Hilton 2 Project

Story Board -

Synopsis - Various items are used to travel between different parts of the hotel, using two people as the vehicle to move the audience through the space--from one object to another. This project is meant to include the idea of being eco-friendly, convenient, and comfortable as a combination.

Pitch - How it works. In relation to how the camera will get in tighter and then come out to larger parts, the camera's zoom, as well as simply moving the camera forth and back. The subject can also move closer and further from the camera. Objects that are to dangle in the air at all can be momentarily attached to fishing line to get the affect of flight. Conceptually, it is meant to incorporate what I deem to be most important about Hilton 2 in a simple fashion.

Ideas - My inspirations are partly from some older commercials by Hilton and Hampton. The idea of moving through the space comes from the opening theme of the British TV show, Hotel Babylon.

Tokyo Story Movie Review

I think for the day, it was probably a pretty well-received movie, especially since it made it over seas from Japan at a time when the country was still getting used to being out of isolation. The movie itself I found, dragged a lot in the plot line. Scenes like extended shots of numbers in the train station or an empty door for several seconds after someone walked out of the room were almost bothersome in length and could have easily been taken out. Close-ups were sometimes odd as well, because when a woman's head was turned halfway, the close-up would be dead-on, making the lack of angle throw off the line of sight from the viewer. Overall, there was just a lot of information that didn't need to be there, and in fact made the movie drag more because it was included. It took me several tries to get through this movie. I'm glad to finally be done.

H2 - Combinations

The key in this version is to walk through the spaces, using one item that at least two spaces have in common. Emphasis is often on convenience and comfort.

Teddy Bear Wars

Lighting Map

Set Dressing List

- Take out bookshelves

- Take out electronic devices (computers printers, etc.)

- Replace with pink fabrics, covers, etc.

- Dolls, etc.

Costume List

- military uniforms

-handmade costumes for bears

-marionettes

Call Time

April 2nd, 2010 - 4:30pm all crew report to filming location.

5:30pm all cast report to filming location

Location Photos - Teddy Bear Wars

Bedroom -

Teddy Bear Wars - Synopsis

Alex, Ted, and Imala, a group of spirited teddy bears, have been proudly owned and loved by a special little girl for years now. There's only one problem. A few soldier bears from her father's collection have managed to escape, and are looking for love. The battle for her room and a place on her bed continues every time she leaves the house, and only one group can come out the victor. When the people return, however, the girl might have other ideas about who is really victorious.

Talent Photos - For Teddy Bear Wars

Jason Hunt as Captain Paddington

Neville Williams as Lieutenant Becket

Devin Taylor as Lieutenant Kline

Timothy F. Joyner Jr. as Alex

Ken as Ted

Caroline Huss as Imala

Superstar Review

I think the lighting and voice acting, as well as the camera angles were really the strongest aspects of this film. I especially liked how the sound became distorted and the light got darker in the beginning scene with the record company man. The stage lighting was also superb. Haynes makes great use of panning to add movement to the scene. It was interesting how he weaved real clips of the times and meshed them with the materials he made himself--especially the clips relating to food and anorexia. Overall, an interesting (and slightly creepy) movie.

People as Props & Props as People Pitch (Teddy Bear Wars)

For this assignment, I've had a past idea crop back up into my head. This idea originated in an IPC project relating to progression in relation to materialism (China versus U.S.A.). It then progressed and was recycled as an idea for a Photoshop project in design systems.

I propose taking this idea and recycling it yet again, but putting a new spin on it. These teddy bears remain still and toy-like when a person is around, but when the people leave, they resume war with one another. There will be two groups. One group consists of identical white teddy bears with military uniforms. The other will have more variety. The second will likely be different kinds and colors of teddy bears to show a less carbon-copy army. These two groups battle ever time the humans leave the house. In fact, they have been battling for control of the house for so long, that they have forgotten why they are fighting each other or why they even want control of the house, which apparently has to do with which group gets to stay in the youngest member of the human family's bedroom.

The following is test footage from how I attempted to get the bear to move without touching him with my hands. I used wire to give myself better control over the bear's moments, but fishing line or thread, if attached to two separate places on the bear, would probably also give a fairly wide range of mobility.

