Thoughts on 6x1

I thought 6x1 was a awesome class! I had heard from a lot of other film students that 6 x1 was one of their most enjoyable classes, and I couldn't agree more.  It is so nice to get away from some of the other classes and really have fun with this one.

I would have to say that the pinhole camera project was my least favorite, and would give it a 3 on a 1 - 6 scale.  I enjoyed taking the photos and making the camera - I thought that was a really neat concept, and the actually camera itself is a great idea. But it was the post production part that made it my least favorable.  Not that it was horrible by any means - it just was not as fun as the other projects.  Something about editing together a couple still images was a little stale, the sensory element brought back some of the sensation though.

I really enjoyed the bolex and pixillation/animation project.  I loved working the super 8 and the bolex.  I was really inspired by the pez movies we viewed and saw some of the reflected in the projects.

I wish our 3D project would have turned out more "3d"  but we were limited to a small space and some "technical difficulties" from other professors.  I could not stop laughing at the mockumentary horror film however.  I really want to do more mockumentaries now!

The Video race was fun, I liked it because I could work by myself on it.  It was nice to get a slight break from the constant group work.  I do like working with groups and think it is necessary in the types of projects we did, but when it comes to logistics and scheduling then individual work is definitely easier.

My favorite project might have been project 1 - the elements painting on film one.  I really enjoyed the magazine transfer, painting, scratching, and rayogramming on actual film strips and thought it made for a sweet film!

V V V Videeooo Race

I had a fun time with the video race.  Because of my work schedule I didn't have much time to go get the prop exactly when it came out.  When I went Saturday afternoon, I must admit I was mildly disappointed with the prop.  My first thought was "These will be so easy to scan,"  however after wondering around my house I figured out that I did not want to scan this stuff and instead wanted my project to be stop motion.   I found just about the weirdest thing I could... a doll torso jewelry holder, which would be the resting place for all the gels.

I wanted to create a fashionable world in my room so I grabbed some scrapbook paper ans set up a "runway" in the corner of my room where the sun hit it best.  I took about 150 photos on my iPhone which consisted of headless jewelry holder,  tin foil, an evil makeup brush holder, and some horrifying judges.

After I was done with the photos  I took them into Iphoto and enhanced the colors a little bit to give it an extra boost. In final cut I cut down and sped up some of the images in a way that made the timing feel just right.  I had no clue what to do about sound.  I was thinking about doing some ADR but then felt that might be a little cheesy, (and I am horrible at voice overs.)  Instead I landed on RuPauls "Supermodel," song which instantly got engraved into my brain.  I still am singing this cult like song.

This is the first video race I have ever been apart of.  I really wanted to do the 1 hour 1 take VR at visions, but was not able to participate in it, so when this assignment came up I was really excited!

3D Shoot

I had a lot of fun making our 3d film!  We were given horror, disaster, and mockumetary.  I was thrilled to have mockumentary. As a avid office guru I always wanted to try and piece together a witty mockumentary.  Disaster and horror were combined in our 3d shoot to make a monster film! 

I was really excited about our idea, which was to have two people freezing in the arctic on the verge of killing eachother, when BAM a snow monster (aka the abominable snowman) appears and destroys everything.  Our set was supposed to resemble an igloo, I guess our audience will be the judge as to if that is what they see.  I had a fun time making the set,  we had decked it out with some wording and different hues of blues.  Apparently some angry people went into the blackbox and destroyed it, but that just gave us all the more reason to improve our previous set. 

We didnt have much planned out as far as acting goes, which made it more fun because we just made up dialogue and actions as they came to us.  I'm pretty excited to edit this one and get hands on experience with putting together a 3D film. Also because I think the end product will be humorous to at least our group!

