Midterm Assignment Idea.

So far I have a general idea of how this will happen but no details are set at all!
The idea is that rather then the film moving forward in time I'll be pulling a page from what I remember of Memento's (directed by: Christopher Nolan) way of revealing information and starting with the end of the situation and working back to the beginning.

Theres is not going to be any character death although it may be insinuated that the main character dies. Not enough information will be given for that to be made clear. Every time someone looks at a clock or a watch or anything in general that can tell time the scene will move backwards to whatever happened earlier.

This whole situation will begin with someone (the main character) getting a package and it triggering this chain of events.

What exactly this chain of events will be I have yet to decide but I will be attempting to make this film as 'action packed' as I can.

With being able to move backwards and reveal unexpected information about a situation and completely change what is happening even though the end result will be used to my advantage (plot twists!).

Nothing is definite about the specifics in this movie but I believe by filming it this way I can add mystery and urgency to the situation as the watcher tries to figure out how everything came to the end conclusion without having all the information.

The Last Muffin

Self Critique/Write-up for Project #3

Stephanie Black

Project#3

The Last Muffin

February 23, 2011

P1 comes back from work while P2 is just waking up. They both make their way to the kitchen and go for the 'last muffin' which is left on the kitchen counter. Once they see each other they decide to fight/battle to win this muffin. While going through a series of ridiculous tasks P3 enters fro the back door, grabs the muffin and then walks off. Once P1 and P2 notice that the muffin is missing they team up and run after P3.

This film is meant to be a serious gag type film with all the tasks/challenges being done seriously. The intent is to over exaggerate a situation that most people have probably already been in; fighting to get the last something, whether it be the last slice of cake, pizza, pie and much more including non-food related items.

This idea came from thinking about how I could create an interesting situation without it really being all that interesting. I immediately thought of all the silly things my brother and myself would do to beat each other to get/win something.

Now that this piece is done I can't imagine it as anything besides being comedy, with the exaggerated facial expressions and actions and the way the actors kept on laughing at the hilarity of the situations I was asking them to act out I don't think it could be anything else.

The main tension is two tired people not in the best of moods 9one just waking up and the other coming back from work) fighting over something rathe petty but important to them at the time.

I realized after that many of my shots don't have avery smooth transition between them and there could have been some more preparing for the next shot as far as positioning and slowing down goes. Also, my lack of control over the tripod is still an issue I am working on. Because of this issue a few of my shots move when they should be steady. I am seriously trying to get this down though!

The Shining (response)

In the Shining many unconventional and difficult techniques are used when filming. The most common being tracking the main subject from behind which gives the viewer a sense of following the subject and seeing what they see. When a group of people are having a conversation and walking the camera will move in front of them while filming making it seem as though you are walking backwards while in front of this group of people. The camera also almost always follows a moving subject.

The use of zooming is also very prominent in this film; having a scene/shot of and object/person and then zooming out to reveal the location of this object/person is done very often. Seeing what the object/person is and having to wait until the camera zooms out to expose the surroundings or situation of the object/person creates a suspense in the film.

The camera shows a proper MS (showing waist upwards) even when subject is in an awkward position or bent in some way. Also the breaking of the 180˚ is very discreet. The switching from a WS to MS when breaking the rule made the transition very smooth. Keeping the difference between the two sides as being one the MS shots and the other having the WS shots makes the switch much less confusing than it would be otherwise.

The use of mirrors in the film is very creative. Using the mirror to film the actors instead of filming themselves and foreshadows the use of the mirror near the end of the movie.

Control over light is really good! No strange shadows on faces due to overhead lighting at any noticeable point in time. Very dramatic music creates tension throughout the whole movie whether something dramatic was about to happen or not. The sudden increase in loudness right before a title shot/screen (?) came up scared me each and every time even when I knew all that was going to happen was text on the screen.

Overall the use of interesting filming techniques to narrate this story made it very interesting and dramatic and even though I was very tired/terrified when watching it I didn't want to look away at any point in time (except for the end which was just plain terrifying!)

Shot List for Assignment #3 (or #4...)