Inspirations include:

Toy Story

The Hundred Year's War

One Piece: Episode 71: "Huge Duel! The Giants Dorry and Broggy!" <- Two giants who have been fighting each other for so long that they don't remember why they are fighting.

Filming Sock of Love

So, this whole process was really stressful. There was a lot of miscommunication back and forth. Stephanie bailed 2 days before we needed to shoot, so we had to get a replacement for Victoria. Being ready at the time we designated to start didn't always happen. For instance, we wasted a good hour on Saturday because the first thing we had to shoot required us to use the camera battery. Whoever had the camera forgot to charge the batteries the night before, so that added a lot of stress. Another thing we took away from this is just how important it is to keep some snacks & water on hand. Keeping your actors happy is a big part of getting the shot. If they're not happy, your job becomes harder and every is just in a bad mood.

Saturday was just one of those days where no one was really getting what they wanted and tempers were running high. We all had different ideas, little battery to film with for about half the day, and overall, it was just really difficult to get anyone on the same page. Another problem was the fact that the sock was never long enough. We just kept capturing his arm in almost every take. We had to get so close to our actress's face that it was bordering cheesy.

In the evening, strangely enough, things got better. One of the more grouchy actors was finally allowed to leave, and we had another batch of fresh actors waiting in the wings to do the next scenes, so everything went a lot faster. I also think the fact that we had a larger span of time to work in DA Media took a lot of Friday's pressure off.

Again, when I was on camera, I'm not particularly happy with the shots I made. I think I need a lot more practice before I'm going to be a good camera person.

By Sunday, I was really glad we weren't filming much. We were all really tired, so it seemed fitting that our actress got to lay around a lot in her shots.

For the house shots, there was one thing that really made me unhappy. There was a series of shots where she is sitting in front of the TV... and the TV is supposed to be lighting her face. But to be honest, the TV really doesn't give off much light when the room you're working in isn't completely dark. I kept being told not to bother lighting the shot, but it just doesn't look right when I play it back on screen.

All in all, this was a frustrating to film to shoot. I'm really glad we're at the editing stage.

Maya Deren - Meshes of the Afternoon

Deren appeared to use repeating objects and patterns like the flower, the knife, the figure with no face, and even the main woman of the film. In fact there is one particular scene where the woman is in two different places at the same time. Then there are scenes that don't appear to have much to do with the sequence (like suddenly appearing near an ocean), but the nature of the film to have no definite time or space seems to fix any issue of feeling like one has left the space created by Deren. This film uses a different approach to something that might seem completely natural, or even boring if it were simply captured on film.

I think this film was interesting in it's repetition. I personally probably wouldn't use experimental film as my own approach, but the ideas she had were a pleasant kind of different. She used a lot of imagery in relation to shadow, light, and space overall. Her sense of space is something I might take away from this for perhaps future use in my own films.

Just thinking

So I've been thinking. Deciding to be a Digital Cinema major there are two things I would really like to see happen before I graduate.

The 1st is: It would be awesome to have a set design class. Somewhere where you learn to really build that room into what you want it to look like, perhaps even learn to build stage props and backgrounds out of various materials. (Me and my roommate agree that we would both like to take this class...)

The 2nd is: My roommate is a illustration major, so I hear all the time about how they have to do a Junior project with a photo student & a graphic design student. Now, I know I'm insane for wanting this, but I think it would be amazing for 3D Animation (or Motion Capture) and Digital Cinema to get to do a project together. After all, that kind of thing happens in the real world a lot.

I'll have to run it by the right people and see what they think. I don't mind people saying no, but I have to at least ask...

Guest Lecturer Arthur J. DiFuria, Ph.D.

This lecturer was pretty amazing. Perhaps a little one-tracked and it took a while to get going, but otherwise, splendid. He spoke on the affects of Van Hanskirk as an artist with Roman ruins in art, and his relation to these ruins. It appears that many artists, including the famous Rembrandt had some relation to this artist, whether it be by work or by friendship. Hanskirk's drawing showed "human achievement and human error." This lecture also showed how images translate into different media. For example, a sketch that was painted, and then another sketch that was later made into a print. Humor was always present in this lecture (always appreciated). It was also nice to see what kind of professors resided in Moore, since I once considered attending there myself, when I was still a Senior in high school. I am still very much happy with the choice I made to attend MCA instead, but it's nice to see that quality in professors is shared by other schools as well. This lecture was one of the better art history lectures. In the future it would be nice if we could get at least one good lecturer relating to cinema. The only semi-lecture I got to see relating to the subject, I believe was on a Saturday last year.