Rough Theatre

The idea of Rough Theaters relates very closely with student films.  Rough theater to me is something that one is passionate about, who wants to get a message across by any means.  Given the budget for a lot of student and independent films, this is not always possible.  This gives films a more 'wholesome' feeling though, as an audience we can see the more creative choices the filmmakers use and it also gives a film a more unique aesthetic.  Although traditional Hollywood movies have become the norm for most of society I think there is a large audience who still appreciates the idea of these "rougher" films.  I'm excited to shoot our 3-d film next week with the idea centering around the ideology of rough theater.  We have built a blue igloo out of cardboard boxes, have a interesting array of cast members, and are sure to bring some fun with dialogue in our mockumentary.  At first I thought " why would we want to build a set with cardboard boxes?" But after it was built I can see how great this will turn out in 3D, just get ready for our terrifying monster on the big screen!

The Saturday Shoot

I had such a great time at our Saturday shoot!  I think it is a great way to get the class involved together outside of actual class time.  Everyone had pulled together to make every aspect of the day flow. 

Our group was the first to shoot,  we had come up with a romantic musical idea for our 1 minute film.  It involved lots of choreography and precision from our actors, so we rehearsed the scene at least 15 times (or so it felt.)  I opted to operate the Bolex because I had never done so before. I began to feel like I was weight lifting with the heavy object after an hour of holding it! 

After a ton of run throughs we finally shot it, everything went great!  It ended a little before one minute, so we must not have wound it enough. Thankfully we didn't cut any of the story telling out. The only thing that wasn't caputured was the romantic kiss between our two love struck characters.

After we processed our film we went to help the other groups.  I was the lead actress in a "stalker" film where I get stalked around campus by an unknown person (or thing, or animal! who knows!) I never got to see this groups projected film, but I'm sure it turned out great.

Throughout the day it stopped feeling as though we were in class but rather just on a fun film set!

Video Race Ideas

I was really inspired by the scanned images of Andre playing the recorder in class. I love the idea of using scanned images and throwing in some effects on final cut it would make for some good visuals.  I would really like to incorporate scanned images, scanned textures of sort sort and some sort of animation on after effects for the video race.  I thought about using my iphone, and still might use it for a little bit of the project but I would like the majority to be done through more traditional animation ideas. I also have played around with a program called "Animation - ish," that would look good for this type of film.  But I never purchased it and was running off a free trial run so i'll have to see if I still have days left for using that software. I have always wanted to do an animation of animals using different objects and textures that I scan in for a film and think it would be a fun idea for the video race. However, realistically I would like more time to complete something like this.  As far as plot or story ideas go I am still trying to come up with a solid story to follow.  I probably will nail this down when I find out the mystery prop ( I guess you could say I work well under pressure.)

I want the tone of this film to be funny.  All of this will be happening in such a quick paced time frame, so I want to incorporate that feeling of urgency into the project, but still make it look sweet!  I think it I tried to make the film dramatic or sad the emotions would be lost and I would not be able to pull it off.

I have never done any sort of video race so I am excited to do this one.  I remember watching some of the 6 x 1 projects the summer class had done last year and they looked like it was a lot of fun to work on, and the end product turned out really cool and inviting! 

Cameraless whaa?

I really enjoyed cameraless film making.  This was something new to me that I had always wanted to try.  When we first talked about it in class I had all kinds of crazy animations that I thought would look cool on film.  Then when I actually tried to attempt the animations...well...lets just say they looked nothing like I had pictured.

I never actually got to paint on the film with oil, my partner did most of that - but I thought that part looked Awesome on the film! And when the film ran through the projector I could actually tell what it was and what part of the film that was. 

I tried to write out the phrase "Our Earth" with pieces of magazine letters.  I had thought that when this ran through I would actually get to read "our earth" and would be able to distinguish it.  Boy was I wrong!  I was so surprised when it played so fast, a bit disappointed, but it looked cool nonetheless.

I also had scratched out film to give the appearance of a tornado moving (for the element of wind)  This is something I could actually see when it was played.  It looked exactly how I wanted - I just wish I had scratched out more so it would play for longer.  My partner, TJ, did I great job with his stick figure animation.  I could precisely see the man doing actions.

