And the Window of Time Narrows

This past week has flown by without any major advances in our film production. Although our film has been digitized, the editing process has proved to be a technologically hindered process. Many of the editing programs available for free download either leave watermarks embedded in the final product or do not have the features necessary to properly edit our film. Our film class does have access to an ethnography lab, where professional editing equipment is available, but our group feared that the time allotted would be too scarce for the editors, Elizabeth Naglack and I, to fully assemble our film. Thus under the advisement of our film technology instructor, Eric Dietz, our group selected and purchased reputable editing software from our local Best Buy electronics store.

Now that we have collected all of the necessary equipment, we are ready to get serious into the editing! Well, at least that’s what we thought. When Elizabeth started transferring the video files into our newly purchased program she found three files that were not compatible with the software. And instead of the program posting notifications of why the files were incompatible, it would simply freeze solid. A real help for those of us who are new to the process! Also, one other problem that was experienced with our clips was audio quality. Supposedly, one of the clips features miserably low audio levels. Thus now we must rely on the beauty of voice over. For now we will be waiting for class this Thursday to see if Eric Deitz can alleviate some of our technological problems and although not our first round of technical problems, we are all hoping it will be our last.

We have less than two weeks of available days in the semester before our film must be finalized. I’m sure more time would be nice but it’s not exactly an option at this point. I don’t doubt our ability to finish the film but stress will certainly be mounting as the window of time narrows. I hold a strong sense of optimism because as soon as we settle our editing platform (mainly technology), I believe that we will be able fly through the editing process. Our screenplay is still concrete as ever and our shots are filmed so that they smoothly synchronize with the plot. Taking those qualities into consideration, I am confident that major editing feats can be avoided and the film will ultimately fall into place.

Time to Digitize…

My production group finished filming two weeks prior thus this last class meeting, which was dedicated to group filming, was not particularly productive for my crew, but nonetheless enjoyable. We are now at the point where we await to digitize our film. It seems that the cameras, which were unavailable last week, hold the key to digitizing our film. But with class cooperation I expect that we will be able to mass digitize each group’s footage this coming meeting. Despite being unable to advance in the production of our film, I still found that the class meeting was able to heighten my filming experience. By this time in the production process, many of the filming crews had already filmed or at least were able to experiment with the filming procedure. So for a portion of last class I wandered around collecting some of the other group’s experiences.

Although of little relation to the group film project, I have recently noticed an increased personal attention, or at least recognition, of the student film world. The campus information email system often announces the showing of a student production films. One such email recently announced the premiere of UCA’s first full length feature film, which from my understanding is an impressive feat for a university, especially one of UCA’s size. The email addressed that although many of the students involved had previous filming experience, most of their experiences had been limited to minor productions. It continued to point out that such experience generally limited the scope of their experience. Just as they would be getting comfortable in their specific role of production, the project would be finished. Such short lived exposures to the nature of filming and production were only enough to wet their feet (fairly similar to the experience of this Honor film making course). The recent full length movie project, though, provided many of those film students with the opportunity to oversee the complete spectrum of a full length production. After reading the email I was fairly jealous of the experience that these students had acquired. Although I’m sure they put forth great effort forth, even in an observational role, I feel that the experience that they came away with is certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity. One that many students of this Honors film making class would surely appreciate.

Lights, Camera, Action

This past week, prior to last Thursday, was our opportunity to film. Although my role in the filming process, as co-editor, was not crucial to shooting I still thoroughly enjoyed the experience. For the short amount of time that I was able to witness the magic of our movie, I was impressed by the efforts of the crew. Everyone was continuously adapting to the role of their positions with a sense of flexibility that allowed the production to continue without catastrophe. The camera man, Michael, was exploring new angles, camera settings, etc. while our director, Doug, was envisioning the scene as if it had already been filmed. Once I was able to see one of our scene’s takes I was filled with excitement as I realized the full circle of filming that I had just witnessed.

Several weeks back, mid semester, was our group’s first film production meeting. The five of us sat down around my laptop and watched short films that pertained to the genre that we had be assigned. Each throwing out ideas as they spawned new variations of action, drama, and clever twists. Idea after idea we started making headway, a plot was forming, characters were being developed, and the recognition of potential was present. From this point forward our group slowly sculpted our original rudimentary plot into a well thought out progression of scenes. Then, through detail crunching labor we were ready to shoot… This succession in production stages all floated through my mind as I watched several of the scenes being filmed. It was not only wildly satisfying to see our film come to fruition but it excited me to see the rest of our footage. Which now brings me to my main function in this production process, editing.