Ben Fink Guest Lecturer

This lecture was a great example of what can be achieved by having a career in photography (and art in general). The commercial works shown of food were very clean and beautiful. Even the layered landscapes had beautiful tones and and blending of colors. He used light and (sometimes) color smartly. I quite enjoyed his commercial and early personal works. Layering of photographs appears to give a very surreal feel, not only in his work, but many others as well. His later work I felt was more personally and didn't necessarily need to be shown to public eyes. I was less fond of his later personal work. All in all, a good lecture.

Set Lighting Map

Rehearsal Notes - Sock of Love

Okay, so there were a few issues. The first of which was that we didn't have a revised script for the actors quite yet (which we made sure to tell them). Another issue was the fact that we couldn't manage to book them all for the same day. Still, the results seemed pretty promising even with a few bumps in the road.

Watching them all perform, it is clear to see that Stephanie (Victoria) has had some theatre experience. In theatre, people are taught to exaggerate movements, speech, etc., so they can reach the audience seated sometimes 50-100ft away. I've seen it many times when I was in high school, hanging around people who were in casts in plays and musicals. We might have to be careful when it comes to filming. The over exaggeration, though, should be just fine given the relative absurdity of the content. I'm pleased that we were able to get people with acting experience. Paul also seemed to be an excellent choice for both the voice and the puppeteer. Christi (Julie) seemed to bring a whole different kind of presence to the room. Since I believe that she has had relatively little experience acting, her reactions were quite natural. She really took the scene to a whole new level with all her little gestures and natural take on the script. As a group, we would have liked to get them all in the same room, but at least we have an idea what we're dealing with now.

We discussed placement of the sock puppet in relation to Victoria (usually closer to her). We also discussed that the sock's mouth should move in different shapes if possible.

As far as filming goes, we have a lot of coverage shots planned that we didn't film in rehearsal (and what we got from wide shot was relatively crummy in itself). We are also going to have to move the camera more smartly to pick up the actors' facial expressions. Another blip was the fact that Paul accidently was seen during the office part. We're going to have to be more careful. As a whole, things will go more smoothly once we have the proper equipment, the actual locations, and the fully revised script.

Props

This is a tentative list of props for Sock of Love:

- Sock / Sock Puppet

- Office supplies & decorations

- Car

- Glasses

- Popcorn

- Ice cream / Ice cream carton

- Flowers w/ Card

Dealer's Choice Pitch

Sydney Hunter is a high school girl whose life was good until her mother passed away in a car accident. Living with her workaholic aunt, she attempts to sew the pieces of her life back together on her own terms, until she’s given a mysterious diary on her birthday. But when she goes to write her troubles down on its pages, she realizes that her personal journal is actually a two-way connection to a boy, Andrew Lions, that may just save her from the loneliness she feels.

His good nature on paper doesn’t reflect his sarcastic remarks in real life, but as the audience learns that her aunt has made this older boy, the girl’s personal guardian, we realize that he knows her, but she knows him only vaguely from the distant past where his mother once invited him over as a family friend. Even more alarming is the fact that he doesn’t appear to be quite fit for the job. In life outside the journal, he’s a freshly graduated college student who works as a part-time plumber. He’s completely rough around the edges, and doesn’t seem to trust anyone until he meets Sydney.

Sydney on the other hand is a bright, sensible senior in high school who tends to only see the good in others, getting hurt by the constant betrayals of those who seek to use her good nature. A dare that she writes about planning to take makes him come running to her rescue. As a result of finding her and having coax her (a girl afraid of heights) down from a tree he tosses the journal aside and ultimately ends up revealing his identity. At first he attempts to deny it, but when she confesses that she likes him he can’t turn away. Instead, he awkwardly begins a relationship with her.

*Central point? People and relationships aren’t always good or bad, black or white. Everything’s usually a shade or gray. We may not know why people are they way they are, but people come in layers… sometimes the under layers that we only show to a few select people

*Central goal of this film? Overall, the two change each other for the better, and get together at the end. I guess you could say, the goal is that he becomes a better person and she feels less lonely.