I enjoyed all aspects of this project,  it was unique and creative and made me feel more like a experimental film maker.  I must also end with saying that it felt so sublime to be sitting on my couch with a nice glass of wine, scratching on some film, and watching the Oscars all at the same time!

Sounds of Harmony

When I was reading this article all I kept thinking about was the sounds in "The Ring" video.   I think you all know what I'm talking about if you've seen the film....creepy right?  I posted a video in case you don't remember :)  This is an instance where sound definitely plays with your emotions and feelings.   Sound has  a huge impact on cinema experience. If we were to watch a thriller or romance, and there was no score to accompany the image we would be lost.  As a movie goer I need that score, or sound of footsteps against snow - to get the full effect of the scene.

On the other hand, one of my favorite sounds in film is silence.  Silence makes the viewer think, and I believe it makes the audience take in the beauty of a shot.  In Visions we have just finished screening numerous undergraduate films for the festival.  One experimental is coming to mind that is completely silent.  If that were reversed I do not think the film would have the same effect.

 

Wells theory of Animation

I must admit that I have always been a huge fan of cell animation.  Maybe its the disney princess I long to be but I have always admired the work of that these artist.  I started watching other types of animation a couple of years ago and I do love these styles of animation.

I think that well's "unorthodox" animation is more of an artistic experience than the typical "orthodox" animation.  It seems that it challenges viewers to think more about what is being brought to the rather than cartoons and cell animation - which brings a more narrative experience and deals with telling a more simplistic story.

I do appreciate both art forms,  I enjoy the storytelling in "orthodox" animation, and also enjoy the creative artistic measures brought to me in "unorthdox" animation.  I am more of an orthodox animator, and choose to draw typical cell animation figures.  This class along with other art forms have let me experience other realms of animation.

Cameraless Filmmaking!

I had never really thought of the idea of cameraless filmmaking before hearing about 6x1.  I knew of it and that it was possible, but I could not really grasp how it was done.   Though we are fresh into the semester I feel like I have a more general knowledge about how it can be done.  I can't wait to see our finished projects!  Last week I worked on the rayograms while my partner painted on film.  I was surprised by how cool some of the film strips looked.  I especially liked the way makeup looked on the film strip.  It gave a cool blue tone to the film.  This week I will be experimenting with scratching and painting on the strips. Can't Wait!! I am also very excited to see how the matchbox camera project will turn out. These creative techniques have opened my mind up to a whole new world of film.

Synesthesia and cymatics

Upon finishing these very intriguing articles I have concluded upon the fact that - I want to experience Synesthesia!  I'm not saying I would want it around permanently (well depending on what the circumstances may be,) but to experience something like looking at a cat and smelling roses would be awesome! I found artist Carol Steens reaction to acupuncture eye opening.  It impresses me that she took her image from the brain and made a piece  of art out of it.  But I suppose tha'ts what the brain is -  a piece of art in itself.

If the science behind cynamatics is more unveiled to the population I believe this could be used in mainstream movies, songs, and art all the time. It is extremely thought provoking and like the creative technologist, Evan said cymatics is really a magical tool that I had never really thought about.  Now that I have a beginning working knowledge of synesthesia and cymatics I would like to try and work them into my film projects to come.

First Response Exercise

The sound and picture of this short went together like magic.  All the beats matched up with exploding images on screen. I kept thinking the screen would go black and the whole film would end, but was surprised when the colors and shapes would start up again. I noticed that the shapes got bigger and smaller as the music crescendoed.  The colors were also of all vibrant sorts and if by some chance the color was bland I never took notice.

During the film I heard things like animals, the buzzing of crickets, Jazz like music, people hustling about their days as if they were in rush hour in NYC.  There were also hospital like beeps in the beginning and whenever the sound got chaotic the on screen magnificence exploded.  Could all of these images been scanned in? All I have to say is WOW what a interesting piece, and also - I hope you don't have epilepsy when viewing this :)