Everyday of Summer 2014

This is a project I did over the summer of 2014. I took a two second video clip of everyday and made a collage. Most of it was filmed on my Mino HD Flip camera and some shots were filmed on my Samsung Galaxy S4. Maybe one day when I've got the funds to do so, I will invest in a better film camera for these sorts of things.

The Smuggler

Phil, our professor, showed us a failed movie portfolio called The Smuggler. It was used as an example of poor pre-production. they mentioned actors and producers without permission and many other problems on top of that. basically the plans fell apart and never was put together into a film. Sad? Yes, but the really sad part was how little effort was put into what could have been a good idea.

Guillermo del Toro

In class we talked about the amazing mind of Guillermo del Toro. Our professor copied some pages from the book above. It was amazing! Del Toro is a genius when it comes to film making. 

The book covers many of his drawings and notes of his projects that he has done including Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy. 

The book itself is a big inspiration for this blog. I would like to attempt to recreate something similar for my film projects.

Screenwriting

Dan Levine spoke with our class about screenwriting. He has had tons of experience as a screenwriter. He has worked on multiple big screen projects (all of which have seemed to slip my mind).

He has offered to help us with future projects at the school or even our own personal projects.

Another Day Missed

Another guest speaker came to our class, Brittany Poulton. This was another day that I missed and I never knew she came. I never got any notes of sorts because I was unaware of the guest speaker until a couple days ago.

Location Scouting

Marshall Moore came in and spoke to us about scouting for locations for a film.

It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are the obvious qualities like setting the mood for the film and color pallets and such. You must also have permission for filming in certain areas. Why? because laws and stuff. Wouldn't it suck to get your whole film finished and produced and then lose all your earnings in a lawsuit?

Libby & Art

We have spent an ample amount of time on this class project, which is a good thing. After all the casting, stills, treatments, recasting, and discussions, we finally have a basic script for the film. It's great and I love the effort that everyone has put into it.

The idea is a lot more refined than it was at the beginning of the semester. Now it's actually starting to look like an actual movie (which is the intention).

All that is left is to pitch the idea to the vice president of the school so we can get funding for our project.

Record Store Day

I went up to Groovacious on Record Store Day and had a blast. I got some reissued vinyl, a pressing of an old album, and even a brand new Skrillex album made specifically on cassette tape.

That was great and all but there was work to be done. I had to talk with the owner to see what he thought of my idea, if he was okay with it. I approached the owner, Tim is his name, and asked him if that would be alright. He said that he liked the idea and would be okay with it. He said people do stuff like that all the time.

I was feeling pretty good. After leaving Groovacious my friend informed me that Tim had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Immediately I felt dumb for bringing up my capstone to him. what if he only has a certain amount of time to live? Of course he wouldn't want to humor a college film student. Then I thought that maybe This could help. Maybe it could get him support. It could add emotion to the film.

I'm still not sure what to make of it though. But on the bright side, Groovfest is this summer and I can get some footage of the music festival for my film.

Casting

Working hand in hand with the theater department is a very helpful thing for a film major. Varlo Davenport visited our class and told us how we can use the theater students for our future films. He explained how it would be an important experience for film majors to get the feel of casting for our films and for the theater students to get a better understanding of open casting for film/theater projects.

Production Coordination

Katherine Szewczk talked with us about production coordination and the importance of it. I don't actually think that I was there on that day of class.

They work under the production manager. They coordinate separate groups on set to further proceed production on a movie or theater set.

NAB Show 2014

The NAB Show was an excellent experience. I paired up with a friend of mine who isn't in the film program but he wants to be so he decided to join me. The show itself was very insightful. It started me thinking about purchasing as camera for myself. I started to realize how expensive they were and began forgetting about the idea.

NVIDIA's 4K booth.

Nvidia had a very cool booth with graphic cards that support 4K games, movies, editing software, etc. One of the reps from the booth started talking about some really cool animating software and then started talking about the NAB Show itself. He mentioned the BlackMagic booth and said that it has tons of film equipment for much cheaper than average prices. BlackMagic was fantastic and now I'm looking into purchasing my own camera.

Something that was at the BlackMagic booth.

The coolest thing I thought was all the booths about loyalty/free stock footage and music scores. I had no idea that such helpful tools were available. Warner Bros. Music, to be specific, was my favorite of the music selections. And stock footage from Motion Elements was really cool as well. They gave me a flashdrive.

The absolute best thing about NAB was all the free stuff people gave you. I have so many things to look over now that it is over!

Here some other random photos that I took. 

Sharp's RedGiant.

Giant film projector.

Lizard King

A low budget short film was being filmed in St. George called Lizard King. A couple of my fellow class mates participated in the filming. Sadly I did not. I forgot about it and missed the day they started shooting. It's a bummer to miss out on cool experiences like that.

Budget

We have spent several days discussing the budget for our Liberal Arts film. It has taken a while but we are asking for $30,000 in funding for the film. That is quite a lot, at least I thought so, but all of it will be need to properly fund this movie.

Treatments

Brian Strassman came into our class and spoke with us about writing treatments for a film. This is one of the most important parts of pre-production.

After the lecture we were assigned to star working on our own treatments for our Liberal Arts film. Once we all get one turned in, we will pick out the best and start to put them together. It may take some refining but it should be nice and polished in the end.

Casting for the Liberal Arts Film

Varlo has offered to help our class with casting for the liberal arts film.

Of course the casting day has landed on a day I have work. I couldn't get out of work but I was able to be a part of the casting for about an hour before I had to go into work. Luckily my professor and employer were both understanding.

