Coming Down to the Wire

This was our last week before our last day of class. For this week, my group and I met up at my house and discussed for awhile the direction of the project. Where we wanted it to go? What we were missing? What we could accomplish before Ally could take it to 497? After a long, hard talk, we decided to film at Mike's house outside. We got his dog taking the teacups from the project as well as smashing and burning of teacups. There was no real motive behind why we wanted to do this besides we thought it would look interesting with the other footage we have already gotten. I think Ally will perfect the project in 497 and Mike and I will be there to help if she needs to ever capture more footage. We discussed more ideas today that could potentially carry over for all of us into the next semester. We all work well as a team anyways that I don't think it would be a problem. This semester has taught us a lot, individually as the roles that we took on, but also as a team. It is important to pick a great team that wants to accomplish what they came to work for and also that get the work done. Both of my teammates are phenomenal and I couldn't ask to work with a better team. We have each grown a lot that I have seen after working together over the past year and a half. I think that next semester Ally will focus a lot on the edit and sound as a whole for the project. Some footage may be tweaked, but that will be determined later.

Gobble Gobble

This past week the group and I met and discussed our next moves forward on our project. Ally captured some more footage, while Mike and I reviewed our Marketing and Distribution Plan. During the week of Thanksgiving, we plan on meeting back up and capturing our last shots outside of Ally's lake house again. Our main focus this week is sound. After talking with the class, we got some great feedback on what we could use for examples of sound. Since we are doing an experimental, we decided as a group to test a couple of the ideas that were thrown around. Then when we edit, we can decide which we thought sounded the best to go along with the footage. We like the idea of playing with wine glasses filled with water and playing different octave sounds. Also recording someone's voice reading the backs of teabags in a sexual tone. It's coming down to the very end of the semester and although Ally is taking this project to 497, we want to make sure it is decent and up to par with what we expected to have at the end of this semester. 

Fill up my cup ΩΩ

This past week was pretty crazy with everything going on for all of my classes. I got the chance to attend Cucalorus though, and I attended 5 blocks. I saw 3 features and 2 shorts blocks. My favorite block by far was the Orloff Shorts about love and romance. Every short I saw during that block, in my opinion, had potential. The cinematography was great in some, where in others the concept/plot was great. Overall, Cucalorus was a an interesting and educational event that allowed for opportunities to network with filmmakers and scholars of all different ages and locations. Since this week has been so hectic, it has been hard to meet up with each other, at least all three of us. Mike and I met up this week to work on our Marketing and Distribution Plan. Together we did a ton of research and hard work looking up different film festivals that we could submit to. As well as creating a website, developing a business card and business plan that includes a budget and schedule for when to submit our films. It was definetly a lot of work and educational for sure. There is a lot more than just making a film, when it comes to the distribution end. Especially if you want people to see your work afterwards.


I emailed this as well, but here is my Cucalorus response:
It's been a crazy week, but I'm glad I got to fit in five blocks of Cucalorus into my schedule. I attended 2 short blocks and a couple features. One of my favorite features I saw was Children of Salt, a 495 project done by UNCW students. I thought there was potential in the film; I liked the story plot and where it was going. It also helped me consider and realize if we wanted to really pin down our project and promote it, then it is okay to take as much time as needed to perfect it and submit it to film festivals. I took down mental notes of pros and cons throughout the screening and sticked around for the Q & A afterwards to here the filmmakers advice and experience. My favorite shorts block was the Orfollo Shorts (Love and Romance). Every short I saw during this block was of interest and really good. I can even see myself working on projects similar to these in the future. The editing and the cinematography were great on some of them. I absolutely loved the All is Fair.. short about the man and the prostitute. It was clever, cute and quirky. Also I liked the Insomniacs short because it was a different perspective on a concept that not many people consider. While we are all fast asleep at night, there are people who can't sleep and enjoy getting rest. Not to say I've pretty much turned into an insomniac this week from my workload schedule, but I thought what the director had to say during the Q&A was phenomenal. He made that film because it was something personal to him; it's something he suffers from. I like that aspect when it comes to filmmaking because I, myself want to make films that are relatable to me. They are challenging, but I think if done correctly like he did can portray a great message and something meaningful to inspire others. A shorts block that I was not really into this year was the Dance shorts. I don't really remember the actual name, but a lot of those shorts were confusing to me. They were more experimental which is what our project is geared towards for 495. There was one in particular that was interesting called Cracks. A man is going about his morning routine as he cracks all his muscles in a rhythmic pattern. The cinematography was beautiful and the concept was good. Overall, as a first timer at Cucalorus I thought it was fun. There were pros and cons about the festival in general dealing with logistics, but to focus mainly on the films and the stuff were working on in 495, it helped to see what we should be aiming for and focusing on while still in production. It's important to find a great cast and crew that is hardworking and also good at what they do. I've been blessed with the crew that I have for 495 and this year I have definitely networked with people that I know I can work with in the future as well from past experience.

Painting Teacupz

This week, Mike and I were on set and decided to experiment with more paint. We set up a cool set to represent if the cups were underwater and spazzed it out in paint. Mike and I took turns switching roles and he let me work the camera. We did a lot of canted angles and pans. We wanted to just try something completely different than what we had been going for. Ally was out of town this past week for a festival, but this week we plan on meeting up and working on sound. Also, we will discuss our marketing plan in depth to present to next week. We are all excited to go to Cucalorus as well and by the time our next dailies are due we should have rope snake and everything incorporated.

Experimenting Teacups

This week we didn't meet or film. It was a week to go over and through footage that we have gotten, as well as regroup on where we are heading. This week we hope to maybe squeeze in a shoot down at Ally's house again to capture the day time shoot. Ally has been talking about ideas for sound effects and sound mix. After our class last week, I think we got some really good feedback and ideas to consider for our next shoot. We've talked about having rope snake swimming in and out of the water. And incorporating some more colors and effects. The majority of the class liked the footage of the still teacups in the water and the low-keyed lighting on some of our shots. So we are planning capturing more footage of that.