*In abstract terms? In abstraction, there are often forces out of our control that make up things like love. In this case, it’s a magic book and a freak accident. Things don’t always go the way you plan, not even when they’re planned perfectly, but that doesn’t mean they have to end badly.

Project 3 - Inspirations

This idea derived out of a few different sources. The first is amovie called The Lake House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fInwmjONHw The hook and line to this film being that two strangers are communicating through a house's mailbox, through time (a span of 2 years).

The next is from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in reference to tom Riddle's diary.

It refers to a split soul's ability to communicate to the living (and suck their life force) and after he is deemed to be dead.

And the third (and probably most strong) inspiration is a book called Dengeki Daisy.

A man is made to watch over a girl after her brother passes away. She doesn't know his identity for a while, as she texts him pieces of her life on her phone. She doesn't know, but the two have already met and become friends. He is often thick skinned to most, and violent to those who threaten her. His good nature is often painted over by a false facade of sarcasm.

Project 2 - Video Lock

So while I was editing, I noticed things I hadn't noticed while we were shooting. A few significant errors were a sound issue, lighting issue, and placement error. At one point the sound goes out completely for several takes, then abruptly comes back in (I'm almost completely certain we didn't change anything in between). Hopefully, I can get the chance to fix this error when I sound edit later. Another issue was lighting. At one point in a scene (which was also in the no sound range) was lit drastically different. I suppose the lesson is that even a light that does not light an area directly can still affect it if its taken away (especially in the case of a colored light). One last error to note is that there was a scene where my arm and the top of Ashley's head were in the mirror of the shot. We had intentionally attempted to hide in a place we thought we couldn't be seen. Lesson learned - multi directional mirrors are bad, bad, bad!

Otherwise, the edit went smoothly. There were a few rocky moments, but for our first real film, I'm very pleased.

Project 2 - Self-Critique

1. Title: The Bad Day

2. Main Idea: The original idea was a woman who was having the worst possible day of her life--she gets fired from her job, her electric gets cut off, and she finally loses her house. The end result or combining three different versions of this turned into something much more mild.

3. Source: I suppose the idea originated out of a group discussion between Ashley, Robbie, and myself. We all know what a bad day feels like, and how that can come crashing down on your shoulders. I can't speak for the other two people in my group, but it felt slightly personal in parts. There have been days that all I wanted to do was just go home go to bed and forget that they ever happened.

4. Audience Key Emotion: Even with the content of someone having such a horrible day, perhaps the audience can see humor in it all, as well as the anger and frustration that comes with it. Bad days are a kind of plague of injustices--usually one right after another. Yet on more than one occasion, I found myself laughing, because on some strange level, we feel the humor as well as the anger.

5. Synopsis: A woman has an overwhelming day at work. Attempting to stay on top of the situation, she leaves early, but her bad day doesn't stop there. Various incidents continue even at home. But the "bad" does end with the day, and the next day, she's ready to be back on top of the world.

6. Theme When Finished: People seem to get the most upset over the little things--the stuff we know we can't change. Yet even though we sometimes are plagued with the daily grind, we constantly strive to go forward. Though hard work is not always rewarded, at some point, there comes a limit to how much can be thrown at us, and when we reach that limit, somehow everything lightens up. There can be no dark without light, discomfort without humor, or strength without pain. After all, hasn't it been said, "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"?

7. Our Strengths: One great strength of this film, I think, is that it contains some measure of humor. When I looked at the last stack of papers and boxes that was being stacked inside the office for the last office scene, I just had to laugh, because I would have walked out too. It shows us the meaning of being "human." I think that is an area that we succeeded with this film. We took what was good in the original idea (the overall "bad day" concept) and toned it down to relate to the average person. I was also quite pleased with our actress's performance throughout. I think she did quite well, especially knowing her shy personality, so kudos to her.

