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Episode 1 – Birth of the Cinema

Summary

Role

Sound Designer

Intention (SMART Goal)

By March 17 as part of team 2, I will have learned how to use a microphone and other sound equipment effectively to be able to have high-quality production sound for the session 6 projects.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Primary:

Secondary:

Ben Burtt was a sound designer for Star Wars. He describes the three main jobs that work with audio, the production recorder, sound editor, and sound mixer. He talks about how he would do some of all three of the jobs that each role is supposed to do. He said that he’d gather the sound effects right after getting the script for the movie.

Training Source(s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWN3RJGUetk

Notes

• Work with the director
• Background tracks
• Re-recording Mixer
• Bad on set audio
• Doing all jobs
• Work with the screenwriter
• Locations
• Questions to ask
• Volume
• Individual layers
• Sound regards everyone
• You can’t isolate and fix all sounds
• Relationships with other departments
• Turn off mechanical appliances
• Windows and doors should stay closed
• Scout for quiet times at locations
• No talking
• Practice & rehearse
• Test recording
• Capture wild lines
• The crew should minimize movement and impact
• Pay attention for noisy props
• Leave time for room tone

Project Timeline

• Research how to use the microphone
• Practice using the microphone
• Research music composition
• Record room tone
• Record on set sound
• Upload and label sound files
• Start music composition
• Gather/record sound effects
• Record ADR (if necessary)
• Assist editor with audio

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The (FILM, SOUND, or GAME Creation)

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

 

Reactions to the Final Version

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

 

Grammar and Spelling

Editor

 

IMDB page

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Jason Reitman
• Writing Credits  Walter Kirn (novel) Jason Reitman (screenplay) and Sheldon Turner (screenplay)
• Music by  Rolfe Kent
• Cinematography by Eric Steelberg director of photography
• Film Editing by Dana E. Glauberman

Notes

• Firing scenes were originally comedic but were rewritten to be more serious.
• This was done because, at the current time, many people had been fired
• This was done by having people who had been fired act as the people being fired.

 

• They were limited in shooting in the airport
• They had a set time frame where they could shoot in an actual airport
• They shot everything during the TSA scenes, cut it down, then saw what they were missing

 

• The characters had small things to flirt over, but couldn’t move faster because of this
• They couldn’t speed the romance without it seeming unnatural
• They have George and Vera do an improv scene.

 

• The Cutout
• He needed something to do when flying
• They added the cutout to the movie

 

• Boss’s character showed through his objects
• It helps to show his character
• They had bought all the items, but don’t focus on it

 

• The camera establishes an eye line in the small office scene with a lot of movement
• The actors move around in the office a lot
• Planned shots so that the eye line doesn’t change a lot

 

• “you can look with your eyes but not with your head”
• It shows the feeling of Natalie in the scene
• She only looks with her eyes

 

• Dinner/Lunch scenes: should the actors be eating or not
• It shows how important their conversations are
• The actors don’t eat their food because what they’re saying is more important

 

• Filming on small screens was filmed on big screens
• Small screens are hard to focus on without it looking pixelated
• They recreated the texts on a laptop-sized screen

 

• Music choice
• If a song is right or wrong, it will make you feel right or wrong
• Reitman picks songs while writing

 

• Flopping a shot
• In order to make the scene seem different
• They mirrored the shot

Summary

The goal for this session was to make a 2 or less minute film that is dialogue-based and uses ADR (Automated Dialogue Recording).  As the cinematographer, I had to use camera movement in order to raise or lower tension.

Role

Cinematographer

Intention (SMART Goal)

For this session, I will learn how to control camera movement in order to help tell a story. This goal will be met when camera movement in common film is easily recognizable to me. I will obtain the skills required to meet this goal by watching the videos linked in the film resources section of the schedule. I’m setting this goal now because it is the most recent requirement in our film session. This goal should be completed two weeks from now, which should be enough time to research and test this goal.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

John Alcott was a cinematographer for Stanley Kubrick. Throughout The Shining, Alcott does a great job of showing much of the hotel in his shots even when the focus is on the characters and what they’re doing/saying.

