Ideas for One take

I had an idea that I've been mulling over. Now I've never filmed anything at UNCW, or in my life for that matter, which included a gun. But on this occasion it could be necessary. The basic idea, stems from the idea that everybody is someone's son, or daughter, and I wanted to convey that. Unfortunately the only creative thing I can come up with-my brain is fried this semester-is this:

Idea 1:
Camera starts on the right side of Figure A
Camera finds left side of Figure B

Start: xcu on the eyes of Figure A and pull back to cu on the face framing them on the right side staring off screen left. Then down the persons neck to shoulder, down their arm and pull back to see their body as we turn and descend to their feet.
Slowly we'd move left three feet until another set of shoes, Figure B, appears, stopping we'd hesitate and then mimic the previous shots used to descend from Figure A's eyes to ascend to Figure B's eyes. But when we reached Figure B's arm we would see a gun pointing directly at Figure A. Upon reaching Figure B's eyes we would pan over following Figure B's eye line to where Figure A should be, but instead, in the place of Figure A, there would be a young husband and wife with a baby in their arms.
We would pan back to the xcu of Figure B's eyes, hold for a moment and again pan following Figure B's eye line to where Figure A should be, and this time Figure A is in fact there.
The camera then pans back to Figure B's eyes and holds for a second and it's over.

Idea 2:

Film Junkies

Scratching, painting, magazine transfers, clear leader, exposure, painting and so much more. Upon viewing our 2nd scratch film junkies short, I felt like I had a greater understanding and appreciation for what goes into an experimental film. Its funny how little a person knows about things. I remember sitting through experimental shorts my freshman year and thinking how simple they were. Thinking, seeing, hearing without understanding what goes into these shorts, what goes on beyond these shorts that are projected onto a screen. I feel like I’m garnering a greater understanding of film through this class, I feel like in essence I’m training my “film id”. I have a new foundation or maybe an added foundation for a remodel of some sort. It’s funny because although I’ve shot on film before I’ve never had to really handle it. I’ve never truly felt it, hung over it, spliced it. It is now, only after those experiences that I may view an experimental short like the scratch film junkies short screened, with a newfound wisdom and maturity.
Even with the rhythmic editing assignment, I’m beginning to understand the internal cadence of film. Although I failed in terms of screening a portrait, I think I learned through the process to find a rhythm. Especially when inserting a soundtrack, or music/sound of any sort. I often find myself falling into the trap of throwing music down as a quick fix for shorts. I realized during our screenings that now more than ever, especially in this class, I must challenge myself with sound design. When it comes to music I love basic pop music structure, verse1, verse2, chorus, verse3, chorus, bridge, and chorus. I love tight, concise beautiful melodies, but I’ve pigeonholed myself. I often forget about Sound. It makes me remember preschool. It was Parents Night, and there were all these stations set up; stations for creating things. I know there were a lot, but the only one I can recall was the tambourine station. Together my dad and I assembled two bottle tops end to end-creating a pocket of air between- on a six inch by two inch piece of wood, and with one nail we hammered the bottle caps onto the wood. In essence it became a metal shaker, the metal equivalent of a homemade maraca, but I decorated it and used it for years after. In fact it still has a place on my desk at home. I guess what I’m trying to say is that five dollar instrument could still make beautiful noise, could still add its voice to a composition and I need to start opening my mind to the possibilities of sound design, which in turn my add something new to my film toolbox.

Ear-E Noises

POP! A fist from the lead actor accidentally connects with the jaw of an extra...cue- LAUGHTER.

cue-Confusion

My brain tries to grasp what I saw, following multiple roads to final conclusions, often illogical. Visually, a signal of violence, a man punching another, is sent to my brain. Previous to the punch, my eyes and ears were able to discern that this was Take 3 of a student film, thus the connection of flesh and knuckle, should not have occured and therefore is an accident. This moment is a surprise to the actors, the crew, the extra, but my question is, why the laughter, especially from the extra who received a blow. It looked worse than it was.

The reason is the sound. The sound is harsh, the mic peaks, the reaction is a cringe and I don't laugh. But the reason the sound is so loud is the boom mic. The location is directly above the extra who is punched and for me this amplifies what on set was nothing but a dull thud.

Sound sound sound, in my opinion it is the key to good films, especially student films. Student films biggest pratfalls is lack of attention to sound. It becomes an afterthought, on the set which complicates things in post.

I enjoyed this article. I will focus more on sound, both creatively-using sounds as symbols, or motifs, and pratically.

Response on Wells

Laying out styles of animation and the factions that define them. I was vaguely aware of these subgroups, as a result of exposure, but Wells clearly defined them, laying them out in black and white. I really enjoyed the paragraph, Dynamics of dialogue", where he defines Disney sound as symphonic and Warner Bros. as cacophonic. Leonard Maltin has a film, Songs of the Silly Symphonies, which are a collection of old lesser known Disney shorts. I enjoyed them when I watched them a few years back and it enlightened me to the distinct sound that accompanies Disney animation. In my view, for the majority of people, the cacophony that saturates Looney Toons, especially at a young age, is the most appealing. These noises and catch lines are the most easily duplicated for a person in the everyday scenario. Children find these impressions especially fun. I agree. I know "What's up Doc?" escaped my mouth more often than any Fantasia segment, and I watched the film every day after preschool. In general, I have no bias for either. They are equally pleasing to me. One must find good in everything.

