The first project helped me to break into stride with editing. The choreography of the shot by shot was interesting enough, but was rather tedious. Working with others as a group in the shot by shot definitely took some time for me to adjust with, but we managed to coordinate with each other's needs according to our schedules. The concept of the final project was very important to me existentially, because of the disconnect I felt the scenes accentuated. That sense of isolation is something that I believe we do do to ourselves which I think is antithetical to the intimacy of communication ironically. It also was interesting to experiment with a few filters that I don't normally use to express the concept adequately. I really enjoyed the class to an extent, but maybe more so if I didn't have so many non-art related classes to juggle around. Hope to show more work with the extension of this class, Advanced Computer Imaging and I wish you guys the best. Happy holidays everyone!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
My Journey
Hey guys, Tony here. This will probably be the last post I make in a while and it'll be discussing the journey I've had so far in my class, Intro to Computer Imaging; which is the class that gave me a reason to open up this blog in the first place. I must admit that the projects I did were very time consuming, especially when I have to juggle so many other classes along with the one I'll tackle in this blog entry. My first project, the video mash up, was definitely the most interesting because of how you can modify certain clips you find to such a degree, that you change the meaning of said clip. I liked the concept I worked with, which was attempt to be satirical with the 50's duck and cover ads. Before that I really had only limited experience with video editing software, my experience being a single semester of TV production class.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Rationale for Final Project
The people that were in this project was me, playing Tony, the main character and Arin Hesketh playing the supporting role as the concerned friend. The point of the story is showing the implications of the self imposed isolation one puts upon one's self by being locked away on the computer all day. The setting I used to film the main scene was the kitchen in my house. I picked the location mainly for the lighting as it is overhead, bright and direct. This would insure that I would get an even amount of lighting in the room. In one instance I played a clip of static and white noise on the screen of the computer, which I would stare at to accentuate the mind numbingness of the disconnect that my character has created for himself by being isolated from people for so long. In addition I used grease paint and eye liner to give myself an unkempt, haggard look to my face. I used the eye liner under my eyes to create the effect of baggy eyes and I used the grease paint to make my face look dirty and gritty, something I would expect from someone like my character, who just sits at his computer for days on end. The room I used that the scene shifted too was a room in Arin's house.
The story starts off with a close up of the computer screen with the static and the sound of white noise. as the camera pulls out, you see Tony, the main character, at his computer. You get a closeup of the face, focused in more and more, until the screen flashes day one to start off the sequence of days. As the days pass, more and more garbage piles up, the unkempt face of the user is a very obvious sign that he has done almost nothing else other than being on the computer. By day four Tony is buried underneath the trash. He quickly wakes up and continues doing what he did before. His friend attempts to get his attention and convince him to get off the computer, but to no avail. Tony is unresponsive. The friend gives up and leaves the room, only for Tony to finally come to the realization that he is a alone. A tear goes down his eye upon his realization, with little to no change in his facial expression. The seen suddenly shifts, and he finds himself in a small enclosed space, as darkness starts to creep around him. His head falls limp, as if the vitality has been sucked out of him. The screen goes black. He wakes up, relieved, but shaken. It was a dream. He sees the computer from the dream, though he refuses to fear this vague dreamlike premonition. He goes up to call his friend. His friend does not answer and the scene shows that she is at her computer with static and white noise in her screen. A close up of her face is given. She looks entranced and haggard, just like Tony was in his dream. The phone keeps ringing as the screen goes to black and the sequence ends.
The preparations for this was very time consuming. I managed to get my girlfriend, Arin to assist me by playing the supporting character. I got the film I needed. Most of the effects I got from editing were from utilizing the various filters on Final Cut Express. I used a backdrop which I imposed into the shot from the part where a tear runs down the main character's eye to the shift in setting to make more sense of the transition. I used a combination of sepia and some lighting effects to dim the area around the main character up to the point where the screen fades to black. All in all, the project turned out generally the way I expected.
The story starts off with a close up of the computer screen with the static and the sound of white noise. as the camera pulls out, you see Tony, the main character, at his computer. You get a closeup of the face, focused in more and more, until the screen flashes day one to start off the sequence of days. As the days pass, more and more garbage piles up, the unkempt face of the user is a very obvious sign that he has done almost nothing else other than being on the computer. By day four Tony is buried underneath the trash. He quickly wakes up and continues doing what he did before. His friend attempts to get his attention and convince him to get off the computer, but to no avail. Tony is unresponsive. The friend gives up and leaves the room, only for Tony to finally come to the realization that he is a alone. A tear goes down his eye upon his realization, with little to no change in his facial expression. The seen suddenly shifts, and he finds himself in a small enclosed space, as darkness starts to creep around him. His head falls limp, as if the vitality has been sucked out of him. The screen goes black. He wakes up, relieved, but shaken. It was a dream. He sees the computer from the dream, though he refuses to fear this vague dreamlike premonition. He goes up to call his friend. His friend does not answer and the scene shows that she is at her computer with static and white noise in her screen. A close up of her face is given. She looks entranced and haggard, just like Tony was in his dream. The phone keeps ringing as the screen goes to black and the sequence ends.