8. Problems: Lighting was always an issue. Right off the bat, I knew that the actress we had didn't own a pair of contacts, so we were going to have to be as careful as possible about the glare on her glasses. The spaces we were working in often made our lighting sets overpowering. Since some of the scenes I was scheduled to light took up a lot of area and time in shooting, I often found myself looking for alternatives (extra filters, perhaps a way to use a bounce card, subtracting a light source, asking the director time and time again what their preference for the lighting was). Sound was only an issue in my mind because it was always something that I kept forgetting about. I kept forgetting to turn the mic on and off, and on one particular take, I'm still not entirely sure everything was connected correctly. The wind outside this weekend was also atrocious. I've heard countless complaints about the same wind from other students in my sound class, as they recorded sounds outside this weekend. It wasn't something that could be changed, but thank god for the muff. Without that, it would have been even worse. All in all, I got much better with the sound as time went on. I just need more time and experience with that equipment. The only problem with the camera for me seemed to be my zooms. I still need to get the hang of the speed and timing for them, as well as when I actually want to do a close-up. Overall, my main challenges lay mostly in technical things and inspirations to write a version of the script that could be combined later. Scripting challenges, however seemed to be aided by ideas from the other two people in the group.

9. Journal: One thing I learned is that, while the three-light system is probably ideal, it doesn't seem to work well in small spaces. One or two lights is about all a small space can take. I also learned that while the three-light system may be overpowering, a single light can supplement an overhead light or even a built-in side-light. Another thing that I learned by the end of the day was just how long the process takes. The first time setting up with all the equipment, plus props, took nearly two hours. We were trying to help each other remember everything, and so it took forever. Also, in the future, if we plan to shoot in more than one location, I think we should probably plan for more than one day of shooting. There was a lot of waiting for various people throughout, depending on their appointed tasks. Another fantastic discovery is that it's great to have more crew members than just you. :) I wouldn't have made it without the other two members of this group this time.

Lighting and Eyeline

Eyeline -

Observing the eyeline of people filmed on screen, normally, people appear to be at the 2/4 area of the screen, or perhaps even the exact line where the 1/3 and 2/3 part of the screen meet.

|---------------------|

|---------------------|If this <-- were a TV image, the eyeline would be

eyeline <-- here

|---------------------|

|---------------------|

|---------------------|

This of course, varies slightly for far away shots, but for middle and close-ups, this formula appears to be common, as seen in series such as Torchwood and movies like Hunt for Red October.

Lighting -

Lighting appears to vary. On TV shows such as The Office, outdoor lighting and simply the use of built-in overhead lighting seems to be used quite frequently. To make characters pop out from their surroundings, background objects were often placed out of focus. One series that I believe has excellent lighting is Legend of the Seeker. While many shots appear to be outdoors, Shadows appearing on the face are softened dramatically. Dungeon scenes appear to cast more harsh shadows, indicating a creepy atmosphere. When the characters go into a dark area at a time of intense drama, backlights are increased for an intense halo, while almost completely doing away with any source of light for the face. While movies like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy used similar effects, their lighting crew went above and beyond. In the scene involving the first meeting of Galadriel, a set of christmas lights were strung up in front of her as to reflect "starlight" in her eyes to symbolize her wisdom and immortal nature. Light appears able to create mood, verify the reality of a location, perhaps tell something about a character, or to add drama or calm to a scene. Without lighting, the world of movies and TV would likely be doomed.

In the real world, light is not so perfect. Looking around, flourescent light appears in a large amount of office and school buildings, causing a person to look rather flat and overly illuminated. Other overhead lighting causes shadows in areas of the face that are not usually shadowed (upper forehead, versus bottom lip). Lamps usually light one side of the face. Touch lamps are much like studio lights, and create a very interesting array of shadows based on your proximity and location in relation to the touch lamp. Indoor lighting can be somewhat of a trial and error process.

Group Assignment - The Portrait

Partners for this project are Robbie Siskin and Ashley Holmes. Remaining elements of assignment can be found on their blogs.

