May Blog

Well, I'm still here. At this point it means that I passed my hour presentation. But now I have to worry about the evening trade show. I'm not sure how I will attack it, but I know I'll figure that out soon.

Side note: I left my board leaning up against Piggot's class on Friday. If anybody piked it up or know where it is then please let me know. Thanks guys

Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

1. Actually doing a good job on my block presentation as a whole and not needing to do it a second time is what I am most proud of because really I've put a lot of work into my presentation, only to find out that i didn't make time would have crushed me. Putting in more than 200 hours of mentorship hours is what I'm proud of for my senior project simply because I am surprised as to how committed I was for the program. I'm still currently working as the TA for the class even though I'm done with everything.

2a. I'd give myself an AP, maybe a P, on the block presentation simply because I feel like I was cutting it close on time, and when it came to the group activities I might have given them too much time. I noticed of few of them getting off task.

2b. The overall senior project I believe that I deserve a solid P. I've done all the requirements but nothing much was too special.

3. What worked was the type of research that I got for my I Search paper. They were not a lot but they were very reliable and effective.

4. If I had a time machine, I would have worked harder as to picking another topic. Film production was actually my fourth choice. But within the topic, what didn't worked was my ESAs, I just couldn't find any useful statistics.

5. The senior project really taught me how to expand my web of connections through my mentorship. From my mentorship was able to get in touch with other great people from the film industry. If I were to go into the movie industry right away it would actually be not as hard for me because of those connections. I'm going into the Navy, and in the mere future I want to open up my own business. I can apply what I've learned from my mentorship and establish a solid connection with a solid asset then expand my way through with new connections, which will hopefully help me expand my potential business. So, in more basic words, make a lot of useful friends.

Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal. I've logged on my hours of the mentorship I've done, excluding those I did for my Independent Component, on the Right hand column under "Sausage Links" titled "Cisco's Mentorship Log & Hours."

Interpretive. My mentorship as the ROP Film TA helped me out by relearning some film techniques that I might have forgotten and taught be some new techniques, especially in lighting. Taking this knowledge I put it into the test in some of my work to better understand where my answers are coming from.

Applied. I am able to apply this  knowledge to some work I've done and single out what was useful to spark an emotional connection. For example, with newly obtained knowledge of he use of colored gels I was able to use them in a Doritos commercial to help set the vibe that the scene was going to be filled with cheesy goodness.

Exit Interview

1. My essential question is “How can a filmmaker best use image to spark an emotional connection with the film’s audience?” My answers are, “through effective use of lighting,” “through camera angles and movements at specific times,” and by “directing the actors to portray a certain mood.” My best answer is “Through effective use of a lighting a filmmaker can change the atmosphere and mood of the scene bring out stronger emotions.”

2. In early august of 2014 I was discussing the matter of coming up with possible answers to my already found EQ with Phil Miller, the ROP film teacher at IPoly. He said that it comes down to a number of including camera placement, editing, subject directing. But what really stuck to me in that conversation was when he mentioned how lighting was important with changing the atmosphere in a scene. Doing further research I find how the different intensities of the shadows and colors of the light can alter the way a viewer is already thinking about the scene.

3. I feel like the only problem I had was this was not finding some proper research at first. I found a lot of research from interior lighting designs and the few I found for film they were too brief. But once I hit the advanced search engine I was able to find some psychology articles on color and some really useful videos on how placement of lighting to bring out shadows controls the trust in a scene.  

4. One of the most important sources that I have is my mentor Phil Miller for teaching me not only the importance of the simple 3 point light setup but also some advanced lighting techniques like the use of colored gels and lighting two subjects at the same time. The second most important source that I have is an article written by Jim Stinson called “Light Source:Lighting for Mood.” There I found out some key techniques and rules to keep in mind when planning and controlling the lighting of a scene.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

I, Francisco Gonzalez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
The source that I am using for my Independent Component 2 is my mentor, Phil Miller the ROP dilm teacher here at I-Poly. There is a Log of my 30 hours located on the right under the group "Sausage Links" titled "Independent Component 2 Log."

My independent component helped me observe the creative process of planning a film that is more complex than the shorts that I've observed previously in the year. Now that it's second semester, I was able to learn about advanced lighting techniques like lighting two subjects instead of one now, and the use of colored gels and their uses. Students actual applied this newly earned knowledge by putting it into practice in a Doritos Commercial that they had to write and produce. Here's a video that explains those two weeks.

Recently the students just started the productions of their own independent films, which is their final project. In this project they are gathering up all of their knowledge and skills that they've acquired throughout the course and they put it together into what will be their best work yet. 

Throughout this whole process I've been assisting on the crews that need an extra hand or even giving some of my insight on some things. I've even been filming a lot of behind the scenes footage and am currently working on a documentary on their progress this semester. With this experience that I am gathering I can better understand the applications and usefulness in which my answers have. 

