No Film School - How to Diffuse Light

  So there's a thing called No Film School that's basically a pretend film school. It's online, anyone with internet can find it. They have one article/video that tells casual filmmakers how to diffuse light without going over budget. And somehow, they managed to write 4 paragraphs about it, even though their solution was so blatantly simple you could've summed it up with 1 sentence. Professional reflectors are $15, or just use a sheet. That's literally the whole thing. I guess their name No Film School is pretty accurate.

Feature Film Premiere

  Well, our video class made a feature film. It's about an hour long, and we've been working on it since December. I was the script supervisor, which means that I was in charge of reading over the script and checking for continuity and plot holes. Supposedly, it was my responsibility to change the script when necessary, and make sure the actors said the correct lines. Of course, that's kind of hard to do when everyone is telling you to shut up. I'm just doing my job. Although I spent a lot of the time doing other people's jobs too. I ended up being the boom operator, sound supervisor, stunt coordinator, set designer, I provided props, location scout, and more. Then of course, there were like 5 people who didn't do anything, and more still who did something the first day and never again. I tried my hardest to institute the right changes, but I kept getting shut down. The assistant directors had more influence than the director, even though one of them didn't do a damn thing for the whole project. The director agreed with me on most of my changes, but because the assistant directors, the UPM (who's job doesn't include the script), and the writers were so proud of their complete crap pile of a story, I was almost always shut down. The one thing that I did manage to change was the end monologue. It was dreadful, terrible, awkward, boring, and it didn't contribute to the story in the slightest. I finally convinced the goddess's of controlling everything to scrap it and get a new one written. Of course, I ended up doing that, with input from the director. As it turns out, that was one of the few good parts of the movie, and even that was tarnished by a rushed and unexplained ending. And of course, there were so many continuity errors and plot holes that I noted and told them about, but I was ignored. And then for editing, there were times when the music was so loud that it completely drowned out the sound of the scene. And in the first scene, the dialogue was just plain stupid. The camera work gave my mom motion sickness, and I've never seen her get that way before.
  Then there was the blood. The blood was excessive to the point of unrealistic. There was a scene where a character get shot, and the main character runs over and grabs them, and holds them as they die. My mother is the most anti-blood/squeamish person I've ever met, and when she saw how much blood they had put on the main character's arms, she laughed out loud. That scared me. Not the blood, the fact that my mother was laughing at the unrealistically massive amount of blood they had coated his arms with. There wasn't a spot, fingertips to elbows, that wasn't gleaming bright red. My mother does not laugh at blood, injury, embarrassment, failure, or even funny internet fail videos. So that scared me a little bit.
  And on to the props. I provided four airsoft guns that we would use in the movie. One was my brother's but he said it was fine. The first gun (my favorite) was broken after a robber spiked it into the ground in a scene. It made no sense, it looked awkward, and you could hear the impact as the gun's internal parts practically shattered. The outside wasn't much better, but at least it was mostly intact. But the sights were damaged, the grip came off, the safety broke, the magazine no longer feeds right, the hammer gets stuck, and the slide wobbles. So I was pissed. My teacher, being the lone angel in a field of demons, replaced it for me. But then it went downhill. In one scene, a bad guy picks up a gun (my brother's) and tries to shoot the main character. The gun jams, and he throws it down as the main character tackles him. At first, I thought the gun was fine. It was still intact, and it still fired. But when I took it home, my other brother glanced it with his foot, and the stock completely disconnected. I can't prove that it was broken on set, but I was still pissed, because I had to replace my brother's $60 gun. Then a third gun was broken during a bank robbery scene, where a henchman got hit and hurled the gun across the room. So three of the four guns I offered up were broken in my classmates's usual careless fashion.
  As for the actual premiere night, I did not have a good time. I would've been satisfied with driving to the movie theater, watching the movie, and driving home. But no, we had to take a limo. Now, I understand why we had the limos, add to the red carpet experience and all that. But I just really didn't like it. It was hot and stuffy, and I had no room because there were thirty of us stuffed into each car. They played music, which I also didn't like, but I tolerated it because it's just music. I tried to see if I could get some sleep, but then the kid next to me started poking my lips every time I closed my eyes. Not a big deal, just a minor thing. The limo drove around town for a while, then we stopped at a restaurant right across the street from the theater. Other people said the food was good, but I didn't taste anything. It was like eating bread, there was just no taste. And I was eating burgers and buffalo wings. But it tasted like nothing. But whatever, that's the restaurant's problem. Then we got back in the limo, and just drove in circles for ten minutes before going right back to the street and walking out onto the red carpet. I hit my head as I got out. Then I was blinded by the flash from our volunteer paparazzi, and I almost missed the door of the theater. I watched our movie, and it was terrible, like I previously described. Then, when it was announced that there would be a horror/thriller short film shown between the movies, and my family got up to leave. I left with them because the limos weren't waiting to take us back to the school. So all in all it wasn't the worst night ever, but it certainly wasn't very good. 
  Because this is a project, I was supposed to learn something. But I thought long and hard, and I couldn't come up with anything. At least, nothing that isn't super depressing or anger-inducing. I worked really hard on this film, but it didn't matter. I already knew no one in that class liked me, but this experience was eye-opening in one way. It revealed that not only do none of them like me, it showed me that none of them give a damn about my opinion either. Yeah, I'm not angry anymore. Now I'm depressed. Because I wrote everything down. For weeks, I wrote down everything that happened during the shoots. Everything good, which honestly wasn't a lot, and everything bad. But nowhere did I really learn anything. And more noticeably, I didn't have a good time. I hated almost every second of it. If I could do anything differently, it would be to choose a different class. I don't have any final thoughts for my classmates that I can write here without getting in trouble, so I'm just going to end it here.

