Response to 1D, Self Portrait Brainstorm, and Cucalorus Reflection

-

1D
I didn’t realize how much I relied on sound to determine my cuts. My tendency is to cut with a sound and match the tempo. After watching the final pieces of our classmates, I think a lot people have the same habit. Ashley had to remind me that it doesn’t have to be that way because it was an experimental project. We decided to make some of the film the way I instinctually did than experimented with the rest. For these parts, we muted the sound clip so that we could focus solely on the visuals.

Self Portrait
I am thinking about attempting do the an animated short of myself. I would first start this project by shooting a two-minute clip of myself doing something, speaking to or just looking at the camera. I would bring this clip into After Effects and sketch over the lines of my face with the brush tool going frame by frame. To be able to create what I envision in my head I would need a drawing tablet, so I need to figure out if the department has one at my disposal. Using the mouse would create very ugly, jagged lines. I was thinking of putting this clip to my heartbeat or if I am speaking in the clip, record myself and play it along with the animation. I’ve wanted to experiment with animation and sketching for a while.

Cucalorus Reflection
My plan for Cucalorus changed because my mom ended up coming to visit to attend the festival with me. I had to adjust for school work and also wanted to accommodate my mom and see films that she would be interested in.

I ended up seeing Abigail Falls, Wild Nights with Emily, Farmsteaders, Mapplethorpe, and Burning. I stayed for the Farmsteaders Q&A and hearing the filmmaker talk about her experience making this documentary made me realize a lot of the process is figured out along the way. Sure, a lot of planning goes into film preproduction, but you have to be prepared to have struggles, go with the flow, and problem solve.

My favorite experience was seeing Burning. For the first ten minutes there was no sound over the dialogue, so we saw the characters mouths move and heard the background noises but not their voices. The film was in Korean and had English subtitles, so I thought it was an aesthetic choice of the filmmaker. It turns out that the speakers weren’t connected so people came in to fixed it and we restarted the film with the dialogue. For that first ten minutes I thought it was such a creative and original idea to make the film like that, even though it wasn’t intentional, it inspired me to hopefully make something similar. The filmmaker also captures the South Korean city and the countryside, which was a great contrast. I particularly loved that this film transitions from a drama into an intense thriller/horror film. The filmmaker wove beautiful metaphors throughout the film which I would love to go into detail about but surely, I would ruin it, so I encourage everyone to see it!!

My experience with volunteering with Cucalorus made me understand what it really takes to pull off such a complex event. I feel like Cucalorus is more abstract and more laid back than other film festivals which I like. I think this attracts viewer with similar characteristics, openminded cinephiles rather than pretentious movie critics. I had to take photos of the screenings because the ticket system Cucalorus used this year had major malfunctions on Saturday and Sunday. Pictures below.

            
Abigail Falls                                               Wild Nights with Emily
             
Burning                                                                       Mapplethorpe

Farmsteaders


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fred Camper, Maya Deren, and the Student 7

-
The Student 7 spoke to me in particular because I value doing all those things but sometimes they get pushed to the back of my head and are sadly forgotten. When writing my goals for this year I'm going to try to incorporate more things that align with these guidelines to get the most out of my senior year. I think many of the rules go hand-in-hand, for example I found a love for French cinema by taking a class spontaneously leading to me viewing a lot more foreign and cult cinema and in turn I began attempting to create my own atypical projects. Naming, and Defining, Avant-Garde or Experimental Film The fact that experimental films is undefinable is the pure essence of the mode. There are no parameters or limitations to what can be deemed experimental and that's what I consider to be the main beauty of it. I think as the mode progressive and grows, one term will become more universal. Having said that, I don't see anything wrong with this mode having multiple names. ...
Read more

Self-Portrait revision and Group Project Role

-
The way OK Go! Came up their name is great. It just goes to show how much impact a teacher can have on their students. My favorite video was One Moment. I can’t imagine what frame rate they used to capture that perfectly in slow motion. I also really liked Writings on the Wall. It was mind-blowing and stressful to me at the same time knowing if they made one little mistake, the whole video would be ruined. I began experimenting with overlaying my video with drawing/animation, but it turned out really badly. There wasn’t a tablet to check out that I could use, and my mousepad just couldn’t make smooth enough lines for my liking. So, I decided to take a different route and overlay images of social media and how the outside world might perceive me. Then I followed that with my positive affirmations. I hate listening to my voice, so I tried to make it as muffled as possible by using a free app on my phone rather than using the H6. I felt really uncomfortable making ...
Read more

From Art House to Cinema and Filmmaker presentations

-
      "From Art House to Cinema" by Rebecca Alvin     I think microcinemas hold immense cultural value. Sure, it is nice to sit in luxurious reclining seats in a giant multiplex but the authenticity and intimate experience in an independent cine-club is something really special and rare nowadays. In regard to experience cinema in one’s own home, it may be more ‘personalized but less ‘personal’. Attending an independent art house gives you a rare and personalized connection with the artists and other cinephiles around you. This is why I love going to Jengo’s Playhouse during Cucalorus. It is a small intimate place and the viewers are there because they want to have that close encounter with that certain film or artist.    Jonas Mekas' story was really remarkable. To live through being in prisoned by Nazis and be fearless enough to want to share that experience with the world is inspiring. Fair to say he was just as ruth...
Read more