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.
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