This semester drove me to work with new mediums and expanded my mind creatively. Although all the projects were enjoyable for the most part, this is how I would rank them:
1) Video Letter: To be honest, narrative is my favorite film form. Although still experimental, I felt as if I could tell a story through my video letter. It was also very open-ended, which allowed me to have creative freedom. I didn't have to use a certain technique or use a particular frame rate. This also made it interesting to see what others came up with. Keep this project!
2) Rhythmic Edit: Although these took forever to edit, the end results were well worth it. I enjoyed being able to showcase my talents and see my classmates as well. I got to combine two of my favorite things (film and cheerleading) in a creative way. This project enhanced my editing skills as well, which tends to be my weak spot in film.
3): Creative Crowdsourcing: I hate coloring. I'm horrible at drawing. This project was very time consuming, but the final cut is why it is placed at number three. When the project was introduced, I had a hard time picturing what the end result would look like. When we finally got to see it, I thought it was amazing. I was unsure at first about how well it would flow, but it turned out to be comprehensible. It was also ridiculously funny. I hope it gets into Cucalorus!
4) 360 Camera: This project has potential in the future, but the size of the class and only having one camera held us back. I'm sure the film department will have more soon enough, but the lack of resources is why this project ranks number four. Due to the large groups, a certain few people had to take charge. This forced some of the more shy students to take the back seat and follow what others were doing. Although I was one of those "leaders" in my group, I could tell other students were intimidated to give input, or maybe they did not care.
5) Stop Motion Animation: Tedious, tedious, tedious. This doesn't have much to do with the way the project was set-up. It's all on me. I am not meant to be an experimental filmmaker or animator. I think the end results looked awesome, and I always enjoy watching stop motions, but they are not for me as a filmmaker.
6) Direct Film Manipulation: This project ranks last for the same reasons as number five. Coloring and carving on the tiny film stock was tedious and time consuming. The direct film manipulation ranks after the stop motion, because I didn't find the results to be as rewarding. Sure some parts looked cool, but this film style has never been my thing.
Although some of the projects weren't my style, it is great to learn different forms, because they can help you in other areas of film. Overall, I enjoyed the projects, and it was a great semester!
Cheyenne's 6x1 Blog
Monday, May 1, 2017
Sunday, April 2, 2017
360 Reflection
The 360-video shoot was a fun. I
enjoyed having the opportunity to collaborate with the entire class. I had
never shot with a 360 camera before, so it was a learning experience. On an
average camera, there is only a 180-degree area to block out and fill with
business. While shooting for virtual reality with the 360 camera, we had to
ensure that there was interesting action happening in all directions. The
camera itself was a prop, so we had to figure out a way to include it. If we
did not do this, then we would risk our audience being torn out of the
illusion.
One of the challenges of this
assignment was working with a large group. We were divided into two groups, but
everyone participated in each video. The teams had to make sure everyone knew
what they were supposed to be doing and get the timing right. This was even
more important than usual, because we were only allowed two takes. These two
things may have been challenging, but it was good practice for directing scenes
that may have an ensemble cast or a lot of background actors. Only having two
takes created barriers, but it was also good practice for working under time
and resource constraints.
The editing process was different
than usual. Of course, there were different settings to stitch the video
together and different exporting standards, but the actual editing brought a
lot of things to take into consideration. We had little to no control over our
lighting, so any color correcting or effects may vary on different parts of the
360-video. This applies to everything you may want to change in post-production.
The unseen areas on the preview needed to be considered. In a longer video,
this would make it a little more time consuming.
Overall, the 360-video shoot was
a great experience. After working with this medium, I think it would be
interesting to create a virtual reality narrative, with the camera being the
point of view of a character and the viewer. It would bring up many challenges
filming but would be an interesting experiment in the end.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
My Rough Theatre
My rough theatre is my bed. Some may ask, “How can a bed be
considered this?” Well, a year and three months ago I adopted a rescue dog. Her
name is Daisy. She is a mixture of a lab and hound, so she has short tan fur
and adorable floppy ears. She was abandoned on the streets, left to fend for
herself as a puppy. When she was finally rescued by me, she was around one year
old. Daisy has horrible separation anxiety and is also an escape artist. She
could escape her crate when I was gone. I came home one day to find my mattress
on the floor and multiple huge holes in the box spring. The sheets were ripped
to shreds, but Daisy sat with her innocent eyes. Of course, I was furious, but
she didn’t know better yet. I picked up the mattress and destroyed sheets and
remade the bed. I sat there with her, unsure of how to handle this, so we laid
on the bed together. Daisy may have destroyed my bed, but we rescued each
other.
Everyday Daisy and I lay in the same bed together. I fall
asleep with her at my feet and wake up with her next to my face. She sits on
the bed waiting for me to come home. Upon arrival, I’m always greeted with a
wagging tail and dog smile. Daisy doesn’t care or know what mistakes I make.
She loves me just the same. As I write this sitting on my bed, she kicks me and
tries to lay on top of my stomach, but she just wants attention. So, my bed in
no longer is in the same form as the manufacturers intended, but that’s okay.
It is my rough theatre. This deformed bed is where I get to spend quality time
with my favorite loving pup.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
16 mm Film Manipulation
16 mm Film Manipulation Response
This project was quite the experience. First off, trying to
create any sort of image by hand on 16 mm film is difficult. The square of space
you have to work with is tiny, and I am not very good at drawing, so it made it
even more challenging. Because of my lack in drawing abilities, I stuck to more
abstract techniques to represent fire, earth, water, and air. I enjoyed painting
the most. Fading the colors from red to blue, for fire and water, was fun to
do, and it actually looked decent. There was also a touch of blue glitter. When I put it on the clear leader, I could not see it very well, but when it projected, it showed up subtly. This actually made it look cooler than if it were too thickly applied. I also liked how the scratching looked
on-screen. My original plan was to scratch suns into the medical film stock,
but it was more challenging than I thought. Instead, I scratched simple stars.
They turned out looking unique while it played. I also used a sharpie to black out part of the clear leader. After doing this, I used scissors to scratch out tiny stars and planets to make it look like outer space. This part was not large and went by quickly, but it looked good on the clear leader itself.
Although I am not good at drawing, as mentioned above, the
simple animations and sketches I drew worked well on-screen. The ones that
stood out most were the moving clouds. While I was drawing this using sharpie
onto the 16 mm film, I was not sure it was going to look right. I did not know
if I was drawing on enough of the film stock or if I was spacing each image
enough for them to animate correctly. It turned out better than I thought while
watching it. Animating is tedious and time consuming. I commend anyone that
creates animations, especially by hand.
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