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Business of Film

The thing that I learned most from this month wasn’t particularly about the business of film so much. I did learn a lot about marketing and distribution of films. One of my favorite assignments was the film comparison assignment because it got me thinking about movies from a different perspective. It was also interesting to see the trends that movies take and how you could try and predict how a movie might do in the box office due to the timing of its release as well as other movies in that genre.

What this month was really about for me, however, was learning more about myself; how far I’ve come as an individual and as a filmmaker in the last twelve months. The job hunt has started and while still daunting, it’s not as daunting as it was before because I feel a little more prepared for the road ahead. I’ve started a demo reel and a personal brand video to let my work speak for itself as well as a good resume that will keep an employer’s interest. I’ve also learned how to handle interviews a little better. I tend to get nervous in those situations, but I’ve learned a lot from watching the mock interviews and mock negotiations in class.

My time at Full Sail has been a very fulfilling. A year ago I started on this journey, unsure of where it would take me. Now I can say that I have successfully written and directed our thesis film. I’ve also directed four other short films during my time here as well as worked on a total of 16 short films in various capacities. I’ve taken many different positions on film sets from production assistant to 2nd assistant director. I’m proud of the work I have created here and am excited to share my creative skills with others in this industry.

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” - Colin Powell

Film Assembly

I have always learned so much each month of this program, but this month really opened my eyes. Sound was something that I never paid that much attention to when watching other films or television shows. I tried to pay attention to how things sounded during production and always checked with our sound mixer after each take to make sure everything was okay. Outside of having clean production audio, however, I never realized how important sound was until we started our temp mix.

Up until that point, our film felt a little flat to me. It didn’t feel genuine and true and I just couldn’t figure out why. Once we started adding background ambiance and sound effects, it hit me. Sound was what was missing. As we layered background tracks and sound effects and our group ADR in to the bar scene, it felt like it was coming to life. That’s when I truly understood how important sound is for a film. It fills out the scene and brings it to life. It makes it feel like real life and not just something playing out on a screen in front of us.

I came into this class with limited knowledge of sound and while I still have a lot to learn, I understand it a lot more now. I learned a lot by sitting down with the sound interns and selecting different tracks to use and deciding where to place them. Sitting at the console with Bill and watching him mix everything together was incredible as well. It was so interesting to see how he played with each track, panning it around the room or filtering the tracks to get them sounding just right. Sometimes I didn’t quite understand why he altered something in a certain way until everything was played back. Then it made sense.

One of the most interesting things I learned this month was applying a high pass or a low pass filter to something to alter the way it sounds. A high pass filter allows all the high frequencies pass through so that the audio sounds like it is coming through a phone or through a radio. A low pass filter allows all the low frequencies to pass through so it sounds as if the audio is coming from another room or from outside. It is something that I’ve seen/heard numerous times in films and shows, but never quite understood how they did it.

I think we created an amazing sounding film this month. It truly brought the film to life and added a lot of humor to it as well. I am so proud of what we accomplished with this film and am so grateful for the opportunity to work with Bill and the sound interns RaeAnna and Andriana; they are all incredibly talented and amazing people. I have learned so much about sound this month and hope to continue expanding that knowledge on future projects.

Post Production

Coming in to this month, my main goal was to learn how to use Avid Media Composer and complete either complete a cut of the film or a trailer. This month, though, I learned a lot more about editing than I expected, and it came from an unexpected source. Before this month, I had only seen brief snippets of the film series Star Wars. I couldn’t get into the actual film because it always seemed so unrealistic compared to the visual effects we see in modern films. After learning more about those films and watching them, however, I have a huge respect for them. Those films were a turning point for visual effects and editing. In class, we watched behind the scenes footage of how some of the special effects were made. They were labor intensive feats, working frame by frame on the film. They also used huge, intricate paintings as backgrounds for certain scenes. It was incredible. Watching them now, after learning all of that about what went into those films, it is very intriguing. It is hard to not be impressed with all the work that was put into those films.

I also learned a lot about Avid through editing my trailer this month and a lot about what goes into a trailer to begin with. At first it was overwhelming, learning a brand new software to edit. As time went on, however, I found the software not as difficult as I first imagined it to be. While I am still learning the software and am nowhere near very knowledgeable about it, I feel pretty comfortable using it for what I need it for.

