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.
Friday, January 31, 2014
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.
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.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
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?
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?
Thursday, January 9, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, January 6, 2014
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
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!
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