Primary

Secondary

The speaker talks about how Kubrick used a steady and low to the ground camera to create the feeling that something is watching. I think this is a very interesting way of raising tension with only the camera. The speaker states that it’s almost as if the hotel itself is watching them, which fits perfectly with the story and really builds the suspense that the viewers of the film feel.

Training Source(s)

Slider

1. foreground
2. Racking Focus
3. Push in
4. Parallax
5. Diagonal

Monopod

1. Push in
2. Add Stability
3. Slider Style

Glide Cams

1. Balance
2. Balance forward for Running
3. Film Upside down
4. Lenses

Project Timeline

• Help brainstorm the story
• Help to brainstorm the scenes for the story with director and screenwriter
• Help decide shooting location, with lighting and space in mind
• Create the basic storyboard with the director and note shots and camera movement
• Create an advanced storyboard with the team
• Create a shot list in an order that makes sense
• Reset camera settings
• Set camera settings following the sheet
• Light Scenes in order to fit the story
• Position camera following the storyboard
• Film scenes as planned
• Import video files so that the editor has access
• Create slides for the end of session film presentation, having evidence of requirements
• Practice presentation in order to maximize efficiency
• Present film and slideshow to the board and show evidence of all the targets

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The (FILM, SOUND, or GAME Creation)

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

Since we did not have a stabilizer, some of the moving shots I got were too shaky to use. To fix this, I decided to change the shot to a static shot so you could still tell what was going on and it’s not too shaky to understand.

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

Our film required a lot of communication and collaboration because we filmed outside of school, so we had to communicate things like where and when to film.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

Before the filming process, I researched the different types of camera movements and what they mean. I also looked up an analysis video of the cinematography of The Shining.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

How this session contributes to the ways of living in the world is that it required me to stay on task and fix problems with out of the box solutions. I also had to create a presentation that was efficient and professional

Reactions to the Final Version

When reviewed by a peer cinematographer, Laari, she said that she “liked the camera movement, especially when it was used to reveal things that were previously out of frame”. Additionally, a professional, Sam, stated hat “Push ins showed dramatic intensity that added to the tension of the film”. However, he did state that “vertical pans felt a little choppy/shaky”. Overall, it seems that the camera movement was solid, but the vertical pans can be improved. Next time, I will use a tripod for the vertical pans, instead of doing them by hand.

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

Our film this session had about four of the six success acronym. Our film was had an unexpected twist at the end and it told a story. It also had a fairly simple and emotional plot.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

In this session, I’ve learned how to use camera movement and zooms in order to raise intensity in a scene. One problem we had in our film is that we used a dog like a wolf, but the dog did not follow directions too well. To solve this problem, we only had one shot of the dog used.

Grammar and Spelling

Editor

Silas

Ill-fated First Date

Summary

Our goal was to make a silent film that was no more than 2 minutes long. As the director, I had to control movement and blocking in order to tell the story without dialogue.

21st Century Skills

During this session, we mainly worked on communication and collaboration. We had one actor who wasn’t in our class so we needed to line up ou film schedules during the week of production in order to be able to film outside of school.

The Film

Reactions to Final Version

A fellow director, Cassy stated that she thought that “not only did the shots look satisfying, but [she] liked the very well planned blocking” and that “they each had a meaningful message”. One of the members of the professional’s board, James stated that “first scene blocking worked to communicate secret of the wedding ring”. Overall, it seemed that the blocking worked throughout the film, but specifically in the first scene.

Evaluation of Final Version

Our film was unexpected because it ended with a twist. Our film was emotional as it told a story of a relationship between two people. It also told a story. Our film was fairly simple as well, telling a story with a concept that is easy to grasp.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned how to block actors effectively and how to move characters in order to tell a story. One of the problems I solved is finding times where our actors were available because one of them wasn’t in our class so we couldn’t film during school.

Cash Love Production

Summary

Our goal was to make a one minute film, with me, the editor specifically having to use a J cut, organization of video files, and a rhythm to the edits.

21st Century Skills

This project required a lot of communication and collaboration as we first wanted to film this outside of school so we needed to communicate. This didn’t happen but I still needed to communicate with the sound designer in order to make the sound work.

The Film

Reactions to Final Version

The editor reviewing our film stated “Good flow and was smoothly done”. A peer editor, (who didn’t review the final cut) stated “Noticed ripples and audio that were obviously not intentional.”. The issues stated however, were fixed in the final cut.