It wasn’t until this month that I truly understood all that goes into editing. There are simple things, like sound effects, that I never really paid attention to that make everything feel more realistic. When we first viewed our footage, it felt a little fake to me because of the lack of noise in the background. Then when we finally added in the ambience of people talking, classes clinking, people cheering and laughing, and some music in the background, the scene came to life. It no longer felt fake to me, but felt natural, like we had stepped into a bar at peak time to film. It was then that I realized just how important audio is to a film. Not just clear audio to hear the dialogue, but ambience and sounds effects as well. Those are the little sounds that take it from a scene in a movie, to a piece of real life. The more realistic it sounds, the more your audience will forget they are watching a movie.

Production

At the beginning of the Mastery Class, being the director of our class’s thesis film felt a little like a pipe dream. Now, however, I am at the end of our production month and I can say that not only did I write the script for our thesis film, but I was also the director. I have learned a lot since my first month in the program. Coming in to this degree program, I had very limited film experience. That first month I was the producer and director for one of the shorts our class made. While that film wasn’t entirely terrible, I can see how much I’ve grown as a director and a filmmaker since that time.

My goal upon entering this class was to make the best film I could in whatever position I was assigned. Directing is still new to me and I know I still have a lot to learn in that role, but overall I think I was successful in that role. One of the biggest obstacles for me to overcome was really just inexperience and trying not to let that shake my confidence. While watching Angeline Jolie, Christopher Nolan, and more Directors on THR’s Roundtable | Oscars 2015 video, I was surprised to learn that I am not the first director to deal with those emotions. In fact, during that discussion, Angelina Jolie expressed how rough her first day was on the set of Unbroken and how she struggled with her confidence. She is new to directing herself and mentioned how there were still things that she was learning during filming.

As a young filmmaker, I know there is still a lot to learn about making films and some of that comes from on-set experiences. Sometimes, however, we can learn a lot through what others have learned. One of the videos that I watched for discussion was The Robert Rodriguez 10 Minute Film School series. In that film, Rodriguez talked about some of the ways he was able to film El Mariachi on such a low budget. Through his experience, I learned a lot. One of the segments that truly stuck with me was how he filmed certain scenes with dialogue. Rodriguez already had in mind how he wanted it to look in the final film so he filmed it that way. He knew he wouldn’t use a threatening line of dialogue in a wide shot, it was a shot that required a close up so he filmed it that way. He didn’t waste time or film by shooting a scene from multiple angles just to have coverage. He filmed each shot how he wanted it to look. In this particular case he filmed on a zoom lens and just pushed in closer or pulled back out on certain lines of dialogue. Watching the raw footage was a little jarring, but the final edit looked great. While this is not something you can do all the time, I think it serves as a great reminder to always be conscious of how we film. I have always heard instructors mention directing for the edit, but it never fully clicked until I watched that video. I know I have a lot more to learn about filmmaking and I am excited to continue this journey.

Angelina Jolie, Christopher Nolan and more Directors on THR's Roundtable | Oscars 2015. (2014, December 12). Retrieved August, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xkh982zFm8

The Robert Rodriguez 10 Minute Film School - Part 1 of 2. (2007, July 04). Retrieved August, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UOa7tkByrw

The Robert Rodriguez 10 Minute Film School - Part 2 of 2. (2007, July 04). Retrieved August, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLxqNwc1oYU

Pre-Production

Pre-production month was one of the most exhausting months so far. I put a lot of long hours in at the production office with my producer, my 1st AD, and my DP. Going into this month we felt like we had already accomplished a lot as far as pre-production, but we realized that we had a lot of work still ahead of us.

Before this month, we had already held casting and we had locked both of our locations for filming. We still had to narrow down our cast and hold callbacks, then lock final cast, as well as find and secure background talent. As a group, we went back to our locations and blocked out some of the action to reassess our camera angles and to get a better idea of what would be needed to light our scene. I’ve held meetings with key members of the production in order to go over lighting and shots, production design, wardrobe, and other key elements.

