have for tomorrow. I held out hope that I would have extra time to spare for some much-needed relaxation. I decided to consider my "task" for this class as more of a two-in-one, being both a source of work and a chance to relax. Hence why after getting all of my other work out of the way, I made myself some popcorn and watched a movie. I did of course ensure that the film I picked out was related to the genre my team and I are currently working on, one in the realm of science fiction thrillers. Perhaps I'd pick up a thing or two that I could use for my own film in its late stages as I marveled in the works of another. I ended up deciding to rewatch Christopher Nolan's "Tenet." The film had quite an interesting premise, as one of its major subplots lie in the fact that, despite having the ability to time jump, one particular individual was committed to carrying things out in the exact same manner as they had been for who knows how long. This paradoxical decision and occurrence left me to wonder if I would have the willpower and strength to do the same, or if I'd one day allow my innate curiosity to get the best of me and defect from my set path. Additionally, I thought the film had been so laden with foreshadowing and clues that it was worth a second watch. When watching the movie this time around, I was able to admire the craftsmanship of each scene and use my knowledge as an amateur filmmaker to break apart each shot. By analyzing the intentions behind each scene and the mis-en-scène that it used, I found that I was able to appreciate the film for much more than it was at face value. Since I have now dappled in the creation of two works of my own, with my third being in its post-production phase, I could finally understand the pride that a filmmaker can take in their work once every loose end has been accounted for and tied up nicely in a way that appeases both them and their audience. This film had so many of the aspects that I wanted to see come to life within my own film. It was the kind of movie where you could respect the amount of effort that the director and the crew of cinematographers put in, choreographing everything to be utter perfection. I hope that I will one day master the artful craft of captivating, moving, and inspiring my audience as Nolan has done with this film in particular.
Since today was definitely one of my more rare and relaxed days, I think Frankie Goes to Hollywood's song "Relax" perfectly sums up my difficulty with accepting the fact that I actually got to take a break as I had to keep reminding myself that all of my work was done, so I could "Relax [and] don't do it..." (1984).
Monday, April 4, 2022
Film Review: Being Thrown Just the Right Amount of Shade (Please Throw Me Some More, Summer is Right Around the Corner and the Heat is Unbearable)
Saturday, April 2, 2022
Production Blog: Feeling the Heat, and Not Just Because I Live in Florida
Hey
there! Well, I'm back early than expected! You may be wondering why I've chosen
to break my rather rhythmic Monday and Thursday posting schedule, but as you
may recall from my last production blog, we only got through around half our
opening and our film review is set to take place this Monday! This was due to a myriad of reasons; however, at the end of the day it
boiled down to the fact that my team and I had very tight time constraints
given the distance from which my home is from their houses. That's beside the
point though because we were actually able to get everything filming-related
done today!
Having said that, this next statement may come as a bit of a shock to you as I
was actually the only one of my groupmates able to film today. I won't say
that it was a one-women job though, since my mom and actor (whom I simply
cannot thank enough) did help me out substantially. Prior to the arrival of my
actor, I reorganized my parent's room to fit with the new reality that the
subject would be entering into once they stepped out of the closet, retrieving
various objects from storage, such as the bicycle, with the help of my mom. Once
that was done, I switched gears and went over to my dining room table to set it
up the same way it had been when I met with my groupmates last week. When the
subject arrived at my house, my first order of business was to complete
the latter half of the refilmed shot-reverse-shot sequence we conducted last
time, using my mom's voice instead of one of my teammates due to her
availability. Similarly to how we chose to record our subject's perspective of
the shot-reverse-shot, I followed through with same logic and consistently
filmed from my mother's point of view to ensure that the shots did not come out
looking as choppy as they did the last time around.
I then
transferred over my subject to my parent's bedroom where we promptly began
filming the in-closet shots. The first thing we got out of the way was the low
angle in the closet where I decided it would be interesting to have some subject
to camera interactivity, hence why I chose to film my subject seemingly
stepping over my phone. This in turn, establishes the fact that the viewers are
but mere spectators, and while they may feel immersed in the storyline, they
too, like our subject, are helpless to prevent what unfolds on screen. Within
this shot, our actor had to engage in diegetic dialogue with his “mother.” Taking
the layout of my home into consideration, I decided that it would be best to position
my mom in the nearby bathroom in the hallway adjoining the room we were
currently in. That way, while her voice would sound muffled and distant, it
would still be within hearing range of the subject and could still be picked up
by the camera.
