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.