One of the most difficult items I worked on this month was the shooting schedule. We ended up cutting and combining some shots in order to not exceed the maximum number of twelve shots per day. The shooting schedule went through multiple revisions over the whole month, tweaking times and moving scenes around. It’s a delicate balance, trying to find the right order to shoot the scenes and the shots in; trying to make it as time efficient as possible.

The most rewarding moment for me this month, however, was holding the table read. As a writer, it was a really incredible to hear these great actors reading my word and acting them out. I am really looking forward to holding more rehearsals with my actors and seeing their performance in front of the camera.

I think our cohort has assembled a crew cast and crew. I am really looking forward to working with them as we enter our production month.

Entertainment and Communication Law

Entering this class this month, I was very intimidated by the subject matter. Having an entire month spent on law felt way out of my depth. Up until this month, we had been focused on creating and getting hands on experience. I was very nervous about taking this class because the subject matter just seemed too over my head for me to comprehend in one month.

My goal for entering this class was to gain a better understanding of copyright law and to learn more about contracts and the legalese contained in them. Before this class, reading a contract seemed like playing a word search. I’d read entire paragraphs and only one or two clauses were intelligible, the rest seemed to be verbose nonsense. Now, however, I can say that I feel a little more confident while reading through a contract. I understand what those odd little phrases like “warranty and indemnity” and “considerations” mean. While I still have to flip through my notes at points, I can read through a contract and understand the basics of what is being outlined in the deal points.

I have also learned a great deal about intellectual property. Understanding copyright law was a main goal of mine because that seemed like the big thing to learn. I was surprised, however, to learn about the other aspects of intellectual property that can be infringed upon; trademarks, patents, right of publicity, and trade secrets. Fair Use is a big takeaway I had this month. What could be considered Fair Use of a trademark and where to draw the line on Fair Use of copyrighted material is something I paid special attention to. While there is not hard and fast rule and it can be left up to the courts, using the four factors test, I can try to gauge for myself if something I am working on could be considered infringement or dilution.

There was a lot to learn and to take away this month. Two other items I found particularly interesting were the case study and negotiations. I was surprised to find that after learning some legalese, I was able to read court documents for our case study assignment with only a little difficulty. Reading those documents before felt like reading contracts, nearly impossible to comprehend. I also learned quite a bit about negotiating as well. That is something that will always come in handy, both on and off of a film set.

I learned a lot this month. While I know we’ve only grazed the surface of entertainment law, I feel more well informed and not so intimidated.

Visual Storytelling Mastery Journal

My goal for this month in Visual Storytelling was to learn more about lighting and how to create different moods by using lighting. I also wanted to learn more about the camera.

While last month I learned the basics of lighting, this month was a more in depth lesson on how to use light, to shape it and move it to create the desired effect. I definitely still have a lot more to learn about lighting, but I feel a little more confident in it now. Through the picture recreations in class, I saw all the effort that was needed to light a scene to make an object appear one way or another. By focusing on things like the direction of the shadow or the color temperature, I could figure out what type of lights I needed and where they would need to be positioned.

This month I also learned more about being a grip on set. It was overwhelming at first, trying to learn all the items and how to use them. I found, though, that I retained more than I first believed. I learned how to set up lights and how to build frames and how to build the dolly and its tracks. Having that hands on experience was excellent because up until this point, I’ve never really had hands on experience with any of this equipment. It was intimidating at first, but I learned how to handle the items properly and felt a little more comfortable with them. I definitely need more hands on experience with grip work to feel confident in my work and will need to actively work on that.

Working on the thesis set this month was also an interesting experience and wasn’t something I had counted on learning this month. This was my first time working with people on a set outside of my classmates so I wasn’t sure what to expect at first. I learned a lot more about what a grip does on set, but also the valuable experience of how a set runs. I think the most important thing I learned from my time on set was the pitfalls that a crew can run into and learn from their mishaps so that I don’t repeat them on my own set in a few months.

The one goal that I didn’t really meet this month was working with the camera. I learned more about the camera in lectures and a little more on how to manipulate the depth of field with our picture recreations. I didn’t get a lot of hands on camera time and that is because the camera we worked with this month is pretty intimidating to me. I do not have much hands on experience with a camera. It is something I need to work on outside of class time, working the camera team in my class to understand the basics and get a little more time working with it. I do want to learn about the camera we will be using to film our thesis because I feel it is important, as the director, to understand its functions so I can communicate my vision clearly with my camera team.

