The first project of editing and splicing celluloid might have been my favorite--I got to be as craft as I wanted to be, which is a big plus for a future cat lady. I enjoyed working with a partner, but I also really enjoyed doing my own thing with it and then compiling what we each created. It was a nice blending of personalities. RATED 1
The Rhythmic Edit was pretty interesting--I was so scared to begin because I didn't think it would be quite as easy, but within a few hours I was able to get it down, although I think I did mess up a few times. I really enjoyed this one because I am passionate about rhythm and music videos to create emotions in audience members, so I would definitely want to do this again. Perhaps I will. RATED 5
The 3D Animation was so dynamic! I didn't realize how much it took to put this all together, but I'd like to learn more and have time to cultivate ideas and a passionate storyline. I can now tell why animations take so long to make. RATED 6
The Crowd Sourcing project was one of my favorites just because I got to be limited yet limitless, and really use creative collaboration, which opens my eyes to new perspectives. I like growing in my society. RATED 2
The Bolex long take should definitely be kept because it is a lesser known film tool. It would be a shame to see it hardly used. All of my peers and friends are so digitalized that this challenges and reminds us that we have a different film style already compared to many of the directors that we idolize. RATED 3
Finally, the 3D Anaglyph was difficult. We didn't consider enough of the depth of field, and I wished we had a bit more time to fully engage what we could, but some of that was also on our end for lack of understanding. RATED 4
I really enjoyed this class but I felt a bit understudied for it. I should have taken an intro to editing before this, but I hadn't, and I think it hindered the possibilities for my sound scape outcomes. I can only hope to improve these areas soon and come back to what I've learned in 6x1 with open arms and tuned-hearing.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
The Rough Theater and 6x1
I know we talked about this in class already, but I will blog away.
Old theater reminds film of its roots before technology. People entertained each other (as we still do today) but without the flashy effects. Costuming and props and maybe staging/choreography was about as flashy as it got.
In high school I had to read A Mid-Summer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, and then the whole school took a trip to an outdoor amphitheater to watch the performance. The performers would speak to the audience at times and use the steps along side us instead of just keeping to the stage.
Just the fact that theater has different stagings and settings reminds me that film does as well--there are studios and on-location shoots taking place everyday, many different times of day.
Yet, people are disrupted by out of the ordinary occurrences while experiencing these things. Why do we as movie/theater goers think that we're paying to see ACTORS be completely normal? The point of acting is to be able to put many different personas on. Why does this disturb us? Why are we so stuck in our own little realities? In many ways cinema and theater experiences can be a type of transcending meditation to export us from the stress of the day, and yet we don't take the opportunity by the hand most of the time.
Old theater reminds film of its roots before technology. People entertained each other (as we still do today) but without the flashy effects. Costuming and props and maybe staging/choreography was about as flashy as it got.
In high school I had to read A Mid-Summer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, and then the whole school took a trip to an outdoor amphitheater to watch the performance. The performers would speak to the audience at times and use the steps along side us instead of just keeping to the stage.
Just the fact that theater has different stagings and settings reminds me that film does as well--there are studios and on-location shoots taking place everyday, many different times of day.
Yet, people are disrupted by out of the ordinary occurrences while experiencing these things. Why do we as movie/theater goers think that we're paying to see ACTORS be completely normal? The point of acting is to be able to put many different personas on. Why does this disturb us? Why are we so stuck in our own little realities? In many ways cinema and theater experiences can be a type of transcending meditation to export us from the stress of the day, and yet we don't take the opportunity by the hand most of the time.
Crowd Sourcing
I think of all the projects I do, and how many people contribute ideas or props to it, and it amazes me that I've never really contemplated crowd sourcing to its full extent before.
I watched the Wikipedia video while my mom was in the room, and she commented; "It's a noble cause, but my personal experience has been that many of my students don't own their own computer, so this is only as good as its intended's access to internet."
She has a point--if someone has access to a library computer, they also have access to a library's other resources--including an encyclopedia. My teachers growing up made the word "Wikipedia" synonymous with swear words.
Plus, one of my classmates just wrote random things on many wikipedia pages--one of them used to bully another student. Although it is entirely that individual's responsibility to keep himself in check, others also have to make sure that what they're reading is valid at the same time.
While reading the part about her time at UC Berkeley in "The Cloudmaking Manifesto", I imagined a world where we didn't have a digital database to send and share ideas--what if we used letters and newspapers and celluloid to send in crowdsourcing ideas to the creator?! My sympathetic headache begins. Where would it all be stored? How would they keep themselves organized?! I'm nearly in hives here worrying about this imaginary world. Thanks, Tiffany.
I have to disagree, though. I don't think that this specific era is the "Age of Collaboration". I believe that is the essence of the human experience: we are always collaborating with others for nearly everything we do in life.
I watched the Wikipedia video while my mom was in the room, and she commented; "It's a noble cause, but my personal experience has been that many of my students don't own their own computer, so this is only as good as its intended's access to internet."
She has a point--if someone has access to a library computer, they also have access to a library's other resources--including an encyclopedia. My teachers growing up made the word "Wikipedia" synonymous with swear words.
Plus, one of my classmates just wrote random things on many wikipedia pages--one of them used to bully another student. Although it is entirely that individual's responsibility to keep himself in check, others also have to make sure that what they're reading is valid at the same time.