The preparations for this was very time consuming. I managed to get my girlfriend, Arin to assist me by playing the supporting character. I got the film I needed. Most of the effects I got from editing were from utilizing the various filters on Final Cut Express. I used a backdrop which I imposed into the shot from the part where a tear runs down the main character's eye to the shift in setting to make more sense of the transition. I used a combination of sepia and some lighting effects to dim the area around the main character up to the point where the screen fades to black. All in all, the project turned out generally the way I expected.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Final Project Update: Filming and Other Such Things
Arin Hesketh: Supporting Role- Concerned friend
So, over the past few weeks I have managed to start filming and have made a lot of progress so far. The people that will be in this project will be me, playing Tony, the main character and Arin Hesketh playing the supporting role as the concerned friend. The point of the story is showing the implications of the self imposed isolation one puts upon one's self by being locked away on the computer all day. The setting I used to film the main scene was the kitchen in my house. I picked the location mainly for the lighting as it is overhead, bright and direct. This would insure that I would get an even amount of lighting in the room.
At first I did some preliminary footage to get a feel of what such a scene would look like. I started out filming myself in front of the computer, surfing the web, but it did not give off the sort of feel to the atmosphere that I intended. I decided I needed to do some fine tuning to my project along with adding a few props.In one instance I played a clip of static and white noise on the screen of the computer, which I would stare at to accentuate the mind numbingness of the disconnect that my character has created for himself by being isolated from people for so long. In addition I used grease paint and eye liner to give myself an unkempt, haggard look to my face. I used the eye liner under my eyes to create the effect of baggy eyes and I used the grease paint to make my face look dirty and gritty, something I would expect from someone like my character, who just sits at his computer for days on end.
The only thing that I have left to film is a short scene of my character suddenly finding himself in an empty room after my character's friend leaves him alone. This scene is intended to symbolize the character's loneliness and to act as a transition from when his friend leaves him to when he wakes up. The entire sequence of events inevitably leads up to the main character waking up and realizing that it was all a dream. The sigh of relief that is issued by the character as he calms down is quickly followed by being startled by suddenly seeing the computer at his desk (the one that was in his dream). Shortly after being spooked, the man hardens his expression into that of resolve; a resolve not to let what happened in his dreams happen to him for real. He then attempts to call his friend, but the his friend does not answer. We soon discover why. His friend is in the same state that he was in in the dream. A close up of the friends face in a zombified like state quickly fads to black, ending the last scene. Editing is currently in the process, along with the last of the filming. Updates on how those are doing will be given at a later time.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Update: Final Project and Other Issues
It appears that I will not be able to upload the shot by shot up for technical reasons and cannot as of now. I am currently working on my final project which is a project in which I take all I have learned cumulatively from this course and apply it by creating a single video on virtually any topic I wish. Since I have plenty of free reign on this, I have decided make a video on a subject which is very relevant to me existentially.
My subject is an attempt at portraying the way we detach ourselves with constantly occupying our time on our computers. Computers are very common because of our advancement in telecommunication, so by implication they are essentially a large portion of how we function. I feel as if communication is to some extent limited when we are typing away, isolated in our rooms, rather than engaging in face to face conversations. I have drawn up a storyboard for loosely what I want to film in order to accurately portray the implications of that sort of isolation. The storyboard goes as follows: The scene I have planned would be of a man at his computer in room at his desk, on his computer. A close up shot of his face is seen. He has a zombified look on his face. Then the scene switches as the shot flashes across the screen with words Day 1 and then back to the shot of the man at the computer with a couple bits of trash on the desk. Day 2 flashes across as the new shot and then back to the man at his desk with even more trashed piled on top. Much of the same is repeated with Day 3 and 4 as more and more trash piles up until finally on Day 1 it switches to a shot of himself buried beneath a pile of garbage. The man is asleep and then suddenly wakes up. Without a moment to spare, he pulls himself from the pile of garbage and continues his activities on the computer with a haggard, yet wide eyed look on his face. The next shot is of one of his friends going up to him, trying to convince him to get off the computer. The man at the desk is completely unresponsive and the friend leaves the room. The following shot closes up on the man's face with a tear streaming down his face, although the man's expression has not changed at all. The camera slowly shot slowly recedes away from the man, revealing that he is in a huge empty room all by himself. Finally he drops out of his chair onto the floor. The man suddenly wakes up and looks around confused. He realizes it was just a dream. As he looks back he sees the computer and is at first startled because of his association to what was in his dream, but his change of expression to that of a determined resolve clearly indicates he will not let what he dreamed come to pass. He then leaves the room to call up his friend. The next shot is of the phone in his friends room as it rings. No one answers. The last shots are first of his friend at his computer and then a closeup of the friend's face. The friend has the same look as the he had in his dream and then it cuts to black story ends.