I definitely feel like I have met most of my goals this month and even learned somethings I didn’t expect to. I am looking forward to having more time on a thesis set to expand my knowledge and get that hands on experience.

Up In The Air: Behind The Scenes

#behind the scenes

Experimental Filmmaking Mastery Journal

My goal for this class was to get comfortable with new and innovative ways to film scenes and tell stories. I feel like I have partially completed that goal. During this class, we were introduced to many experimental films. While I tried to incorporate some experimental elements into my film this month, I don’t foresee myself every being totally comfortable with making experimental films. I have gained a little more appreciation for them as an artistic art form, but I still prefer narrative shorts to experimental films.

This month held a lot of first for me. This was the first time casting which was a very interesting experience. I was able to cast two phenomenal actors for the role in my film “Up In The Air” and they gave me exactly what I was looking for. They were excellent to work with. This was also my first really filming and directing something that I wrote. It was an incredible experience to work with my cast and crew on the backlot. I had such a great experience and am really happy with how my film has turned out. My film did have one experimental quality to it which was it did not have any dialogue or diegetic sound to it. The only sound was a song added in post production. The original script did have a voice over in it, but I chose not to include it in the final cut of the film. Instead, I chose to let the visual elements of the story carry the plot. Working with talent and a crew is something I really enjoyed and something I am eager to repeat.

Another first for me this month was running power and setting up lights. Up until this class, I had very little experience with lighting. Getting hands on experience with lights was interesting. Running power is a huge responsibility, but once you learn how to do it correctly, it isn’t as scary as before.

#reflection #experimental filmmaking

Directing Talent Reflection

Coming into the Directing Talent class, the only experience with directing I had was during our short film during Filming Concepts and Practices. Directing, however, is something I have always aspired to do. I felt a little out of my depth entering this class because I was not sure what to expect. My main goal for this class was to learn more about the director’s role and work on collaborating with actors and crew. I definitely feel like I have come a long way since the start of this class.

The Directing Scenes were a huge learning experience for me. It was a little intimidating at first, directing a coherent scene in 10 minutes. It was effective though because it forced me to think simply about my shots and not try anything too complex. I felt very scattered though and felt like I didn’t do that great of a job on set working my cast and crew. What I learned from that first experience I utilized in the next scene. When new issues popped up with the second scene, I learned from it and knew better for the third scene.

That is one thing I have learned about directing. It is not always going to go as planned. People are going to enter the soundstage or be using a power saw outside that will mess with the audio, actors may show up late and be unprepared for their scenes, shots that have been lined up won’t work. Something is going to go wrong and it is up to the director to figure out how to work around the problem. It’s part planning and part thinking on your toes.

I have learned a lot in this class and I feel like I have improved as a director since the start. I noticed on the third directing scene, it was easier for me to come up with a verb or an “as if” scenario for my actors that it was the first time we filmed. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I have made a definite improvement.

#reflection #directing talent

Directing Scene #3

#directing talent

Directing Scene #2

#directing talent

Directing Scene #1 for Directing Talent.

#directing talent

Mastery Vlog Assignment for Script Production and Analysis

#Reflection post

Pickles - A Short Film

#Vimeo #pickles #shortfilm #narrative #comedy #student film

Short Film Analysis

The short film I chose to analyze this month is the drama Memory 2.0 directed by Dugan O’Neal. The video can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/98225249

This short film is about a man searching for a way to connect with the woman he loves through virtual reality. The tone of the film is nostalgic but hopeful. Director Dugan O’Neal reveals this to the audience through the lighting of the film. The lighting and exposure changes significantly through the course of the film. Henry’s home is the darkest with a lot of shadow while the virtual reality of Henry’s memory of Sophie and his home are brightly lit. In contrast, Henry’s actual reality is a bit dimmer.