March Extra Blog Post

I'm too tired to type for yo guys. I'll just let this video explain what happened early on this month. 

There will be more videos to come.

Blog 18: Third Answer

How can a filmmaker best use image to spark an emotional connection with the film's audience? A filmmaker can direct his actors in a way so that their actions can portray the certain mood that the scene needs. The action of a subject can personify the drama. When we look at the subject's face we know what kind of consequences the situation has, like the distraught face of Tom Hanks in Saving private Ryan. When the only thing in the shot we see is his face, we understand what kind of terror he is going when fighting in WWII. The action of the subjects can elect our matching emotions. Naturally, we as humans have a tendency to mimic and synchronize with other's emotions so when we see Audrey Tautou in Amelie grinning at what she's seeing in the movies we can't help but grin as well. Lastly, when a brings out a nuanced face they leave the scene open to interpretation allowing us to project our own feelings and beliefs. So when a filmmaker directs its subjects well enough, the actions that the actors portray shall move the audience towards the perceived mood.
All of this info was conducted from the article at Psycology Today.com called "3 Reasons Why We are Drawn to Faces in Film" by Siu-Lan Tan, Phd.

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

For the fourth interview on my topic, I must find an expert and ask them 20 questions about the answers I've chosen for my EQ so far. Right now I have two answers to my EQ: Through effective use of lighting, and through camera angles and movements. The third answer might have something along side the use of managing and directing actors.

• What sort of camera lenses do you think an ammeter filmmaker must have?
• What do you think about the use of color gels?
• Describe some techniques you may use when building a preferred light setup?
• How important do you think the 3 point light set up is? Why?
• Why do you think silent films can strike such emotion using so little?
• How do yo determine what sort of camera lens you need?
• How do you determine what sort of camera angle/movement is needed?
• What are your thoughts about the lighting techniques used in Film Noir?
• How much of a part do actors have in perceiving emotion? Elaborate?
• Can a film survive on light alone to depict emotion? Why?
• Can a film survive on camera movement alone to depict emotion? Why?
• Do you think that the actions an actor portrays is enough to depict the emotion needed in the scene? Why?
• When is there a point where the role of cinematographer and director come together?
• What's the most complicated light set up that you have had to build? When was it used?
• How do you accommodate lighting outdoors in the day? at night? 
• How do you know you have the right shot?
• Do you prefer digital or film? Why?
• What sort of mistakes to you usually see being made by today's batch of amateur filmmakers?
• What equipment besides a camera do you believe is a must have to achieve good framing?
• What do you think are the most important qualities in a DP? 

These questions will not be asked in any particular order.

February Recap

This month was pretty chill for the most part. I actually was ale to get my grades up to a stable place at the moment which is somewhat of a significant improvement from last month. This month was Super Bowl month so the ROP students worked on Doritos commercials, but not with another lesson on lighting, this time advanced lighting. They learned about lighting two subject at one and the use of gels to make things have different feels. In the end the students were able to produce some very impressive commercials. Next week a guest speaker is going to come in to talk to them about a product of his that he might like a commercial for, and if the students can make a good enough commercial, which I have no doubt they will, then it will be used for the official advertising of their product. More on that later. This month I actually started on the video blog that I am going to be doing weekly. I have shot it but have not quite finished editing the first video.I'll get that uploaded within the next week though. so stay tuned.

Angel during pre-production, testing out different  lighting set ups to use for his actual shoot.

Those Doritos are looking good!

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

How can a cinematographer best use image to spark am emotional connection with he film's audience? A Cinematographer can use a well thought out camera angels and movements at specific times to bring up a certain feel that is needed in the scene. A cinematographer would use a panning shot, which is when the camera moves horizontally, to follow a subject moving across an area, in order to help the audience follow along with that subject, bringing them closer into the story. An example of this can be seen in Stephen Spielberg's, Saving Private Ryan, where Tom Hank's character is marching across a recent battlefield while shoving along with him a Nazi they just captured to the other side so that the prisoner may dig his own grave. The shot choice really emphasized the "dead man walking" kind of feel. Another shot a cinematographer could use is a dutch angle in which the camera is tilted where everything seems to look cooked or offset, depending on the angle. This is suppose to give off an uneasy feeling for the audience about the subject. Some of the well used dutch angles where used in the 1960's Batman TV series, especially whenever the camera was on the villains themselves. Using this shot in this situation gave off a feeling that there is something seriously wrong with these people. Yet another shot that a cinematographer might pull from his utility belt is a low angle shot on the subject, this usually gives the subject somewhat a dominant presence and telling the audience that this character is one power. A perfect example of this can be found  in the film Pulp Fiction in the hamburger scene where Samuel Jackson is integrating the guy to find the magic briefcase. through out this whole scene the camera looks up to Samuel, letting the audience know that he is in charge and he means business. A cinematographer can use a vast variety of camera angles and movements in order to bring up a certain type of emotion in a scene, but he has to pick the right one for each individual shot.