Anyhow, I didn't get to see much of the actual casting. I helped direct the applicants where they need to be and what they needed to do. I helped them sign up and apply. We gave them numbers and sent them to the stage.

Once applicants started dissipate, it was time for me to leave.

Liberal Arts Film Treatment

All the students in the class were required to write a treatment for our Liberal Arts film. This is an example that Phil, my professor, gave us for an idea.

My treatment to the film and will be what I turn in for the class:

The film opens on a college classroom set in the Holland building. The professor is assigning pairs for an essay assignment on philosophy. The two main characters, Elizabeth and Arthur, are paired together. Both of them are less than pleased.

Art is somewhat of a stuck up music enthusiast. He is a hard rocker and spends most of his time with his band. The only reason he is taking this class is because it’s required. Elizabeth, Libby, on the other hand is an art major. She spends her time reading and painting. She took this class expecting it to be interesting. But to her demise, the class is rather a bore.

Both Art and Libby are unhappy with being required to write an essay together. They have nothing in common, except that they both hate the class.

Libby, being the responsible girl that she is, wants to begin the essay as soon as possible. Art thinks that it’s pointless to even write the paper at all. By the end of class the professor warns the class to have the assignment submitted electronically by 9:00 AM the next morning or they will risk failing the class.

The two protagonists hesitantly begin their studies after class. They start at the computers on the 2^nd level but realize don’t have material to work with. Libby sends Art to go find some books. Art returns much later with not much helpful information.

After extracting what little they could for the paper they save the document and go on a journey to find more books. After finding some good reads, it dawns on Art that there are videos available for checking out.

Libby thinks this is a terrible idea. After much arguing Art finally convinces her that any and all mediums or information will be helpful.

The two climb the flight of stairs to the very top floor to acquire a projector to watch the DVDs they found. After watching all of them Art had fallen asleep but Libby received some insight for the videos.

After waking Art, Libby notices that the sun is going down. Art says he must leave for his band practice. Libby is furious and begs him to stay but to no avail. Art left and did not return until much later that night. They spend the next few hours putting all their mindlessly tired efforts into the paper. They go to the vending machines to get some energy drinks to help them stay awake. Not long after, the two fall into a heavy slumber.

Art wakes up at 8 AM in a panic. After waking Libby they begin to understand the paper much more than they did the night prior. Finally coming to a grand conclusion with a quote from Socrates, the two click submit on the assignment at 8:59 AM.

Liberal Arts Film Location Stills

These are just mediocre snapshots I took with my cell phone. I didn't feel like getting fancy until the class comes to a (somewhat) final decision on locations.

All locations in the upcoming stills are in the Holland building. The Holland building itself is a very important character in the film. Of course not literally but it will set many moods for the film.

Not all lighting decisions are final because I only had time to take the photos that night. Any feedback can be helpful.

I only just realized that the stills should/could have been landscape rather than portrait but they still give a basic idea.

Still #1

The two characters (Libby and Art) can be seen here perhaps watching some sort of video they have found on the report they are doing.













Still #2

The characters can be walking from the elevator to an undecided location(s).













Still #3

The characters selected books relevant to their studies.














Still #4

Checking out the books need for their essay.














Still #5

Perhaps an overview of the two sitting at the computers doing research/essay.













Still #6

This could be the class room that the two characters attend. The class that assigned the essay assignment.













Still #7

Characters selecting DVDs/videos to watch relevant to their studies.














Still #8

(Cont.) Selecting videos for essay.














Still #9

(Cont.) different possible angle of selecting videos.














Still #10

The characters will most likely be up all night finishing the paper, so they can be visiting the vending machine to get energy drinks.













Still #11

(Cont.) Vending machine.














Still #12

Characters can ascend/descend the stairs to get to different floors.














Still #13

Another possible location for a classroom for the two characters.














Still #14

The characters are outside on the balcony staring as the sun rises the next morning (the day the essay is due).

Technological Production Diaries

Today we had another guest speaker. Sam Perez is a senior at DSU and is working on his capstone.

He explained the purpose of our electronic production diaries that we are using for our class (and capstone projects).

He went into depth on the amount of time and energy he spent just on pre-production for his film. He had been working on pre-production for months before he had gotten any footage at all. Figuring out locations, moods, settings, character/actors, and training someone in the art of boxing were all on his pre-production To-Do list.

He also explained how we, as film students, will most likely put in far more hours into our capstone projects than most other seniors will do for their capstones.

The Idea

At the beginning of the semester I was stressing out because people had already started working on their capstones and I didn't even have an idea of what I wanted to do. Did I want to do a documentary? A music video? A live action movie? I hadn't the slightest clue.

The pressure was on once my professor said we have to get an idea and start pre-production this semester. What was I going to do?! Then, out of nowhere, I remembered my burning passion for analog music--records. The idea popped in my head about doing a documentary of the (somewhat) local record store in Cedar, Groovacious.

I'll do a documentary on music! I was so proud of the idea that I couldn't stop thinking about it. That would be an awesome documentary.

That's what I'll do.

I pitched the idea to my professor and got it approved. Now to move forward with the idea.

Audio Lesson

Today our class listened to guest speaker Joe Girard about audio and good audio production.

I Invited a couple friends of mine that are interested in film but have yet to enlist in the program.

We listened to him speak for about an hour. He explained how there are many job opportunities in audio for films. It is seldom picked over many other film job opportunities. 

Being a good audio coordinator can be good because you are almost always ensure a gig.

He explained how some of his equipment worked and taught us some simple basics about his profession.

He will be returning to DSU next year as a professor and will be teaching an on-location audio class.