1st Semester Final Reflection

  It's been a long semester, which means this is going to be a long post. So, let's go ahead and get started with the PSA I made.
  Our PSA was about peer pressure, and not giving in to the temptation of doing stupid stuff. The project didn't take long. Everyone in the class spent about a week on pre-production. But my group then finished shooting and editing in the next two days. Really the only challenges we faced were during shooting, we couldn't quite decide what we wanted the friend group in the background to do. And we weren't exactly sure how we could make it known that they were there while still focusing on the two main characters. Ultimately, I just cut a clip of them reacting into  the middle of the scene. It may not look professionally made, but I didn't know what else to do. I don't think I learned anything during this project. The process wasn't any different than what we had already done, it was just the concept. As for feedback, I honestly don't remember. And I don't remember whether I went back and changed anything after that feedback. My overall opinion of it is that while it definitely wasn't the worst video in the class, we could've done better.



  So this is a short film I made with my group. Originally, we had an entirely different idea for our film. But due to actors' schedule conflicts, we were never able to do it. So we found ourselves in a little predicament. The project was due by the end of class the next day and only two people in our group were available to work on it that night. So, in a desperate attempt to actually get something turned in, we switched to a script that only ever had two people on the screen at once, was really simple, called up the only friend either of us had that didn't have plans, and threw together a video. However, it actually turned out decent considering how little time we spent on it. If I learned anything in this project, it's that a simple script is much easier to film. As for feedback, it was mostly about how short it was, how the fight was too long, etc. But honestly that was kind of the point. I didn't really intend for this film to be emotionally deep or dramatic. Kid walks in the woods, kid fights somebody in the woods, kid goes home. I'm not sure if we changed anything. My overall opinion of this film is that it was better than a lot of the other films in the class, but it wasn't our best work. I would've liked to add something to the beginning, but we didn't have the time to do that.

  My time in class has been devoted to either working on projects or learning how to enhance those projects. If I finish early, I often watch movies or videos to see what the professionals do to make their movies good. I have been especially interested in watching the behind the scenes of fight sequences. Outside of class I do much the same, exposing myself to the world of behind-the-curtain.

  My strengths are largely attributed to my personality. I am a perfectionist and always have been. I always want to plan everything out, and do every shot multiple times to ensure we get the best take. I think I could definitely improve my editing skills. I'm not usually the editor in my group, so I don't know nearly as much about the programs as my classmates.
  I honestly don't even remember the guest speakers. I don't know if I was gone or just tired, but I don't have any recollection of any guest speakers.

  The MX4D technology was interesting, and seemed like a phenomenal idea, but it ended up just being annoying. Everything it did was just distracting. It was loud and obnoxious, which just pissed me off. I don't believe this technology will benefit the movie industry until they make it less noticeable.

  I think my favorite part of this semester was definitely the short film. I had a great time doing the fight scene. I think that the main thing I would do differently is be more confident in my ideas. It took me forever to come up with a script idea because I kept thinking that it was too complicated, or too simple, or too weird. I'm not sure what my overall takeaway is, there's been a lot of stuff that I've forgotten. One thing that I would like to do next year is actually come up with an idea for our feature film. I didn't have anything this year, so I would like to get my chance to introduce my own story.

MX4D Review

  Recently, my video production class went on a field trip to B & B Theaters in Shawnee, Kansas to experience one of only 5 MX4D theaters in the nation. MX4D theaters are intended to create an immersive sensory experience for moviegoers. The chairs move with the motion of the camera, water sprays up at you, the chair gives you a little kick when there's an impact, and it makes certain smells release from the seat. However, the seats don't have vents, so the first thing we noticed when we walked in was that the room smelled. This, however, didn't last long. We forgot about it 5 minutes into the movie. Just to clarify, we saw Justice League. In the first scene, when a robber drops a bag, the seats moved. Why? There wasn't any logical reason why you should've felt the impact of the bag. The chair movement was especially annoying in the front row. You're already looking straight up to see the screen, it doesn't help that the chair suddenly tilts forward, making it even harder to watch.  There was also a strobe light that went off for explosions and gunshots, and that actually worked for a while. But like every other feature it got annoying after about 30 minutes. When there was wind or water, the nozzles in the seats made a loud hiss/popping sound. Not only was this distracting, but it was also annoying. Plus, the water kept spraying my popcorn. Another feature in the theater was their snow machine. It was loud, so I knew when it was going off, but the snow never actually made it to the front few rows. Overall, I'd say that the MX4D features were cool initially, but long-term they actually made the movie worse. Of course, it may have just been the movie. I've been told that it was better when they were playing Thor: Ragnarok, so I might have to try it with another movie to have a better opinion of it. But really, it wasn't anything spectacular, and I actually like the normal movie theater experience better.