Following
the completion of that shot, the next scene I needed to tackle was when the lights
in the closet began to flicker. To do so, I employed the help of my mom to
flicker them in the corner of the room so that the timing was correct as I continued
to film our actor. The
relatively slow flickering of the lights, both the first time and the second
was done with the intention of creating a more drawn-out ominous feeling that
would serve to disturb our audience. Unlike our storyboard, we chose to create one long, continuous
shot in which the closet door remained open to show the confusion on our
subject’s face, something that would not be shown in later scenes when the door
shuts, and the flickering happens again. The same shot also captured as the
subject made a step to emerge from their closet once the flickering had
concluded. That way we wouldn’t be leaving our audience completely in the dark
when the lights when out (pun intended) and came back on again, as they would be
aware of the emotions of our subject at all times and have them reconfirmed
once he was brought back into view once more. We then filmed a point of view
shot, with panning and tilting included of course, to capture the state of the
subject’s room in this alternate universe. This time around, there were quite a
few differences, which included, but were not limited to: the change in
posters, the messy/orderliness of the room, the confliction in interests
between the individuals who reside in different realities, such as their pastimes
(biking and playing the keyboard), preference in sports (as seen in the tee shirt on the dresser
with a tennis design in the second pan and the football on the subject’s bed during
the first pan), and their stylistic choices (the original set-up had more casual,
athletic clothing, whereas the second set-up seemed catered to someone with
dressier, more refined taste). As you will see later on in my blog, specifically
within the film stills sections, I’ve included a side-by-side comparison of
parts of both states of the room to make the differences more noticeable.
As
I worked down the list of remaining shots in chronological order, I came upon
my next scene, the one in which our subject would lean out of their bedroom
doorway. This was probably one of my favorite scenes to film because it looked so
natural and organic with the way in which the camera flowed with the movement
of the subject and his gaze, shifting with the opening of the doorway. I honestly believe this effect was only achieved
because of my deviation from the storyboard to fit the setting of my home (the
shot actually forced me to stand in the doorway of my bathroom to make sure I had
space to capture everything I needed to in the shot). Said divergence from my
team and I’s original plans gave me the chance to use the restrictive nature of
medium shot framing to cut out the majority of the name sign on the subject’s
door, making it seem as though it is unimportant to the audience at first, but
later come into the frame to hold much more significance as a plot device than
the audience could have initially imagined.
The
next shot in my filming line-up for today was when the subject is shown once
more directly after the aforementioned shot as they pause to shake their head
in disbelief and quickly return back into their closet without so much as a second
thought. In this scene as the subject enters their closet, a high angle is used.
Despite its being very brief and subtle, it is still present representing a
dark force looming over him, one that he isn’t aware of, one that will likely
come into play once the opening has concluded, and the film has begun. Just as
I had done with the flickering the first time, I had my mom click the button in
the corner and went on my merry way.
Once
the camera cuts from that scene, a medium long shot is used that captures the height
of the closet doorframe, but that quickly devolves into a medium shot as the
subject fully enters the frame, still carrying his red jacket of course. When
that was done, I was officially in the home stretch! I began by shooting the
scene in which the subject uncertainly calls out for his mother, rapidly exiting
his room to go in search of her as he hopes that this is the end of the odd
situation he had just experienced. The
next shot, which captured the subject from the front using a stationary, but
zoomed in shot, would zoom out once the subject reached a medium shot framing, a
technique that almost acts a replacement for the eeriness that a Dutch tilt
would provide, as it creates a detached and distance feeling from the subject within
the audience. It essentially acts as a direct reflection of the situation the subject is in as their freedom and safety would always be
just out of reach, shifting farther away as he inched forwards and hoped for it to stay. In the same shot, the subject calls out for his mother once more, the
sound of fear growing more prominent in his voice. At the end of the
lengthier clip, the subject widens their eyes in what one can assume to be a
combination of confusion, horror, and plain astonishment as they look beyond
the camera at something that the audience themselves cannot see. This when paired
with the final and most gut-wrenching “Mom(!)” that
had reached the epitome of urgency and paranoia, leaves the audience on
the edge of their seat as they will be greeted with the name of the director
and the crushing disappointment that there is nothing left to watch.
Since that about wraps up my discussion of what I filmed today, I’d like to share with you some pictures from today. Apologies in advance for the limited number of film stills, it was difficult to obtain any today because of my lack of an on-site and present crew. I would like to note that, despite not mentioning it earlier, I did message my team all throughout the process of filming so that I could receive feedback regarding changes in shots and camera placement, as well as acting critiques so that everything would be the best as it possibly could by the time I was finished with it.
Above is the comparison between the two versions of the subject's bedroom I promised to provide you with earlier.In the above image, our actor is pictured listening to me (not pictured, but actively behind the camera), as I tell him about how the next scene is going to be run and proceed to run through it with him right after the photograph was taken.
All
in all, I’m glad that I was able to wrap-up filming today even though my team
was unavailable; however, as I’ve said before, I cannot take all of the credit,
as without such a flexible and helpful actor and my attentive and involved
mother, I don’t think that any of this would have been possible. Therefore, I’d
like to extend a huge thanks to the both of them and I feel like it isn’t
possible to express that in any other way but with song, and not just any song,
but Andrew Gold’s “Thank You For Being A Friend!” (1978).
Critical Reflection: Reminiscing and Ruminating
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