No Film School Blog Post

Surprise, another assignment for blogger after our final! This time we're browsing a website and looking for cool and interesting articles that pertain to filmmaking! Yay! The article I chose is all about steadicams. Cool, right? They were invented in 1974 by a man named "Garrett Brown." He was a Philadelphia based filmmaker and inventor, and before then nobody had any idea this kind of technology could be a thing. All they had to use back then was the dolly and regular old tripod. So what Garrett did was revolutionary for the entire industry and it would affect it forever. He started out by making a compilation of his works that he had filmed with a steadicam, and thus used this compilation to sell the product and make other filmmakers want this for their next films.
GARRETT BROWN - Walk of Life from Bobfilm on Vimeo.

This video showcases much of his original montage and also some footage filmed soon after people accepted the technology and used it more professionally. Garrett truly was a visionary and revolutionary and we can see this now when we look at how popular the steadicam is and how different films would be if something like this didn't exist. I specifically used this for many shots in our own movie, the Kansas City Saviour. I would shoot mostly everything actually on the steadi when we wouldn't need it to be super still, and the quality of the shots really reflects how great of an invention it is.

Senior Year Final Reflection

As senior year is coming to a close, that means that my time with eComm is coming to a close also. As I look back on the past four years, I feel mixed emotions. I was really excited to get into this program freshman year and I was really excited to start working on awesome projects. But as the years went on my passion really died out and nowadays I have no real drive or want to put an effort to anything. Maybe that's the seniority's, or maybe it's that my annoyance with the program has affected me so much I don't want to be involved with it at all. Maybe the latter.

But this program wasn't a complete waste, I have learned many valuable things about actual equipment or how to do things on the computer, and I wouldn't have this kind of industry knowledge without my first two years in eComm. As a main strength I feel like I am very good technically and as a leader getting things done. I have used these skills to be the director of photography for not only my senior feature film, but also for most of the projects that I have worked on throughout this year and also last year. My weaknesses though is my lack of drive and passion I have for anything related to this program. I just don't want to do a lot of things so I won't volunteer or say anything so I don't have to be involved more than I have to.

As far as eComm's 5 guarantees go, I can say I have used them all effectively throughout the year. For technology, I have improved my knowledge and skill on camera equipment. For example I am now a pro at using a steadicam, Ronan and I know how to perfectly use the 80D DSLR cameras that we've been using. This year has been really fun experimenting with different equipment that I have been able to come in contact with and use on my projects. For collaboration, I have improved and affectively used this many ways. Mainly though when collaborating with either a short film/project crew or with the big movie crew. Everyone listens to what I have to say and they respect what I have to say and I really value that as the main DP. Communication is just another word for collaboration so again I have really improved and used this "guarantee" this year. A new way I have done this is communicate directly with actors and directors telling them what I wanted to film, how I wanted to film it and things like that. Project management is the only one I would maybe be lacking in just because of my lack of projects. But for them all I successfully got them done and turned in on time, correctly, and made professionally. Leadership is probably the guarantee I am the best at applying. I have successfully showed leadership by ways through leading on side projects, leading in the class and leading on set as the DP. It is the guarantee that comes the most natural to me and the one I feel like I am the best at.

However I do not plan on continuing my film career after eComm. I will probably not take another film class or work on another project as the passion just isn't there for me anymore and I doubt it'd return soon.

In conclusion I have very mixed emotions towards eComm, and not really all positive emotions. Certain things like teachers and students have ruined many parts of this program for me. Whether that be something related to video or in a completely different strand.

1st Semester Final Exam

One of the main highlights of the semester was filming all of this years Lip Dub

This was a very fun project and very challenging as there were a lot of different things to work out camera-wise. For example, we really had to decide if I would be sitting or standing while going throughout the school. Each had their own advantages, but we ended up deciding to push me throughout the school to maximize on speed and stability. As far as technically speaking, the equipment we used was pretty basic as far as DSLR and Lens, but we had ordered a new steadicam monopod and used it on this video, and I think it turned out very well. I am very proud of the whole team and how much effort and craftsmanship they put into this to make this truly a good video.

Now for class time. In eComm, a common trend is always going to be downtime. For me, not really involved with much other things besides eComm and not really doing any client work this semester, I would usually always have time to myself. This is when I would really excel on menu items and do things to further sharpen my craft, and take in as much inspiration/learning as possible. This would usually be done through technical reviews reviewing the latest 4k camera, a documentary describing a certain person or life on a certain film set, or even articles released by major film companies. But of course, whenever a class project called for my attention, I would always prioritize the project and do what I can to get it done.