While reading the part about her time at UC Berkeley in "The Cloudmaking Manifesto", I imagined a world where we didn't have a digital database to send and share ideas--what if we used letters and newspapers and celluloid to send in crowdsourcing ideas to the creator?! My sympathetic headache begins. Where would it all be stored? How would they keep themselves organized?! I'm nearly in hives here worrying about this imaginary world. Thanks, Tiffany.
I have to disagree, though. I don't think that this specific era is the "Age of Collaboration". I believe that is the essence of the human experience: we are always collaborating with others for nearly everything we do in life.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Acoustic Ecology
Stop. Close your eyes. Listen.
What do you hear?
Right now I hear a gentle hum coming from my refrigerator, as well as cars passing by outside, my fingers typing, and some other white noise I can't figure out where it comes from.
After Reading this article, I realized just how much I think in my head instead of absorbing a central aspect of the human experience--sound. Sometimes things become white noise for me, and that's great for concentrating and thinking and flowing through work periods, but it's terrible for my soundscaping comprehension.
Sometimes now I catch myself sitting and truly listening to what surrounds me, and making a mental note of what type of film I could use that in. Then I begin to think of people actually recording room acoustics for things of no plot importance, but all the realistic importance; the acoustics are important to the characters on screen's reality, and therefore are detrimental to transporting the audience into their world.
I've also never thought about a soundscape as being another type of screenwriting/character development process. Perhaps if I utilize that kind of thinking into my soundscaping process, I would keep getting better at it.
Before this class I've never really done any type of soundscape, and I still feel that I wasn't doing it totally right--many times I rely on music to progress the narrative along. I don't feel like that is a bad thing necessarily--the emotional power that music holds is quite powerful. But I'd still like to be able to adapt and learn that I can also do well with ambient sound.
What do you hear?
Right now I hear a gentle hum coming from my refrigerator, as well as cars passing by outside, my fingers typing, and some other white noise I can't figure out where it comes from.
After Reading this article, I realized just how much I think in my head instead of absorbing a central aspect of the human experience--sound. Sometimes things become white noise for me, and that's great for concentrating and thinking and flowing through work periods, but it's terrible for my soundscaping comprehension.
Sometimes now I catch myself sitting and truly listening to what surrounds me, and making a mental note of what type of film I could use that in. Then I begin to think of people actually recording room acoustics for things of no plot importance, but all the realistic importance; the acoustics are important to the characters on screen's reality, and therefore are detrimental to transporting the audience into their world.
I've also never thought about a soundscape as being another type of screenwriting/character development process. Perhaps if I utilize that kind of thinking into my soundscaping process, I would keep getting better at it.
Before this class I've never really done any type of soundscape, and I still feel that I wasn't doing it totally right--many times I rely on music to progress the narrative along. I don't feel like that is a bad thing necessarily--the emotional power that music holds is quite powerful. But I'd still like to be able to adapt and learn that I can also do well with ambient sound.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Film Manipulation
This project was so much fun for me:
I once again had the sense of accomplishment from a film project when we watched the finished one minute clip on the projection screen.
I had never used celluloid film before this--and playing around with it was so interesting! The dark room was hard to navigate at times and this was really a trial run for me to figure out what kinds of things would work and what kind of things wouldn't.
I used to be a studio art major, so the painting on the film was more my element, as well as drawing on it. That was so cool! I never realized how much time it took of drawing nearly the same thing over and over again on several feet of film to get only a few seconds of animated images. But the effect at the end was rewarding for me.
This is relevant because we understand the history of film and what changes had to occur for the film industry to get to where it is today... All of the mistakes, which turned into meaningful mistakes, which reformed the norms of filmmaking.
Also, like the media fast, it helps us appreciate how much we have to learn from others and the space available for forging our own mistakes appears limitless.
I have discovered that as a filmmaker, I would like to explore the world of animation a bit further.
I once again had the sense of accomplishment from a film project when we watched the finished one minute clip on the projection screen.
I had never used celluloid film before this--and playing around with it was so interesting! The dark room was hard to navigate at times and this was really a trial run for me to figure out what kinds of things would work and what kind of things wouldn't.
I used to be a studio art major, so the painting on the film was more my element, as well as drawing on it. That was so cool! I never realized how much time it took of drawing nearly the same thing over and over again on several feet of film to get only a few seconds of animated images. But the effect at the end was rewarding for me.
This is relevant because we understand the history of film and what changes had to occur for the film industry to get to where it is today... All of the mistakes, which turned into meaningful mistakes, which reformed the norms of filmmaking.
Also, like the media fast, it helps us appreciate how much we have to learn from others and the space available for forging our own mistakes appears limitless.
I have discovered that as a filmmaker, I would like to explore the world of animation a bit further.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Hand painting
I think the hand-painting on film strips is more fun to create than to watch. Although these projects are delightful during several minutes of "exciting" painted matter, it's difficult to remain attentive after about two minutes. But, when you as a filmmaker begin with a vision inside your head and watch it transform from your fingertips onto film, and then watch the final product in real-time, the experience is more exhilarating.
I was originally a Studio Art major, so this task for our first film will be enjoyable for me. Hopefully the outcome will be rewarding, as well.
I was originally a Studio Art major, so this task for our first film will be enjoyable for me. Hopefully the outcome will be rewarding, as well.
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