Although I’m sure the editing work that waits ahead is more than I could ever wish for, I am excited and ready for it. I have witnessed Doug’s enthusiasm in directing the film and I think it will be contagious when I’m finally able to make my mark. Stringing the scenes of our film together into an exciting flow will be gratifying. Right now I have the scenes flowing around my head like individual still shots, waiting to be glued in order. I have a feeling that when I actually get to arranged the shots it will be like jotting down a long needed To Do list, oddly rewarding.

A fitting end to our movie presentations..

This last class we watched our final movie presentation of the semester, Adaptation, by Spike Jonze. The picture’s structure employs a technique where the audience witnesses the movie as it is being composed. Adaptation addresses the journey of a screenwriter who aspires to mold an un-filmable book about orchids into a movie. Despite Charlie, the screenwriter, wanting to stay true to the book and eliminate the sensationalized addition of cinema drama, the story introduces him to a spiraling spout of action. His wish to eliminate thrilling flourishes arises from his belief at that real life is drowned from tragedy and excitement. Due to the perspective of the movie, the events that Charlie witnesses become part of the movie he is compiling, Adaptation.

The film represents a sense of success out of failure, out of the lack of ability to make a film from the book provided. The layering of the movie raises a question of Jonze’s message concerning the role of the screenwriter. How the temptations, almost required aspects, of cliché movie additions are forced upon the writer. For the film embodies that despite the desire to create a worldly and insightful film, the industry standard forced grand action and wicked climaxes.

I found the movie’s spiral into cliché stunts of action quite entertaining. The interjection of drugs, scandalous affairs, gun battles, and car wrecks all twisted into an off the wall weave of events. For me the most enjoyable cliché was the dynamic enlightenment of Charlie’s character- a surprising ending for a post-modernism movie.

Charlie’s opening character was physically draining through a constant wine over his dull juncture of life, filled with insecurities and shortcomings. Because I’ve recently re-discovered the Romantic era of literature I found myself paralleling his character’s shift in mentality to William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of experience. The experiences of Charlie’s past had made him unnervingly apprehensive to life and the surrounding world but through the influence of his brother, Donald, he was able to see the integral importance of experience, regaining his innocence. Charlie’s epiphany exposed his once lost foundation of human spirit, hope and innocence.

Also, during this last week my film production crew has been filming. The experience has been enjoyable as well as a learning experience. As the editor, I have been mentally constructing the image that our director is trying to embody. I’m excited to get my hands dirty with editing tech.

Peer Pride

Last class period was spent developing ideas and concepts pertaining to the production of our short film projects. As a catalyst in the idea generating process for our film production we watched a short film called “The Last Summer.” The film was scripted, produced, and edited as a senior thesis by UCA’s very own Corey Womack. “The Last Summer” is a biographical short film, approximately 15 minutes long, that tells the story of a high school graduate who is fixing to leave his small town for the pursuit of a college education. Despite his ambitions for a life greater than his hometown can offer, his friends and more importantly girlfriend are having trouble letting go of their dear friend. The plot leads the audience through his mental tribulations and external conflicts that dictate his ultimate decision.

As purely a UCA student film production, its presentation served as an excellent building tool. Through examination of its evident faults the class discovered a few of the concerns of low budget productions. Lighting is certainly now a major fear. The movie relied strongly on artificial light which forced many of the scenes to be dark and void of detail. Much of the audience had trouble with character identification because many faces were indistinguishable in the lighting circumstances. Although I’m sure their low budget limited the availability of lighting equipment, a more natural lighting appearance, which is cheap, could alleviate some of the gloom in the film. Beyond lighting indifferences, the film’s ambiguous ending was just simply too indefinite. The audience wants to assume that the main character followed his ambitions of education but has little confidence in doing so. Womack, the student producer previously mentioned, said that he was aiming for a certain cinematic effect through the vague ending of his film. He seemed to be implying that if the film portrayed the plot as he intended then the audience should be able to carry out the story line. Although such logic could rightly apply to longer and more detailed films, I feel similar gambles should be left to the professionals. Needless to say, the class now certainly realizes the importance of a solid ending.