Costume List:

Casual shoes (1 pair)

Formal shoes (1 pair)

Jeans

blue tank, checkered over-shirt

Black Pants

Long Sleeve White Blouse

Gray Vest

Props List:

• fake flowers
• photo w/ frame
• vase
• paper
• pens
• clipboard
• post-it notes
• porcelain cup
• boxes
• portfolio
• keys
• car
• step ladder

Set Dressing List:

• Paper
• boxes
• include most pre-existing materials
• clear away various changing elements in the warehouse & household clutter

Shot List

• Robbie directs - warehouse scenes (camera - Celia, lighting - Ashley)
• Robbie directs - office scenes (camera - Ashley, lighting - Celia)
• Ashley directs - outside of house scene (camera - Celia, lighting - Robbie)
• Ashley directs - coming into house and walking through dining room and kitchen scenes (camera - Robbie, lighting - Celia)
• Celia directs - balcony scene (camera - Robbie, lighting - Ashley)
• Celia directs - bathroom scene (camera - Ashley, lighting - Robbie)

Shot Date/Call Time/Logistics

All cast and crew meets at MCA at 10am on Saturday 2/6/10.

The Movie Vertigo

Like many of the movies on the list to watch for this class, it didn't get very high ratings on my netflix cue, which is probably why I had to watch it on three separate days to get all the way through it. All that aside though, the movie's plot was a bit too repetitive. All of the sound in movies from Alfred Hitchcock (crow sounds & in this movie, the music) is a bit obnoxious and repetitive. The idea was interesting in science fiction, but unrealistic. The first issue being that no person would be completely unaware of a single car following them for so many hours and days at a time. Also, the relationship events that occurred were severely unlikely. Married women do not simply decide to have an affair with a man they meet for the first time, and unmarried women wouldn't put up with being turned into someone from a man's past relationship.

Another thing about this movie was that it dragged on for far too long. There were far too many stops along the way to get to the main point. Something that should have been done and over in an hour or an hour and a half was dragged out for over two hours. All in all, this was not my favorite film.

Introduction & Movie By Any Means Necessary

Monologue: Danger Phobe

Script (I'll learn how to write scripts better later, I'm guessing)

----

Narrator: [Reading Newspaper. Glances at camera, and begins to turn away, but sees something and turns back to the screen slowly]

“What do you want?”

[looks back a paper for a moment and pauses, but then continues to speak]

“I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is still no. No to mountain climbing, and almost certain death. No to dealing with those stupid monkeys, and their idea of a ‘bon-fire.’ That so-called nature camp is a death trap!”

[Turns toward camera and continues on rant] “Hell, I can see the trees going up in flames already!”

“And if that isn’t enough, you still have to fly on a plane to get there. Did you know, there are over eighteen different ways for a plane to bite the dirt, and ultimately get you killed?”

[Forgets about newspaper and begins to rant to camera.]

“You’re pilot can be intoxicated! The plane can be too heavy, or you can fly into a volcano… or have a mechanical error… or be hijacked… or have engine failure… or poor weather… or a mid-air explosion… strike power lines, have a tree collision, a take-off failure, lightning strike, microbursts, engine fire, propeller failure, wing stalling, structure failure, or landing error! Or if you’re really unlucky, you could just disappear! It’s that Bermuda Triangle! Sure… they say it’s a myth, but how does anyone really know? Have you been to the Bermuda Triangle?”

[Pauses, raising an eye brow and nodding]

“Didn’t think so.”

[Turns back to newspaper]

“No, I think I’ll just stay here, in my home where it’s safe.”

[ruffles newspaper and falls silent. Suddenly lights go out.]

“Where’s that fuse box?”

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Project 1 - By any means necessary. Basically, I found myself in a bit of a hole for this project. I was hoping that this would clear up my severe case of writer's block that I've been experiencing lately, but I don't think it did a whole lot.

As a story, I'm mildly pleased. It irritates me that I haven't been able to come up with anything truly inspiring. I know I can write better than this. As for filming, I used iMovie. I understand how to use Quicktime now, but for this particular piece, I think filming at home was a better choice, both for the setting and to medicate my nerves. I debated whether or not to take this movie into Photoshop, but decided that all I really needed to do to it was to warm up the lighting, which could be done in iMovie.

The editing was a bit choppy. I originally made a bunch of takes with my glasses on, but the glare from the computer screen would have made for a difficult editing job, so I decided to do a few takes without my glasses. The overall mood seemed to change a bit towards what I was going for, so with the fact that it solved the glare problem, I decided to use the shots when I had no glasses.

I'm not entirely happy with my work quite yet, but I believe I will feel more confident when I am not the one in front of the camera.