 As far as my personal skills as a filmmaker, I'd say there's some potential. I understand quite well how to film and good ways to film well and film efficiently, and I do feel pretty knowledgable about this field of expertise. I feel like I think outside the box and think creatively when coming up with things like new shots or even new lighting techniques. And I do get along well with anyone I'm working with and always willing to deal and receive constructive criticism. I really maximize these strengths though by making sure I feel at home, and that is when I am behind the camera.

But with strengths always come weaknesses. Some weaknesses I have in other classes that ultimately translates over to eComm is the fact that I don't stay on task well and easily become distracted. This is evident when I need to do something like make a blog post and I end up just watching a documentary on youtube or something. It's something I am aware of and trying to eradicate.

This semester we also went on a field trip and toured a local movie theatre, and even tried out their MX4D technology. I personally wasn't a fan of it, I thought the whole experience just wasn't perfected, but I am excited for the future of film and where things like this can go, and even other types of immersion yet to be introduced.

Overall I'd say this semester was very productive both on a personal level and even on a class level. I feel like The whole class has meshed well and really made some great projects. I am truly excited to start on our movie and see where I can take it as the DP.

Justice League MX4D Review

As this week comes to a close, it is time to reflect on our recent field trip in eComm to the MX4D theatre at B&B Theaters in Shawnee, Kansas. Overall, I honestly hated it. I felt like the 4D was too tacky, it took away from the actual movie and it left me with an overall bad movie experience. It took the one thing that movies should always be, comfortable, and threw it out in the dumpster.

MX4D itself is a different kind of movie theatre. It is a theatre with essentially airplane seats, with a small footrest and features inside the seat that made the movie interactive. It also has jets on the armrest that can emit things like mists of water, air, and even smells of different things. It is a very good idea, but nit executed well. The imbalance and awkwardness of everything inside the seat made for an overall bad experience. 

Before I went and saw this I had seen a 4D showing of some Shrek thing at Disneyland a while ago, and that was the only real interaction I've had in the past with this kind of technology. But no, I would say that it definitely did not live up to my expectations, and the Shrek presentation was so much better. But I definitely feel that with constant improvements, in 5 years this will be so much better.

My favorite part though, if I had to pick one, would be the theatre effects like strobe lights and snow, and also fog. The strobe lights were probably the best executed part about the entire thing. They were always in sync and added a good 4th dimensional feel whenever they were activated. The snow and fog effects were also very cool, but very limited. The fog didn't reach past the first row and the snow was only in the middle, so the people in the front and also the back didn't feel any of it.

As far as my opinion for the whole movie, I'd say if MX4D did anything for my movie experience, it made the movie worse. The distracting features and effects took away from the movie and didn't let you fully focus on the movie. And a movie in a theatre should be a comfortable getaway to go see a movie, but this was not that. I wasn't comfortable once the entire time. It felt like I was on a plane with severe turbulence for an hour and a half.

If I get the choice next time between 4D and a regular 2D movie, I'm definitely choosing the 2D theatre because of the comfort factor and also no distractions caused by the actual theatre. 

Menu Week 3

This week I specifically researched more on my favorite cinematographer, Roger Deakins of movies like "No Country For Old Men" and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou." I looked mainly into his style that he used for things like transitions, silences, and his more artistic shots.

With Pre Production of this years feature film coming up, I would really like to nail down a certain style of Cinematography I'd like to incorporate in the feature. And so I studied Roger's work closely for inspiration from one of the greats.

Menu Item #3

This past week I mainly watched some more documentaries as well as did some research on professional grade equipment to further familiarize myself with the industry.
I watched documentaries to further research into techniques and possible inspiration for subject matter. I specifically watched Cartel Land, the documentary based on the war on drugs in Mexico and also on American-Mexican borders.

Menu Item: Documentary Styles

This past week for my menu item I have been watching different youtube videos about DP's and how they shoot, and mainly while shooting documentaries. The main DP I have been watching videos on has been my personal favorite, Roger Deakins. He got a start as a DP in documentaries and it was really interesting hearing his insight on how he portrays emotion through how he films and what he films. This can be portrayed through everything from how a person is shown, how exactly something is being filmed, or even how the equipment is being used. Personally I like documentaries a lot, and I would love to get the chance to film one some day. And if I did, Roger would definitely be an inspiration.

Short Film Blog

This was our first real film project of senior year ecomm and I had a lot of fun making it, and I hope you have fun watching it.

