Friday, January 30, 2015
Extra Blog January
This month I was fortunate enough to watch an independent film in theaters an that is currently up for multiple Academy Awards. Whiplash is an independent drama written and directed by Damien Chazzele based on his short film Whiplash. The film is about an aspiring jazz drummer who is performing at one of the best music schools in the country. After being observed by one of the music teachers at the school our drummer is moved up to the most advanced and prestigious class. The teacher ended up being both emotionally and physically abusive. The drummer is pushed to his limit and finds himself consumed by his drumming. The acting in the film is truly spectacular. JK Simmons was perfectly able to execute the intense role of the music teacher and still be able to flip the switch to show an eerie calm only to blow up again on camera in a beautiful display of talent. I was rather impressed by Milles Teller's performance in the movie. I had seen him in movies prior including 21 & Over and Project X where I wasn't terribly impressed with his performance and he came off as incredibly goofy. In Whiplash Teller gives his character depth through determination and raw physicality. Damien Chazzele wrote the screenplay to be extremely character driven and follow a characters struggle without saying it but rather showing it. I would like to praise Chazzele for his directing of Teller on this part for providing subtext to each intense scene that we see Teller go through as his character. The film is not only beautifully shot and directed but is well sound edited. Whiplash was incredibly powerful because the music driving it so the sound editing is just as important as the acting and cinematography. I give this film a 9.2/10.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
What are you most proud of in your senior presentation and why
I proud that I was able to reach the amount of time that was necessary because I was most worried that I wouldn't make time because I wouldn't have enough content to talk about.
What assessment would you give yourself for your lesson 2 presentation?
AP+
Explain why you would give yourself this grade.
I believe that I reached time in each part of my presentation but I know I could've done a lot better than I did. I was so worried about the time and not having enough content that I found myself rambling and when I realized that I did have enough content for the time I was very far into the presentation.
What worked for your lesson 2?
I believe that I tried to make my presentation relatable which is difficult to do considering that a lot of people in the class probably haven't made their own independent films. So I tried to use examples they would understand and examples from film that they had seen.
What didn't work?
If I could do the presentation again I would assure myself that I did have enough content to fill time and not to worry or else I would be so nervous that I'd forget some of the points I would want to elaborate on.
What do you think your answer 2 is going to be?
I think that my answer two is going to be how directors must be resourceful and use what is available to them when their original script may have been too ambitious
I proud that I was able to reach the amount of time that was necessary because I was most worried that I wouldn't make time because I wouldn't have enough content to talk about.
What assessment would you give yourself for your lesson 2 presentation?
AP+
Explain why you would give yourself this grade.
I believe that I reached time in each part of my presentation but I know I could've done a lot better than I did. I was so worried about the time and not having enough content that I found myself rambling and when I realized that I did have enough content for the time I was very far into the presentation.
What worked for your lesson 2?
I believe that I tried to make my presentation relatable which is difficult to do considering that a lot of people in the class probably haven't made their own independent films. So I tried to use examples they would understand and examples from film that they had seen.
What didn't work?
If I could do the presentation again I would assure myself that I did have enough content to fill time and not to worry or else I would be so nervous that I'd forget some of the points I would want to elaborate on.
What do you think your answer 2 is going to be?
I think that my answer two is going to be how directors must be resourceful and use what is available to them when their original script may have been too ambitious
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Blog 12
1. I am doing my mentorship with Mr. Tom Kam, because we often go out to film locations vary for mentorship. We always meet at his house in Fontana before going off to film.
2. My contact is Mr. Tom Kam.
3. I have completed 16 total hours.
4. Most of the hours were collected in a shoot that we did for a Doritos commercial where we went out to the forest and did our take on a martial arts film in 30 seconds. It was a two day shoot and yes it does take that much time to get the perfect shots. I would be classified as the PA (production assistant) on the shoot, which means I would fetch stuff that the director needed, take care of the actors and check for continuity.
2. My contact is Mr. Tom Kam.
3. I have completed 16 total hours.
4. Most of the hours were collected in a shoot that we did for a Doritos commercial where we went out to the forest and did our take on a martial arts film in 30 seconds. It was a two day shoot and yes it does take that much time to get the perfect shots. I would be classified as the PA (production assistant) on the shoot, which means I would fetch stuff that the director needed, take care of the actors and check for continuity.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Blog 11
1. Over break I was organizing all of the everything that I would need for The Fullerton Festival Documentary I will be filming. This includes a rough script, questions I will ask, who I need to talk to, researching the festival, a rough shooting schedule and figuring a cohesive story to tie the documentary together.
I also started a new script that I'm very excited about and though I'm not entirely sure that I can film it this year, because the film would be heavily reliant on music and music is hard to obtain the rights to and even when you do it's ridiculously expensive. Though the script will be finished this year.
2. The most important thing I learned from working on my project over break is how much work really goes into pre-production, especially for a documentary because a lot of things only happen on camera once.
3. Hypothetically I would really love to Griffin Hammond who did a short documentary about Sriracha. He's not famous and encourages people to ask about his documentary so maybe I can have a phone call with him. I would probably ask him about the proper amount of B-roll, story, interviews and nat sound breaks. If I cant get Mr. Hammond I will ask my mentor if he knows anyone who has worked with documentaries.
I also started a new script that I'm very excited about and though I'm not entirely sure that I can film it this year, because the film would be heavily reliant on music and music is hard to obtain the rights to and even when you do it's ridiculously expensive. Though the script will be finished this year.
2. The most important thing I learned from working on my project over break is how much work really goes into pre-production, especially for a documentary because a lot of things only happen on camera once.
3. Hypothetically I would really love to Griffin Hammond who did a short documentary about Sriracha. He's not famous and encourages people to ask about his documentary so maybe I can have a phone call with him. I would probably ask him about the proper amount of B-roll, story, interviews and nat sound breaks. If I cant get Mr. Hammond I will ask my mentor if he knows anyone who has worked with documentaries.
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