Evaluation of Final Version

This film had some of the criteria of the success acronym, but some weren’t. The film was kind of simple, but was a bit confusing in the execution. The film did portray different emotions through the characters. The ending was fairly expected as the money was shown in the beginning of the film. The film was concrete because an argument about money is a relatively easy concept to grasp.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned the basics of Premiere Pro and editing, including natural cuts and things like a J cut. We had a problem where two scenes that had a question and answer were supposed to be in the same shot, but the camera and the actor were moved slightly between scenes. This was solved by putting and insert shot between the question shot and the answer shot in order to cover up the camera and actor’s movement.

The Text Production

Creative Commons image phone by Jacqui Brown at Flickr

Summary

Our goal was to build and release tension in a comedic way. We had three weeks to create a one minute film, which required intentional focus and intentional lighting from the cinematographer, which was my role.

21st Century Skills

Our film required a lot of communication and collaboration as we needed to stay on schedule, even when our sound designer was gone for a day. This also required problem solving. Our solution to this problem was to have our director hold the microphone for that day.

The Film

Reactions to Final Version

The cinematographer that reviewed our film said “the camera angles were done well to show the emotion of the lead character”. Another cinematographer in the class, Dylan, also enjoyed the camera angles and lighting.

Evaluation of Final Version

Our film had most of the success acronym. It had a simple plot of a guy being warned of his own death, the ending was unexpected as just before he dies it is revealed that it was just a joke, and the film was concrete because being warned of your death is an easy idea to grasp. The film also had emotions, shown through camera angles (close ups, medium shots etc.).

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned that camera angles, focus, and lighting really help to show emotion and tell the story. A problem I had to solve was filming outside and making sure the film didn’t look extremely bright. I solved this by having the director use a light block to create a natural shadow which helped darken the scene.

The Big Case Production

Summary

We had three weeks to come up with, shoot, and edit a 1 minute or less video. I was the screenwriter, with a goal of creating a beginning middle and end to the film.

21st Century Skills

Our film process required a lot of communication and collaboration, because we had our director and cinematographer gone for many days during pre production and production. This also required problem solving, as we needed to get a fellow cinematographer to hold the camera one day during production.

The (FILM, SOUND, or GAME Creation)

Reactions to Final Version

Our film received a lot of critique. The panel came to a consensus that the film needed and ending after the punchline, and that there was too much buildup to the joke. Additionally, the panel stated that the story was too dialogue heavy and that more should have been shown through actions rather than speaking. However, a fellow screenwriter, Dylan said that he liked the idea of the entire story being a joke.

Evaluation of Final Version

Our film had elements of everything in the success acronym, however it did not show any part of the acronym completely. While it is a simple plot, the film’s portrayal of the story was a bit confusing. there was an unexpected punchline at the end, however due to time we could not portray the punchline in an effective way, which confused some of the panel. The film was concrete, but had too much dialogue to effectively help the story.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned that visuals are more important than dialogue. Visual storytelling is more engaging than verbal storytelling and should most likely be the main way to tell a story. A hard part was making the dialogue sound natural. I solved this problem by modifying the dialogue on set to make it sound natural.

Marshmallows Image by John-Morgan at Flickr.com

Radio Lab

RadioLab.org – Your Future in a Marshmallow

• The “Marshmallow Test” is to test will power through delayed gratification
• The average time of resistance was 7 to 8 minutes
• children who could wait for the marshmallow statistically; were less “troubled”, scored higher on the SATs and were physically healthier

This American Life

This American Life podcast Back to School

• According to an economist, it’s more efficient to dropout of high school and get your GED.
• High school teaches discipline more so than knowledge
• the GED test scores only test a cognitive skills
• High school teaches soft skills, social skills, etc.
• Children raised in impoverished families, tend to handle stress better
• Stress prevents the learning of non cognitive skills
• Repeated stress can hurt the ability to learn, because of a loss of focus
• 1/3 of children in the united states do not have a strong connection to their parents and home (resulting in stress)

Important steps to success

• Control your impulses
• Remember that life isn’t easy and it’s okay to make mistakes
• Find out how to make things work for you
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions