Point A to Point B Project Idea

So I have an idea that I want to work with for this assignment- it’s a simple narrative, but it answers to the assignment. I also am hoping to make this movie without dialogue.
The narrative begins with a man who is working on his invention. He is working for a bit and digging through a few boxes of supplies until he freezes. He drops his wrench. His eyes widen. He quickly puts on a jacket and rushes to his car. He speeds out of his driveway in a worried rush. Speeding down the road, a stray dog jumps in front of the car and he halts. The dog looks and runs around in place, and the man waves his arms attempting to shoo it. The dog eventually runs off. The man continues speeding off.
The man drives for a bit until he hits a three way stop. A car drives across as slow as possible, and he taps his fingers on the steering wheel. The tapping seems to get louder to him as he waits for the car to cross. He finally is freed from the stop and continues driving off.
Still speeding, he looks anxiously at the road and speed limit, wishing he could speed up. He speeds up a bit, until he notices the car stopping and slowing down with strange noises and pops. Seen from the outside, he throws up his arms and yells in anger, and then he turns on the emergency lights and gets out to check under the hood. He works with it for a bit, banging a few things and attempting to start the car, but he eventually gives up. He runs off into the distance, determined to go to where he wants to go to.
Cars pass on the road, and he continues to pass the opposing ones, stopping a bit to catch his breath and then continue. A small hardware store is seen, as he wearily approaches it. He rushes through the store. He digs through supplies until he finds the box he wants. He rips it open and pulls out a single screw. He smiles weakly, checks out, and a scene is seen where he places what seems to be the final screw to his invention.

Edit- His invention was determined to be a toy robot, as the end of the film reveals he builds toys.

Critique 1 Response

The first critique overall was very useful for preparing for the next project. Things I noted that were mentioned in others' critiques were often about lighting and pacing. I noticed that not enough light can create dominating darkness or very flat shots. Pacing also stood out among a lot of pieces, as cutting up shots and trying different angles could be beneficial for my next piece. Another note that stood out to me that I've run into before as a problem is to remember what the viewer sees of my work; I sometimes have something in my mind that isn't shown enough, but it's also important to not go overboard as well and be screaming a message or a narrative I'm trying to get across.

For my own critique, it really helped to learn that the panning was creating an effect for the viewers that I didn't notice. I also feel like I should have been more specific on the clothing I needed for my talent, as it came across that there was more than one character. I also learn I need to tighten more of my shots, and I need to focus more on edited shots and less extensive pans mixed with these unless I need a different effect.

My biggest issue I feel was my sound being too low after the edit, and I feel I can maybe work on this in general with both the filming and editing process.

Final Cut Pro

When first working with Final Cut Pro, it really is a precise program when it comes to each shot, and it was simple in the cutting aspects. I did wonder how adding more visual scenes or sounds on top of each other would function, as I am still not too confident on how to use transitions.

When I was working with my sound in particular, I was playing around with the volume, and I couldn't find out a way to transition from no volume to some volume as well as just transitioning the volume throughout the sound clip.

The program itself is very useful overall, and it really was a fun experience editing and putting everything together.

Lecture- Janet Koplos: Art Critic and Editor

Janet Koplos discussed many artists in her lecture that focused on the use of labor and manual skills in their work. Describing each one gave a good understanding of what particular skill and focus each artist had.

She began first with a video introduction of art that was designed to be demolished. She also mentioned Pollock to begin with describing how each of his lines were intentional and created depth for the eye. She described the definition of "process art" being the physicalness of what the art is doing. Adolf Wolffi was mentioned as an artist that focused on emotions through his own world creations, Gary Lang was mentioned as an artist that focused on a meditative aspect with the labor being euphoric, and Yoshihiro Suda's work emphasized craftsmanship through his flower wood carvings.

Tara Donovan was one of the artists that emphasized the philosophy of material through the use of creating her cloud banks with cups. Others such as Anne Wilson were mentioned as an artist who dealt with time and history through her work chronicling days with cloth. Janet Koplos also mentioned artists such as Liza Lou, Nina Katchadourian, Rona Pondick, Tom Friedman, and Aeneas Wilder, who was the featured artist at the beginning and the conclusion.

Janet Koplos's lecture overall truly emphasized the focus of the labor in art, and how the labor alone can be the art. This has made me think about my work in animation, and how I can move forward as an animator and illustrator, as well as question a few things as a digital artist in that medium.

Memory Shoot- Experiences

When shooting for this video, one of the issues I ran into that really affected the shots was that the sky was overcast for a recording that was entirely outdoors. I had checked the weather beforehand, and I had expected it to be partly sunny. The weather was the biggest issue, as it really affected the lighting. Another issue I ran into was there being no outlets for the lights at the parks. I drove around a few trying to find one that might have one, but I couldn't find any. I improvised a bit with battery-powered lights, and this could've been solved with a generator, but I wasn't sure about the price and time was running out at that point.

It was definitely an experience that was helpful overall though, and I discovered a few things I hadn't considered before. I worked with a child for the shooting, and she was a good actress for the shots, but directing her a few times made us both a little uneasy, and some moments came out a bit awkward. It was fun bringing the scenes to life, though, and I really feel like working with her and my crew member bonded us a bit as a group.

Memory Essay

I’ve broken my arm three times in my life- the one that was the most shocking for me at the time was when I was five and dislocated it.
I was a very quiet child when I was five, and I only really talked to my one friend in kindergarten. We were on a class field trip to the playground. When we first got there, I smelled the dirt and grass brush by in the wind, and the sun’s light glared on the playground’s shiny metal. I got excited and kicked up the dirt as I ran toward the slide. I smelled metal and squinted my eyes often from the sunlight. I went down the burning slide a few times, ignoring the heat.
My friend wanted me to play with her, and so I followed her, and we swung on the yellow plastic rings next to the swings. We ran through the dust and dirt determined to play on everything in sight. I then saw where my friend was running, and it amazed me. This structure, or often called “monkey bars”, was towering over me, and it was covered in bright silver metal everywhere. It smelled a little like rust, and its height especially intimidated me.
My friend was a bit of an acrobat for her age, and she leaped up there and went across. I listened to her hands hit the bars, and I climbed up the thin metal steps to reach the higher metal bars; I held on inhaling and exhaling a few times. The bars were hot, but not as hot as the slide. My friend called me a couple of times, and I complained it was too high. She went back and forth rocking the skyscraper bars and making squeaking sounds, displaying that it was simple. I breathed in again, feeling the wind and watching the rest of the playground. I grabbed the first bar and moved across slowly at first, and then kept feeling the bars and rhythm, I bounced and swung to the end. I decided to try again with confidence. I flipped around on the metal steps, and I felt one bar, two, and...nothing.
The moment seemed slow and quick at the same time. I felt the air I grabbed onto rush all around me. The grass smell seemed the strongest at first, and then I smelled the dirt as I landed on it. The sun was suddenly in my eyes, and I couldn’t breathe. I thought I’d landed on my back first, since I was on it. I looked around, and the playground seemed endless and the other parents and children seemed distant from the ground. The wind came again, and I tried to breathe with it. It unlocked me from the ground’s hold, and I then saw a familiar figure approaching. I got up feeling nothing wrong until I moved my left arm, and I suddenly felt a sharp pain. I looked at it and it didn’t look bloody or anything to me, but any movement felt like it was ripping. I looked up at the skyscraper monkey bars in the sun, finally realizing my defeat, and cold tears began running down my face.
I could hear my voice starting to make wailing noises on its own, and the fear of what had happened to my arm made the tears come faster mixed with the wind. I felt arms grab me up, and despite being happy for the comfort, the movement restarted the pain, and I continued to cry. My mom’s voice began asking what was wrong, and all I could through the wailing was mumble, “my arm hurts.” My mom asked for a car ride to the hospital, as my mind blurred watching the playground fade away toward the parking lot. I suddenly was in a small blue car, and I noticed my arm wasn’t bothering me. I moved it a bit as a test and the pain came back. I cried more, as the car started and the vibrations hurt my arm. My mom and someone else’s mom’s voices murmured in the background. The playground’s image blended into the trees as I was led away from the fun day.

Character Through Lighting Notes

We had originally chosen a the yellow room at our location, but there were outlet issues, and we moved to a different room. Here are the lighting maps of each:


The location was a house on Patterson Street in an empty pink bedroom.
The props used were: a chair, a bedpost, a nightstand, and the clock on the nightstand
The talent used was Susan Gibson.
Date: September 4, 2009

Log:
- Met at 4:15pm and went to the house
- Organized in the yellow room, but the outlets didn't work for the lighting
- We moved to the empty room with the appropriate 3-prong outlets
- Set up two lights
- Key light had white umbrella at first, but it was switched with back light's silver
- Used windows and sunset for light and adjusted camera
- Practiced with talent
- Filmed
- Finished at around 6 pm

Shot List:
- 1st: Talent looks at clock; medium/establishing shot
- 2nd: Talent looks toward wall; close-up
- 3rd: Talent looks at floor then rises from chair and leaves; medium long shot

Character Through Light Inspiration and Research

Researching for ideas, I found a few useful websites:

http://www.5min.com/Video/Video-Production-Lighting-To-Create-Emotion-82991777
A quick video link that presents a few simple lighting techniques that create emotions.

http://www.eyeconvideo.com/tips/lighting_tips.asp
This link features a webpage created by a production company named Eyecon; there's a lot of useful tips about lighting and details on dealing with different types of lighting.

http://www.randallwhitehead.com/news/emotion_light.php
A small article about dealing with emotion in daily light.

http://www.barbarabrabec.com/life_lessons/Widows-2_grieving-process.htm
A woman named Barbara Brabec writes about her story of grieving when she lost her husband. I thought this might help understand more of the topic we're focusing on.

Character Through Lighting Notes

When meeting in our group, we first talked about focusing on a mental or emotional state of the character. Focusing on the character's details, we decided to focus on a character that is dealing with an immediate family death: specifically a widow who's lost her husband.

We worked with the appropriate time of day and location next. Twilight seems the best for the emotional elements, and we discussed a few locations, such as hallway to convey the empty path, an empty bedroom, a cemetery, or the top or bottom of a stairway.

We didn't want to have too many props and to remain focused on the lighting, so we decided a small room/bedroom would work the best with the twilight aspect coming in through the window.

A friend has agreed to the part, but the time is still being set. I thought that a house my mom owns on Patterson Street would be good for the scene since there isn't much furniture, yet there's enough to create a scene.