We based our script on an idea that someone in our class already had written up. We made minor changes to the script though, just because of limitations like actor availability and location availability. To start this out in pre production we all collaborated to change this script around to make it easier for us to carry out and produce. This involved changing the script and changing the main focus and also changing the plot points to match. We all got ready very easily and it was a smooth transition from pre production to actual production. Production started and ended all pretty easily, and it was very fun to film. The process took about 2 hours and we shot a lot of the same stuff just to make sure we have choices in post. Post production started at the start of the next week and it was very fun to look back at everything we had filmed. But we did have a problem, we had a lack of dialogue. It would've been OK but not the best. We decided to make it into a silent and old fashioned film, and it turned out amazingly.
My role in this whole project was to be cinematographer. I did not have that hard of a time doing this and I actually had a lot of fun filming this. I used a canon 70D with a standard 18-55mm lens. We then edited the next week all in final cut pro.
Overall I had a lot of fun on this project and there isn't much that I would change. But if I had to pick I would say I would've liked to try and find some better actors and locations, as I feel that we just settled for the minimum of what we could get. And to also incorporate more dialogue into the film.
Something I would keep the same though is the group involved, I feel like we all worked together very well and we were very productive while also keeping things light hearted.

PSA Project Review

The first eComm project of senior year was to make a PSA over a school-wide topic. Our topic in my group was depression and how to deal with depression, whether that be going to someone or an organization for help, or dealing with it yourself. Our process mainly consisted on finding a video idea that had a powerful affect on the topic that sent a message and also encouraged those affected to seek help. So once we found the video idea we met together and planned well on how the whole group execute this fairly and most professionally. And then we were off for the races and all went filming these separate reactions. Me personally my role was in the planning of this video, some filming and also editing my own version of the PSA, same as really everyone else. Something I would do different is when filming get a larger variety of those interviewed, as there is not much diversity. Something I would do the same though is find a way to make a light hearted, fun video about a very serious and very present topic. I will take both of these into consideration when making my next video that is related to this format.

End of Year Reflection

Junior year is coming to a close and that means that another year of ecomm is ending also. This was my first full year only focusing on one strand for 2 hours of the day, and I loved it. The friendships that I have made and the memories that we will  share are unrivaled. But this school year definitely was not the best for me, as I was very lazy and not motivated. This is the reflection on the year all together.

Lets start with the first guarantee, Technology. This year I got to be apart of my first real large-scale short film. And a perk of that is using an extreme amount of new equipment, and learning how to use that for the future. I know now more about the school's DSLR cameras, lighting kits, audio and other much needed components to a movie set. I also started learning a new program, Adobe Premiere. I haven't used this yet as I have only been taught Final Cut but I am very eager to learn more in Premiere so I can use it as my primary editing software in the future. But starting to learn a new program and understanding new physical equipment was definitely not easy, and I'm lucky I had a great group of classmates to help me out.

The next guarantee is collaboration. This year I was more involved in class-made decisions than I have been before and I really liked it. It was super exciting conversing and conspiring over a potential short film, and just being apart of a conversation like that was fantastic. I even willingly took a leadership role when working on group projects with other students. There weren't much challenges in smaller group projects because we were usually all on the same page, but the same can't be said about the short film discussions. That is one of the main reasons this class struggled so much is because we took an extremely long amount of time just trying to come up with something to make a short film over, but we did make one and it turned out fantastic.

The next guarantee is communication. I greatly improved my communication this year as I did much more. First off, I was really involved and present in the discussing of the short film ideas. I also did my first client work project which involved a lot of communication, to make sure the client gets exactly what they want. I mainly did face-to-face conversation which was very good for me as the experience is very valuable.

Project Management is the next guarantee. I didn't do very well in this guarantee at all as I was pretty lazy. I could have done a lot more to put in more effort and get some serious projects done but I chose not to. I did though learn what I need to do for when I try harder next year.

And the last guarantee is leadership. I did very good in this as for all of my projects in a group I took the leadership role almost immediately. I know how to talk to my group and get what I want out of them.

This year had so much potential but I let myself down and I let down my teachers also. I really feel like I under performed and I hate that. Next year will be much better.

Semester One Reflection

The first semester to junior year eComm is coming to a close. This semester has been fantastic and I have come to love the entertainment strand even more.

This semester has mainly been used doing client work, because of lack of progress on the short film. The short film is something I hope will happen next semester.
But as client work goes, I have done a number of projects. I have completed work for clients including a fellow students's father and the ONW Engineering academy. I still have ongoing projects though with the company Fun Services. I really enjoy doing client work and I hope to continue, as I am benefiting greatly from it. The program gives me a great opportunity to connect with more and new clients that I will use to build experience and skill.