Despite “The Last Summer” having its share of amateur production traits, Womack’s pride in the film brought the production experience to full circle. His contagious enthusiasm even made me proud of his satisfaction in his final product.

Filming starts this week- wish us luck!

If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we've got something here.

The cynical motivations presented in film noir style films certainly create unpleasant antiheros. Last Thursday in my film appreciation course we watched the Robert Altman 1992 film, The Player. This movie told the story of a Hollywood production executive, Griffin Mill, who murders a screen play writer under the belief that the given screen play writer was the source of threatening messages. Though plenty of circumstantial evidence, the clearly guilty Mill escaped incarceration. Mill, as the antihero of the plot, had a sense of ambiguous morality that was maintained throughout the film. Due to ambiguity in his sense of moral judgment and selfish pursuit of success I experienced building distaste for his character. Mill repeatedly attempted to use his career’s demands for cutthroat studio decision making as an excuse for moral shortcomings but any variation of such personally found week bargaining power. Thus from the beginning of the film his character was relatively putrid. As the movie progressed I felt as that Mill’s regression of character could be compared to kicking a dead horse. I already don’t like the character and yet his nonexistent moral frame is still being degraded in the viewer’s eye.

My distaste for Griffin Mill as the antihero seems to illuminate qualities that deter from the movie’s film noir style. Most film noir antiheros roles tend to blur the line of good or evil. Such as in Sunset Boulevard where the audience is left to decide whether Norma Desmon deserves sympathy or admission to the mad house. Should you root for her, root against her, or try to reason out her situation? Despite Robert Altman’s inclusion of many film noir elements, I feel that his depiction of the movie’s antihero misses the mark and consequently loses some of my appreciation for his film. Altman appears to create a monster of a character where there is no doubt of dislike towards the antihero. I want the antihero to have a question of morality that battles my mind as I watch the film, not just building evidence of purely angelic character. The plot should tease my psyche as I battle a mental duel of love and hate over the antihero. I recently watched Law Abiding Citizen, starring Gerard Butler, and I found my moral frame being questioned by Gerard Butler’s motives as an antihero type character. For ninety percent of the movie I was cheering on his path of murder and revenge! His wit, intellect, and appealing vigilante motives kept me on his side despite such a violent path of destruction. I felt his character epitomized the relationship that an audience should have with an antihero and maybe Griffin Mill could take a couple notes.

What... no nudity?

Last class showed how our films production might just make a finely whisked soufflé of mockery out of my organization skills. Although I like a degree of control and am a goal driven individual, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m not going to be the producer. From paperwork (location agreements), to set arrangement, to the compilation of actors, the producer better be able to manage the Ringling Brothers via Skype. A blackberry in each hand and some outrageous texting skills might do the trick but one predication is for certain, our whole crew would be spending the night behind bars if it was my responsibility. Who knew it was illegal to film in an alleyway without permission anyways?.. Not me. I can’t imagine the river of paperwork that must flow through the production of a blockbuster film, it would rival the Nile. However, although I’m sure location agreements are protocol for most filming endeavors, I question how strict of a protocol it may be. For instance, skateboarding films are generally massive compilations of professional boarders mastering city terrain. These fools hurdle city gaps, fly over stair sets, and ride concrete planter boxes like it’s the interstate. Seeing that all of these objects rest on property that is of personal ownership, how do such films come to fruition without legal mayhem? My guess (though not worth much) is that although most individuals understand the concept of trespassing, they aren’t aware that they own rights for the filming of their property. You can’t sue if you don’t know it’s illegal.

In my original mental conception of our film I viewed it as homegrown. This meant that the people who were behind the scenes in its production were probably going to be the actors. I figured that Doug would win the souls of America while Elizabeth filled the shoes of Meryl Streep and Lennon brought home the bacon with some solid gut wrenching lines. You may notice that I left my name off the acting squad (stage hands don’t get filmed). But now we’re talking about trying to sign actors? I’m still wondering who would want to be in our film. After asking George Clooney I ran out of options. But on a serious note, I’m not sure how many individuals are going to want to perform in our motion picture. Although this project lies near and dear to my heart, I don’t foresee other individuals having the same enthusiasm and ambitions as I do for our film. After the sixth or seventh attempt at a shot they might just tell Doug where to put his director’s hat. On the other hand, maybe I’m just being a bit pessimistic. But for now, be on the lookout for our film premiere... It might just change your life..