Independent Component 2 Approval

1. I plan to continue my mentorship with Mr. Miller as his TA. During this time I'm actually going to do mostly behind the scenes shooting and editing, capturing how the students use their skills of what they've learned in the now more advanced lessons and apply them into video projects. I'm also going to continue with my mentorship with the independent production company as a producer's assistant to work on the business end of the industry. I'm also going to be making some shorts of my own so that I may put my knowledge of the technique I've been researching on to practice.
2. I'll be showing what I've been doing by posting the videos make and some of the behind the scene footage and by starting a new video blog that I will be starting and posting videos every week. If not that then pictures are always cool.
3. I'm hoping that by putting what I've researched to practice I may develop some sort of new innovation to how a cinematographer may establish an emotional connection with the audience. Being an assistant in the production company should help me better understand the process of a full scale professional film production is like.
4. I have a log on the right column under "Sausage Links" titled "Independent Component 2 Log" so that you may track my progress.

Independent Component 1

I, Francisco Gonzalez, affirm that I completed my independent component which  represents 30 hours of work. The source that really helped me with this component was my mentor, Mr. Phil Miller. You can see a log of my hours here------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Basically put, what I did was continue on with my regular mentorship and learn to have a better understanding on the filming process itself, at the same time looking after some students and making copies for my mentor.
One of the things that my mentor says to me is that a good way to get better at making films is to actually get out there and make films. Luckily, there were groups of students that came out to be short staffed so he was able to put me in to work on them. The first group I was put in was a based on a true story film which I was the sound mixer and boom operator on the team. Basically I'm making sure that there is clear sound to e recorded and I record it  using a shotgun mic wired to a ZOOM. The second group was a group of me and another student to collaborate on a music video based on a song that Mr. Miller picked out. I was really able to stretch my creative muscles a bit and was able to put together a quick 2 minute video.
I don't have any footage of the based on a true story video but I did post up the music video:

This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic by making me experience, first hand. the process of how a film should be made, starting with development like when I was brain storming for a concept on the music video to post-production where I  pieced together the rough parts of my film to a final cut of the film where I then screened it for the class. 

Surprisingly though, not only did I set learn of my foundation but I actually was able to successfully demonstrate my third answer to my EQ which is "action," or more specifically the action your characters portray while acting when by the way you direct them (roughly saying). You can see his in the main guy in the music video by the way his he demonstrated his mood through his acting. I'd like to take partial credit for the directing and having good communication with him, but I think I was also just lucky to be working with a natural dramatic person. 

January Recap

New year means new experiences and new mistakes to be done. Though it did start off well with me finishing an assignment for my mentorship, after that I haven't had much contact with my mentor. I must fix that. I applied my filming skills this month by filming a quince with a fellow senior as my business partner, though unfortunately I screwed up on a lot of my shots, jeopardizing the integrity of the final product, rendering my performance unprofessional. Although other things of that project concern me as well.
This month on ROP we finish off a semester by having the students pair up in 2s and make a music video that Mr. Miller picked out since there was an odd amount of students in the class I was paired up with one myself. the production booklet was not completed on time but we did finish the final cut of the film, turning out fairly well. I might  post it up soon.
And now we wrap up this month with our half hour presentations. I go into it with a vague idea as usual, but as always I procrastinate on this and work on the actual power point the night before finishing it at 3:30 am, the morning I was going to present. Even with 2 hours of sleep I felt confident in the morning about my presentation. I even practiced with a couple of seniors that morning with perfect timing on it. After that it didn't go as smooth. My presentation was the second one in second block. Going into class I was energetic and enthusiastic, but as first block rolled on, I felt my energy from 2 hours of sleep quickly depleting, enthusiasm with it. When the person before me finished his presentation I had to set up a whole 3 point light setup. This alone took me 20 to do, making the audience and my house teacher loose patience on my presentation. While setting up the last thing hit me, I was missing a lighting gel for my presentation that I was going to use to explain one of the key points of my answer. That's when I started to panic. Now, usually I work well under pressure but with no energy, the audience rowdy, and missing equipment, I was finished. But still I went through with it, as best as I could. In the end my house teacher seemed almost disappointed. Outside of class people told me I was good, but yet I remain skeptical.
But now the month is over, and now I truly know what my (chinese) new years resolution should be. Some of you might say that I'll just give up on it like everyone else does, but this is different for two reasons: 1. It's Chinese New Years and 2. Unlike every other year, I actually made a checklist and now have it on my binder. I'm pretty confident that can complete this or at least I can do is truly try my best.