Short Film Reflection - The Stalker

  For my latest video project, we made short films. Everyone wrote a script, then we split into groups and chose one script to make into our film. My group initially chose what I saw as a teenage spoof of The A-Team. We went through the usual pre-production process, making storyboards and finding actors. Once we had everything set up, we went to film. Unfortunately, there was no day when all of our actors were free at the same time. We tried for a week to resolve this, but we were nearing our deadline and had nothing to show for it. With three days left to turn in our video, we switched to my script. It was about a kid who went for a walk in the woods, with someone following him. With any other script, this was hopeless. But my script required only three people, so even though most of my group couldn't make it, we still had hope. Only two of my group, me included, were able to show up. We got one friend to be an actor, but no one else was available. So for your viewing pleasure, I had to be in the film. Yippee. 

  Luckily, we got everything filmed in less than two hours. Once we had gotten the film, it was up to the editor to bring it together. He did so just in time, turning it in at the last possible minute. So considering we made a film in about 3 hours of panic work, I'm surprised it turned out to be as good as it was. One member of our group complained that his name wasn't in the final credits, but that's kind of because he did nothing. He made the storyboards and then sat there while we tried to make a film. I don't know if it's because he didn't know what to do or if he just didn't want to help, but he ended up being a little bit of a road block. 

Personal Project-PSA

  So, this is my first post of the new school year and I figured I would start it off with my first project. Our assignment was to create a PSA about an important topic from a list. My group was originally thinking about making a video on violence, but we chose peer pressure instead.
 
  Going into pre-production, we started forming our ideas for the video, and for the most part it turned out exactly like our original plan. We made the storyboard, assigned team roles, and had the teacher check our script. Once all that was done, we were ready to start filming.

  Filming was relatively easy. We gathered our actors and went to our predetermined location, where we set up the camera and filmed our scene. That's basically all there was to it. Once we filmed the hall sequences, that was all we could do at school. My group met again after school to film the car sequences, but unfortunately I could not make it to that part. But my group managed just fine without me.

  Editing took less than an hour, and some of my group members actually made multiple versions. So between the five of us, we made 7 or 8 different videos from the same footage. It just goes to show that everyone interprets things differently.

Animation - Final Reflection

  Takeaways from the five e-Comm guarantees? Well, I'd say that technical skills are arguably the most important. If you can't do the project, then it doesn't matter how well you prepare. But in a group setting, collaboration keeps a project running smoothly, and communication is much the same. Leadership contributes to project management; a good leader keeps everyone else on track so that the project is finished efficiently. I learned all of this through my experiences and observations in group projects. These lessons are important because they keep the project going. My biggest challenge was working with people. I am an independent, introverted person. I don't enjoy group settings, and I had trouble cooperating. In the final project of the year, our group made a short parody of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids". They asked me to stand in front of a green screen and run around like I was terrified. Instead, I stood there for a few seconds, then walked out of the shot. I hate being in front of the camera...

  My greatest strength was definitely the technical part of the class. And I wasn't even that great at it. I just can't seem to cooperate with people. Social skills are definitely my biggest weakness. I improved by being able to tolerate people. That doesn't seem that great, but that's a big step for me. I just hate it when people try to tell me what to do, and that happens every time there's a group project. Obviously, social skills are important in the world, and I will continue to develop them to a degree that I can at least fool people into thinking I like them. Hopefully, I will actually be a cooperative person by the time I leave high school. 

  I hope to apply my learning to video production next year. Perhaps the special effects I learned with the green screen and explosions. Not to mention the website that we used to learn how to do the explosions. I plan to use other tutorials on that website to expand my experience and knowledge. Specifically, I have been interested in creating an under-skin glow, like in the show "Iron Fist". 

  If I could change anything, I would work on my project management. There were a few projects that I missed in class and neglected to make up. I would go back and finish those projects, or at least get something that I could turn in. 

  Throughout the year in animation I have learned so many things. 2D animation in Photoshop, the usefulness of Adobe After Effects, 3D animation in MAYA, and special effects. My knowledge of animation has grown exponentially, and I enjoyed the sarcastic humor of the teacher. Overall, I had a great experience in this class and I wish I could spend a few more days there. But all good things must come to an end. So as I leave, I remind the teacher that I did learn, and I did enjoy it. For now, that's all I have to say.