The story starts when Henry wakes up next to Sophie. The extreme close-ups of each of the characters gives the moment a very intimate feel, like the audience is seeing them through each other’s eyes. The moment fades, however, and it is revealed that it was just a memory of Henry’s, re-lived through a virtual reality. Through dialogue it is revealed that Henry does this often, comes back to this business to relive that moment with Sophie. The climax builds as the next time Henry relives it, the memory is changed. It is disjointed this time, like two different memories overlapping each other. He sees two images of Sophie, the one that belongs to this memory and another that seems upset and somber. Henry sees the somber Sophie writing an address on a piece of paper. When he tries to follow her out of the house, he’s stopped short and jolted out of the virtual reality. Remembering the address Sophie wrote down, Henry rushes there and meets Hector, who immediately knows who Henry is when he’s shown a picture of Sophie. The climax is reached when Hector reveals that he has a way for Henry to see Sophie again and injects him with a microchip. The film ends with Henry back in the virtual reality of his memory where this time he is able to follow Sophie through the door.

There were several interesting shots that enhanced the film. During the scene where Henry’s memory is changed and disjointed, the camera starts to pan following Sophie, but ends up doing a complete 360 of the room landing back on Henry. That movement made the shot dizzying to watch, but also served to put the audience in Henry’s perspective, having this memory jumping around. During this scene, the sound of Sophie’s voice changed as well. Her voice faded in and out and, at one point, slowed down and morphed so what she was speaking became unintelligible.

Overall, the film was successful because it was able to place the audience in Henry’s place. Audiences can connect with the idea of wanting to hold on to memories they have of loved ones and the desperation they feel when trying to reconnect with someone no longer in their lives.

In the short film Pickles, I wanted to express how ridiculous sibling fights can get. In real life, no matter the family dynamics, sibling are bound to get into arguments over everything and nothing. To convey that, we aimed for overly dramatic actions and dialogue, keeping it humorous, but true to life.

The story starts with a set up to the sibling’s rivalry. Jarrell wants to eat some chips, but his sister, Kaliyah, will not share. To get back at her, Jarrell steps in front of her, blocking the television. The fight escalates when Kaliyah shoves him out of the way. Frustrated, Jarrell goes to make himself a sandwich instead, but gets pulled away by the ringing phone. The tension builds further when Kaliyah steals his sandwich and disappears with it. Finding his sandwich gone, Jarrell plots his revenge by grabbing the near empty pickle jar and seeking out his sister. The climax of the film comes when Jarrell, seeking his revenge, dumps the jar of pickle juice over his sleeping sister. The film ends with a dripping wet Kaliyah chasing her brother out of the room and down the stairs.

We used non-diegetic sound to enhance the premise of the film. We chose several different musical compositions to augment what was occurring in the film at that time as well as comical sound effects, like the trombone slide when Jarrell was pushed to the ground. Several of the songs were cartoonish to overly dramatize the events, like Kaliyah chasing Jarrell at the end of the film.

#short film analysis

Filming Concepts and Practices Reflection

During the entire production of making our short film, Pickles, one of the biggest challenges was casting. When the film was in the pre-production stages, it was decided to keep the film comical and overly dramatic to emphasize just how ridiculous sibling fights can be. We altered some of the original dialogue and actions to keep it family friendly. The original script was written with the characters as younger children, between the ages of 9 and 13. The children that had been cast to play the parts were ultimately unavailable and the actors we got from our casting call were not able to film at the same time. In the end, we ended up casting two of our classmates for the roles and it worked out well in the end. Since the premise of the film was already a bit ridiculous and now we had two adults playing the roles meant for children, we decided to amp up the comedy even more with cartoonish music and sound effects.

I definitely think my skills were tested during this production, but I believe I have grown a lot as well. This was my first short film and I was given the roles of Producer and Director which was a lot of responsibility. One of the first things I learned is that nothing goes as planned. Inevitably, with each film, something is going to go wrong. You can panic and you can’t stress about it. You just have to handle each problem as it comes, solve one before solving the next, and eventually, things will work out. My goals coming into this class were to gain a deeper understanding of cinematography and use what I learned to create a high-quality film. I believe I was successful in that this month. I have learned a lot more about what goes into the production of a film, not just through lectures and readings, but through first-hand knowledge while completing our film. In the end, I believe we produced a good film.

#reflection post

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