As this semester has passed along I have realized many things about my self. The main things have been new strengths I have noticed. I have also realized that I am better than I think at some things like editing with Final Cut or talking to potential clients. But one of my main strengths has been my creativity. Creativity in mainly storyboarding shots and even cinematography in general. My works have been very nice stylistic and I take pride in that.

Some areas of improvement I need, however, is an improvement in things class related. I tend to be lazy in certain things and maybe even procrastinate a few  projects. I hate this and I plan to fix this next semester.

Overall this semester I have grown a great deal. I have learned new responsibility and how to handle that responsibility. I am now a big part of my group and I can hold my own very easily and this is something I am proud of. I am becoming a better student in more than just ecomm, and this can only improve from now on.

Professional Project Review - Alone

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This short film was an award winning short film made by independent creators by Brock Torunski & Alex Vietinghoff. This short film won awards for cinematography and sound at the Halifax film festival. 

The main summary of the film is a man is living (alone) in a post apocalyptic world. The film starts out by him having a dream of the normal world, and then showing a normal day in his life along with his narration. He makes food, scavenges old houses for supplies and walks home. But they create suspense by having him narrate about him being alone on earth, while a house he walks past has a light turned on.

I really liked the cinematography in this film I thought it was fantastic. This film looked really good resolution wise and all the shots were clean and unique. I will definitely use this as inspiration for my future works.

Some things I didn't like about this film, however, was the actor and how he sounded. It might sound weird but the voice overs didn't match the characters face and didn't sound good compared to the situation. It just seemed a little awkward.

Another thing I didn't like was the setting. I know it was supposed to be set in a post-apocalyptic time but I could not tell at all besides the toothpaste in the drawer and the can of food. The house, street and even other houses all looked completely normal for being post apocalyptic. I know this would be very hard to do, but it doesn't look like they made any effort to make it look post apocalyptic. And in a narration he says he has been alone for years, so something should have definitely changed in the setting if the apocalypse isn't a new thing.

Overall I thought it was a fun watch. I don't think I would watch it again or recommend it, only for the reasons I listed above. I just couldn't get into it.

Personal Project Review

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This was a short promotional video that I made for a client. This was my first time making something requested by an actual client that wasn't requested by the school. It was a very cool experience and I learned a lot from it. It was hard at first trying to meet the clients needs but overall it was very fun.

This video was a behind the scenes for an online ad agency. We didn't film much because time was limited, so we had to use some of the same style shots again.

The Interview Beat Sheet

Cyle Kobe

The Interview

Overall, the interview was a decent movie. It had a good general idea and was kinda carried out well, but it was pretty ridiculous. The language and overall things they did/talked about was pretty ridiculous and pretty offensive. Still hilarious though.

Opening Image: Little girl sings anti USA propaganda in front of a rocket launch

Theme Stated: Challenge yourself to do better

Set-Up: Kim Jong Un is found out to be a fan of Skylark Tonight, and Idea comes to Dave

Catalyst: They leave a message for North Korea, and North Korea calls back

Debate: They are discussing terms of an interview

Break into Two: CIA comes and convinces the boys to try and assassinate Kim

The boys talk to the CIA

B Story: We realize Kim is feeling sad about what people say about him

Fun and Games: They boys have fun with Kim and his cars, tanks and other things

Midpoint: The boys become friends with Kim

Bad guys close in: Dave realizes everything Kim has been saying is false all in hopes to sway his opinion.

All is Lost: The bad guys try to stop the interview with force

Dark Night of the Soul: They prepare to sabotage the interview with their new partner, a worker for kim

Break into Three: They sabotage the interview, exposing Kim and his country

Finale: Kim is blown up by Dave and Aaron using the tank they used to escape from the compound

Them escaping with their partner

Final Image: Dave is reading his tell-all out loud, recapping everything that happened.

Animation Reflection

I learned many important things over the course of the school year in animation, one main thing being I learned about the Adobe Suite more and Maya. I learned this by being involved and originally enrolling in animation gave me the opportunity to learn more.

This is important for anything I do in the future. I plan to go into video and I can incorporate what i learned this year into what I make in the future. I can also use this if I plan on being involved in animation in the future. I have many opportunities because of this class and I am very grateful.

