Film Project

My film project began as a glimpse into the life of drag in Tuscaloosa; a world I found fascinating.  Eventually this project became a character project, but after multiple set backs with the character of the film, it has once again become about drag.  I did not realize how hard it would be to interview someone.  I cannot imagine how hard it is for directors to work with high maintenance, finicky actors, when I can't get one person to work with me.  It has also been hard to take a film I have laid out in my mind and bring it to life.  In my head, interviews are perfectly filmed and edited to fit the mood, the music is timed perfectly to photos, and the footage is as if it was filmed professionally.  However, in reality, it is much harder to create a smooth and interesting film that is enjoyable to watch and informative as well.  The music sets the mood of the film, and I am struggling with which mood to set.  Imovie seems to have many options for editing and transitioning, but I have found it hard to decide what fits perfectly.  This is the first movie I have made that is not simply a slideshow of photos, so it has definitely been a learning process.  Although there have been a few set backs and a learning curve, I have really enjoyed learning how to make a film and the creative process. Who knows, maybe I will do it again.

Crazy, Stupid Love

Crazy, Stupid Love was the first movie I ever saw by myself in a theatre.  I really loved the experience of sitting alone in a theatre with my popcorn and escaping into another world.  I thought this movie was pretty funny and heart warming.  The film is about a couple who separates after the wife cheats on her husband and the husbands journey into the beds of many women.  Steve Carell and Julianne Moore star in the film along with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.  I thought the plot line was interesting with a fun twist at the end.  The director made some interesting choices, such as the shot between Marissa Tomei's legs seen in the advertisements.  The scene where Carell is looking through the window at his wife calling him is so touching and the views through the window let the audience experience what carell's character must be feeling: a sense of disconnection from his family.  I enjoyed the overall mood of the film from the funny moments between Carell and Goslings characters to the more serious moments between Moore and Carell. The love triangle between the son, his babysitter, and her crush on the dad was hilarious to watch unfold.  The different story lines eventually came together in the end in a twist I did not see coming.  This is a movie I could watch over and over.

If I Had to Start Over Filming

Things I would do different:

I would have covered an even simpler script, having been given such a short time frame.

I would not have turned my camera sideways during video capturing, as this has caused more than a couple of headaches.

I would have been more prepared with specific questions for the interview.

I might have considered interrupting the actor's interview responses, during original capture, every time I realized he was getting off track from what I was trying to accomplish. This would have cut down heavily on the amount of total video minutes I initially began working with.

Instead of making sub-clips of raw clips and using all clips to organize my storyboard, I would just throw all the raw clips into a single sequence, and used the 'razor' to edit them from there, and after they were edited individually, I could go back and puzzle piece together a storyboard.

I would have used Adobe's 'story' function to incorporate my script in to the editing process more efficiently.

I would delete everything but the highest quality clips/footage right up front... first thing. Instead, I chose to keep way too much crap footage "just in case" which just made the whole editing environment more cluttered.

Surprises While Making Short-Film

Things that surprised me:

Filming felt endless.

I became fairly obsessive with capturing multiple angles of the same shot.

I am enjoying the editing as much or more than the initial footage capture.

The 'razor' tool in Adobe Premier Pro is legit at shaving clips and allowing for fluid reattachment.

How often a camera, in a single-camera filming, is required to move, just to capture simple shots!

Lighting is a freakin' big deal.

Background/ambient sound is often worthless.

Much of the audio heard in major films must be soo edited to sound that sharp/crisp.

Auto-focus on a camera might be the best bet at this level of film making, but I imagine that a shot's quality of focus/rendering is a big topic in higher levels of film making... especially when the objects being filmed are in motion, requiring constant adjustment of focus.

Things I have learned about film making

Things I have learned:

Capturing moving shots is very hard without a shoulder stabilization device or equivalent.

Many shots would be better off without camera movement, but this requires the film maker to use multiple cameras, or film the same scene over and over.

Cutting shots may be the most effective way to tell a story; if I could only have one tool for editing, it would be the ability to 'cut.'

Adobe Production is a massive piece of software that can do about anything you want to do.

I am not yet talented enough with this software to make efficient use of it's capabilities.

Therefore, I often felt like I was using an elephant gun to shoot a squirrel.

How to use a boom microphone, and portable recording device attachment.

How to overlay audio with different video sequences embedded.

The importance of camera angle.

Making my Short-Film

I have been working on my short film for a couple of weeks now. I am down to the final editing, and really getting down to the wire with subtle touch-up work. With the deadline almost here, I would like to use this blog to first, state that I have enjoyed all of my time spent working so far, and second, reflect/discuss some of the experience:

Capturing the raw footage and audio went very well, but I do wish I had used my mono-pod more. The result of not using this stabilization device when I should have is that a lot of my action shots are shaky. However, I have been able to iron these out via Adobe After Effects software (part of Adobe Production). I also wish I had been able to allot more time to capturing even more looks/shots. I had a great experience with the one actor in my film. He was my friend though, so this may have something to do with his patience, effort, and willingness to help. It was strange filming a setting that I would have, under any other circumstance, definitely been an active participant within, instead of behind the camera.

I enjoyed using the Cannon 7D, but I don't know that anybody is going to be able to tell that I used such a quality machine. If nothing else, it made things easier.

Wimp.com

There is a website called wimp.com that simply posts interesting videos for people to watch.  It shows videos from lectures at TED conferences to people sculpting a bust from clay.  There is a particular video on the website of mountain bikers riding a trail they have made through the woods.  The trail is full of twists and turns and the video is really cool.  I am not sure how many cameras they used in the making of the video, but there are multiple angles, awesome shots of them flying through the air, and it is perfectly timed to the music.  It is amazing what people are able to produce on their own.  Not only is the trail an amazing creation, but the video is as well.  The lighting is darker which gives the woods a magical feel with parts of the sun coming through the tree tops.  The camera must be of good quality since it is so clear, but I do not think it is professionally done.   It is truly amazing the way it is edited to show the best parts of the trail, using close ups, long shots, and anything in between.  The video is exciting and also beautiful to watch.