Lesson 2 Reflection

1. I am most proud about my activity when I had a scene still shot from a film and and had everyone decide on what from the lights to make the new subject (Christian) look ike the shot from the film.

2.  I sadly have to say that I earned a CR/AP because I took too long on the set up and by the time it came to my presentation I was a bit low on enthusiasm. On top of that I don't believe I mad time.

3. What worked for me is the power point because it did help organize what I was going to in the presentation.

4. If I had a time machine though I would do the presentation a day earlier so that the night before I can get some sleep instead of finishing in 3 in the morning.

5. My answer #2 is going to be Camera! but more specifically the use of camera angles.

Third Interview Questions

Questions that I will be asking my 2nd mentor, but not in this particular order.

1. How can a cinematographer best use image to spark an emotional connection with the film's audience?
2. Which filmmakers do you believe can easily achieve that connection?
3. Do you recommend any books on the topic?
4. Do you think such a connection can be achieved in a low to no budget film? Why or Why not?
5. Do you think such a connection in a short film? Why or why not?
6. What kind of knowledge do you think a filmmaker must have in order to achieve such a connection?
7. Do you think it's only the cinematographer's job to achieve such a connection, or is this a job meant for collaboration?
8. What genre of film do you think you can best display this connection?
9. What advice would you give an ameteur cinematographer?
10. What aspects do you think an audience looks for in a film to consider it well made?
 

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours

1. I am currently doing my mentorship as a TA for an Ipoly ROP class.
2. My contact is Mr. Phil Miller.
3. As of today I have approximately completed 81 hours of mentorship hours (a bit more than the 60 hours minimum required by May).
4. To sum up what I did, I've monitored and assisted the students on their work in pre-production, production, and post-production, I've ran errands for Mr. Miller like going to the office and making copies of sheets for the students, I've tested out new equipment that the class gets then teach the class how to use that piece of equipment, and I have worked on some of my own projects such as the newly wed game and am currently working with a student to make a music video for the class.

Research

1. There's been a few things that I've been doing for my senior project. From the last time that we did research check I updated my notebook so that it is complete now. I've also been accumulating on pieces of research. I regrettably have not used them to update my notebook but have had them aside just in case there was a surprise research check.
Other things I have been doing for my project is racking in those mentorship and independent component hours. If you don't know already, for my independent component has me doing my own filming. Lately I've been filming for a quiescence and already have some other job offers. And both my mentorships have had me doing tasks that help me both better understand the filmmaking process on both the creative and business aspect of it.

2. Working with my mentors I've learned quite a few things. One of the most important things I've learned was when I was doing a project that had to do with more of the business end of movies, listing how successful the movies of 2013 were by searching it up on Boxofficemojo.com. Not only did I figure out how the films did in the box office but also how successful they were by comparing what they made to what the production value was. One film that I was disappointed to find out flopped was on most anticipated and based on a really good book, Ender's Game. With a production value of $110 million, the only made $87.9 million worldwide by the end of 2013. One reasoning that my mentor gave me for this is that the movie was not well promoted. That's also how bad movies somehow succeed in the box office too. An example given was the Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides.
What I basically got from this is that a really big part of the film's success is the promotion of it before and during it's release.

3. If I had to do a 10 question interview with anybody I would have it with a fantastic filmmaker/actor, Quentin Tarantino. In almost every movie he makes he has used methods to bring out the most out of his audience's emotions, whether it would be making them laugh like the in the stand off in La Louisiane scene in Inglorious bastards or strike fear like when he had Samuel L Jackson yell bible verses in Pulp Fiction. I feel like there is some knowledge to be learned from him when it comes to making a strong film.

December/2013 Recap

Well this was a pretty busy month to end a pretty busy year. Model assembly pretty much took up my time for the bulk of the month. It was interesting and fun but on the way there was a lot of people that I pissed off. I don't necessarily feel good about that but it had to be done. 

Christmas wasn't a bust. I go a new mp3 to replace the one that exploded in my pocket a couple of weeks ago. It's nothing fancy but I can use this for the radio show. To take a break from school and anything really, I teamed up with some of my peers and escaped to the magical and fun world Dungeons and Dragons, fighting zombie turkey along the way of our quest to find the wishbone of Urkle. Needless to say, things got really weird really quick. 

As for my internship, Being the TA for Mr. Miller has been chill. I got the new job of checking equipment in and out for the students. This became a thing after some of the very expensive pieces in our inventory got stolen. Luckily they were returned to us eventually,but the job still remains. On the other hand, my internship with Mr. Kurtluyan has been keeping me really occupied. I do' know if it's suppose to kept low key so I won't give out any details on what I'm doing. One thing I keep on forgetting though is logging n those hours. So many done yet so many not acknowledged by my teachers. I have to change that. 

Any new years resolutions?...Actually find a solid way to study for physics, or just study in general. Yup, I'm going to go with that.

Happy new years guys!