I wouldn't say I have many strengths in this class, most things were pretty hard for me to do. I had to ask my neighbors for help many times and I struggled a good amount also. I have some strengths, however. One being I was good with green screen and keying out the green screen. I was also good at a few things in Maya like motion paths and curving things. I have however improved greatly on just my knowledge and technical ability over the course of the year. I am much better now than I was in September or October.

If there was anything I would change it would definitely be my work ethic at the beginning of the year. I feel like I definitely fell behind and I didn't understand much of anything that was going on. I had to ask for help many times and struggled a lot. I feel like I can definitely handle this class now just not at the beginning of the year.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Mr. Netterville for a great year in Animation. He definitely helped me a lot and his class was so much fun to be in. His classroom had a very comfortable, lighthearted atmosphere and everyone in the class also felt this. Netterville also knew what he was doing with the programs and how to help us which was very good. Thank you Mr. Netterville!

Professional Article Review

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review.html?_r=0

This article was all about the new Star Wars movie. The main points of it were: JJ Abrams learned from the best, JJ did a really good job at casting minorities and that JJ did really good at staying true to the original movies. The author was mainly arguing and claiming that JJ did really good by learning from Lucas and Spielburg, and staying true to their movies. The strengths of this article is that it gives really good evidence, and a weakness is that it only stays on one main topic. This is a very good article about the new Star Wars movie

Professional Project Review

The professional project I reviewed this time was an animation called "The Colors of Evil." It was an animation mainly about a girl that was bullying another girl, and justice was served in the end with the help of a demonic presence.

The animation was very well done and included some really good detail. For example, the hair is textured to match the lights in the setting. Everything else including the demon especially has very good detail.

One element I would apply to my work is the use of strong, bright colors. This animation has very vivid colors and it looks very nice. I already know how to do this but I haven't applied this to any projects yet.

The creator did many things well, like making the characters look very good. They were colorful and full of detail. One thing he didn't do very well however is add enough detail to the background. I think this was a very good animation, I would be very proud of it if it was my own work.

Technical Tutorial

Hello, today I am going to show you how to make a motion path and attach a camera to it for animation purposes in Autodesk Maya.




First, make sure you are in modeling and on the Curves / Surfaces tab. This tab holds everything you need for making a motion path.

Now, select your shape and scale it to the desired size.

This is all the tools you can use to make a motion path

I went with a circle. I then scaled it to the desired size

Now, go to the Rendering tab and select the Camera

It is the one with the camera on the grid

Now drag your mouse over both objects, selecting both.










Next, go from Rendering to Animation. Then at the top, select Constrain>Motion Path>Attach to motion path

Now, your camera is attached and you can continue with Animating!

Personal Blog Post

This is my personal, animated logo. We had to design a logo in Adobe Illustrator, save it so it could go into Maya correctly, then Animate it. It was a fairly easy project. I spent the majority of my time designing my logo and getting the right colors I wanted. I learned in Maya how to:

• Apply a camera to a motion path
• How to make a motion path
• How to render out using the attached camera
• How to open an Adobe Illustrator file in Maya correctly
• How to change the direction and path of a camera in the graph editor

Final product after designing and animating

If I do something like this again, I will definitely use the motion path and camera. I found it to be really easy and simple to attach a camera to a simple motion path. I put the logo in a box so I could get rid of the black background and shift the viewers attention to be solely on the logo.

This was a very fun project, and I learned tremendously about different techniques.

Video Final

Our semester final for convergence journalism was a full news package that we made entirely. We all had specific stories, mine was about an underclassmen play. I got my partner, made a story and submitted it for the final. The final news presentation was relatively easy as all I had to do was submit my story and operate the camera. Every little job had someone that was in charge of it and I feel like our news show went pretty well. I really liked working in this group setting as there was tons of collaboration and feeding off of other peoples' ideas. Our group cooperated pretty well, which was good because we were all in the same finals-mindset. We definitely worked well together. There was some confusion on what exactly to do though, as we didn't have much help from teachers. If I were to assign this project to students, I would assign it much earlier than when we got it. Our group was kinda stressed out with thinking about upcoming deadlines. Heck, even some of our final news stories weren't done on the day of filming. This would've been avoided if we would have gotten the project even a week earlier. I learned a lot more about news rooms and their equipment, and what the people go through to push out these news packages. I have developed a new found respect for all of those associated with convergence journalism, mainly our school's news team.I didn't learn very much more software skills though, as I am fairly familiar with all the programs we used. If I do something like this again, I will definitely manage my time better as something I lacked was time. I hope to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of news and what makes a successful news story.