As for abstract animation, I find that my exposure is far less. Besides Brakhage and Fantasia, I little of this style is known to me. It's limits and potential remain hidden. Personally, I enjoy the exploration of symbolism and the enjoyment of finding a firm backbone that will lie below the surface. But going further, I find, as of now, that story draws me more and though the incorporation of abstract form is not without possibility, I tend to find myself wary of it. I believe this stems from seeing abstract art without that meaning that resonates far below. I detest standing before my peers abstract art. For the most part I find myself unsatisfied with what I see, that the symbolic message is corny, cliched or poorly executed. For this reason I fear attempting it. I don't fear failure but think within life, if abstraction were strong within me that I would have known it already. I know this is not the case, for Picasso's divergence into cubism came well into his late 20's with Les Demoiselles D'Avignon. A painting that upended hundreds of years of western art philosophy. Turn of the century artists were on the look out for a style new and unseen. They believed the classical style could no longer express what they felt. Currently, I am content with what I have before me. My canvas is traditional and for now it pleases my eye.

Experiences Thus Far

So far I'm happy with 6X1. In the future, with each assignment, I want to avoid every first impulse, every easy outlet, and anything I deem unoriginal. I want to push my creativity to a new level. Looking at the syllabus today, I was excited about the future assignments and the possibilities I'll have to push myself. I want to be original but also have substance behind it. If it's original just for the sake of being original then I'll have failed. But I hope that won't be the case. I enjoy seeing other films in class, the more I see the more of an understanding I have of what has been done, and what possibilities there are. I know that documentary films, and experimental films are among the fewest films that I've viewed in my life and that poses a problem for me when attempting to be creative. I like working in class too. I enjoy the stress free environment, it allows for more creativity when I'm relaxed and enough time to think.

I've never worked with film before, and the other week when I heard the projector and saw my film projected on screen, seeds were planted within my head, and I'm seriously considering filming my 495 project on film. (If I have the budget) It is magical, something internally gratifying. I've yet to explain the emotions, but the generic, happy, will suffice for now.

I hope the happiness will continue.

Synesthesia

Synesthesia, from my understanding, is defined two ways, in terms of art, it is the perception of two or more stimuli as one gestalt experience, while neurological definition synesthesia is the elicitation of perceptual experience in the absence of the normal sensory stimulation. As always, through art, the idea of this experience is romanticized. A unified whole combining components into beauty, an experience that depends on a mixing of the senses, a complex which is, statistically, a minority. It is from the abnormal, that the beauty is derived, and thus it sparks new ideas and new perspectives, pushing the whole into the limelight while subduing the parts, which propels beauty to the forefront.
What is comical is the neurological definition. This experience is propelled by the Absence of the normal sensory stimulation. This complex is, because it lacks, whereas in art it magnifies, there is a surplus.
The end result is the same in both instances, a cocktail of senses. Which I wish I could experience.

I guess I will just have to settle on art and videos that attempt to convey these sensory experiences; art by synesthesia and art meant to evoke synesthesia. I followed a link from the wikipedia page to a youtube video attempting to visualize tone synesthesia against Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. It was mesmerizing. I wathced it three times trying to get an understanding of what it means to have synesthesia and in turn how to duplicate it. I learned that in the future, in movies that I make, characters and the film itself should have a color scheme. Watching film is a synesthetic experience, and maybe the experience can be heightened?

Response to Scratch Film Junkies

Children, Parrots, Construction worker, Coloring on film , Superimpositions, Scratching, Acid wash and last but not least, Well suited drums. These were the first words that formed within my brain after Thursday's viewing. These are the occurrences which my eyes saw and my brain remembered and articulated. But the confusion still ran rampant in my head for there are many things I did not understand. How? What? And Why? Experimental film, has always, to me, been something of a lesser form. But I believe that it is because it is not understood. The creativity behind each film is more complex, and more daunting than, at least I ever imagined. The patience, precision and dedication to each frame, which becomes one of twenty-four in a second, one of fourteen hundred and forty in a minute and so on and so on, is beyond comprehension. I think I am in for a treat this semester, where a formal introduction to experimental will occur and thus, hopefully, changing the way I see film, create film and study film.

Refering back to the subject of the film, I have to make a comment on the drums. I felt the sound complimented the images very well and very often enhanced it. For instance, a ringing bell, much like that of an ice cream truck was immediately followed the glimpse of children through an ever changing foreground. Also, the lines from the beginning of the film, lengthening and shortening to the beat of the drum, felt like Fantasia at 100mph. I love that movie.