SHOT LIST
(numbers on shot list correspond to numbers on camera on overhead map)

EST (5) -P1 Walking into house.
CU to WS (7) - P2 sitting up in bed
MS (6) -Tracking P1 into kitchen from front door
MS (7) -Tracking P2 from bed to stairs
MS (3) -P1 enters kitchen
CU (8) -Muffin
CU (8) -Muffin (slightly different angle)
MS (1) -P1 and P2 enter kitchen and reach for muffin
MS (4) -P1 and P2 begin circling each other
CU (4) -P1 panning
CU (4) -P2 panning
MS (4) -P1 and P2 raise fists
MS (2) -P1 and P2 move to punch each other
CU (2) -Of hands (rock paper scissors)
MS (2) -P1 and P2 arm wrestle
MS (2) -P1 and P2 have hula hoop contest
MS (2) -P1 and P2 do thumb war while P3 enters house.
MS (2) -P1 pushes P2 and looks for muffin
CU (8) -Of muffin and pans to P3 walking away
MS (9) -P1 and P2 nod at each other
MS to WS (4) - P1 and P2 run after P3

Write-up for 180 Rule Assignment

Stephanie Black

Project #2 (or #3...)

"The Antagonistic Roommate"

February 16, 2011

P1 forget's her keys and after ringing the doorbell and no one answering it she is forced to enter through the back door. She walk into the living room, past P2 (who has been sitting there the whole time) to put down her bag. She leaves the room and returns a few seconds later. P1 makes gestures to indicate to P2 that she would like to sit where her books are. She does this until P2 moves the books. After P1 sits she begins to point to where she left her bag, indicating for P2 to pass it to her. She repeatedly does this until P2 gives in and hands P1 the bag. P1 then takes out a book and gets comfortable as she begins to read while P2 tries to get as far away from P1 without getting off the couch.

The intent of this film was to create a situation where 2 people (roommates) don't get along but are almost forcibly put in the same space. One roommate forgets her keys and has to enter from the backdoor (which is left unlocked) to be able to enter the house. Throughout the film P1 (the person that forgot her keys) is asking P2 for favors while P2 would much rather ignore P1's existence.

The idea of this film came from personal experience of living in a dorm with seven other roommates and sometimes wanting to just be left alone for a bit but never being able to actually get peace.

After working through this piece the main theme became the tension between P1 and P2 caused by P2's ignoring of P1 and P1's invading of P2's space bubble.

The main problem areas are shots that could have been shortened while filming but not cut in the actual editing because the placement of the cut would seem awkward. More zooming in on faces could have been done so that a better view of facial expressions could have been seen but due to a certain person's (me) lack of ability to work a tripod and camera, controlling how the shots were taken (including angles and not finding the zooming function on the camera) became very difficult.

Digital Cinema (180˚ Rule Film)

I've decided to call this "The Antagonistic Roommate" because it sounds better than calling it Digital Cinema Assignment #3 or 180 Rule Film...

Concept

PERSON walk up to her house to open the door but then realizes she forgot her keys so she rings the doorbell.

From inside we see PERSON2 looking out the window besides the door but not making any move to open the door.

PERSON then walks to the backdoor and enters through there.

PERSON walks into the living room and sees PERSON2 sitting on the sofa on her laptop.

PERSON puts her bag beside the sofa while walking in front of PERSON2 who follows PERSON with her eyes as she moves.

PERSON then walks away and comes back with a cup of water.

PERSON stands beside the sofa and PERSON2 ignores her for a couple seconds.

PERSON2 then moves her books from the space beside her and PERSON sits down.

PERSON indicates for PERSON2 to pass her bag but she ignores her.

PERSON indicates again and PERSON2 reluctantly passes the bag.

PERSON finds a book in the bag and begins reading while PERSON2 scoots as far away from PERSON as possible.

-END-

The intention is to show someone coming home to a roommate that really doesn't like her and would rather ignore her presence.




SHOTS

Camera correspond to numbers on overhead maps

Camera 1 - EST (master shot)
Camera 2 - WS
Camera 3 - MS
Camera 2 - WS
Camera 4 - WS (low angle)
Camera 5 - WS
Camera 6 - MS
Camera 7 - MS
Camera 8 - BS
Camera 7 - MS
Camera 8 - BS
Camera 8 - MS
Camera 6 - WS
Camera 7 - WS
Camera 8 - MS
Camera 7 - MS
Camera 8 - WS
Camera 7 - MS
Camera 6 - WS
-END-




Scanned images to go with this info will be added soon!

EDIT! here are the scanned images.

description of shot list

Sense of Place (reworked)

I've managed to get the time cut in half, hopefully it doesn't look too choppy now.