The point of this idea was to portray semi-concretely and semi-abstractly the implications of the sort of self imposed isolation that could be created by someone who spends their time encased in this technological construct. As of now I have not decided where I should film and I'm still deliberating about who I will film as the characters. I am considering possibly getting any of my friends that are available to participate. Updates are on the way.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Reenactment: Shot by shot update- Finishing up
wearing trench coat prop
Prop: tapes
Rebecca Kjeer: Co-director and time coordinator
Last Monday, our team managed to film the last part of the scene from the movie "The Conversation". All the shots were filmed in the Music Building by the Arts Complex at Florida Gulf Coast University. We needed to film the shot of the hallway with my character, Martin Stett, warning Harry Caul (Elliot's roommate) as he walks down to the elevator. As he approaches the elevator, the shot switches to the faces of two unidentified men as they mind their own business conversing. The two men enter to the elevator on their right while another man and Caul enter to the elevator on the left while my character is at the end of the hallway, watching. As the elevator doors close, Martin Stett is right at the opening, leaning in until he can no longer be seen. Various people go in and out of the elevator until the shot fixes on the face of an unidentified woman as she picks her floor and presses a button on the panel. The shot switches from Caul's gaze, as he attempts to ignore her, while she is rather detached, not even paying attention to him. The last shot is of a tape recorder as it's track slows and the scene ends. All the relevant shots were filmed with the assistance of the many individuals that we had gathered together. Unfortunately we did not have enough people, so we had to do multiple shots of the same people. Elliot's roommates, along with other willing participants including myself, were willing to be extras. Our group dynamic was well coordinated, but time was definitely not on our side. We had to reschedule a couple times and Rebecca was not able to attend the last of the filming. Elliot took care of most of the editing, while both I and Rebecca coordinated the time for when we should shot and where. Additionally, I played the role of Martin Stett in scene. Rebecca and Elliot helped to direct most of the positions of the actors in the scene, except for Monday when Rebecca couldn't make it. The filming material has been edited and shown to our teacher in Intro to Computer Imaging, but I have not as of yet been able to upload our reenactment. My computer in my last attempt to upload did not recognize the video format and the portion I managed to import from Adobe Premiere only contained the audio. I will most likely have the clip in it's entirety posted this week.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Reenactment update: "The Conversation"
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Progress on Clip Reenactment So Far: Possible Locations and Actors
So my group members and I have deliberated about some possible locations for shooting the reenactment. The scene from the clip we will be attempting to reenact is taken from movie "The Conversation". The scene involves Gene Hackman walking into a office lobby and approaching the secretary claiming that he has an appointment with the director's assistant, played by Harrison Ford. Both then proceed down a long hallway with many windows. The shot is of the two cut off at the waist as they continue to walk down the hallway, opening up into a larger room which at that point becomes a full body shot of the pair. After that shot, it switches to Gene Hackman and Harrison Ford in Ford's office as they discuss a transaction involving the exchange of an envelope of money for another with tapes in it. Tension is created as Hackman attempts to put the money down and take the tapes as Ford grabs the tapes in an attempt to intimidate Hackman. The last part of the scene involves a shot of Hackman boarding an elevator and the shot of Hackman as he stands in the elevator while it switches between him and a women that is also occupying the space. The scene ends with a close up of a tape recorder. Possible locations that we are considering is using the music module at FGCU, the university I attend, for the hotel lobby. A good place where we might be able to shoot the part where Gene Hackman approaches the secretary most likely will be the Eagle News room and Holmes at Florida Gulf Coast University. Elliot suggested that we get help from his roommates and to use them as actors for the scene in question. We are mostly likely going to get envelopes and fake money to use as props because of their importance in the exchange between Ford and Hackman. Pictures of the locations will be posted sometime tomorrow.
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