#alisonodaniel

[holapublicartproject]

SERIOUSLY? - Week 5

Our last week was a big push. Monday we finished filming with our guest cinematographer, Soraya Selene. It was intense and a bit crazy trying to finish our shot list and imagining that the film was going to be screened on Friday. The pressure was on and the cry of “Quiet on the Set! “, became louder and louder.

Our guest editor, artist Sarah Rara came by to see how things were going, take notes from the kids on the tone of the film and take photos of our shot lists. At the end of the class we gave her a hard drive with the material from our two days of shooting so she could prepare a rough cut for Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Sarah came in and gave a short presentation on what she does as an artist and the role of the editor in film. We all watched the rough cut and the kids gave their suggestions on how they thought it could be better. We all loved it in its rough state though which meant it could only get better. Sarah left halfway through class after taking notes and talking to our guest composer Scott Martin, so she could get to work on the final cut.

Scott gave a brief presentation on himself, the electronic keypads he’d brought with him and how he came to music. We watched the rough cut a few more times and the kids started having specific ideas about signature sounds for some of the characters. Our soundtrack was being born.

Scott played along and tried some things out with the rough cut before turning the instrument over to the kids entirely. He showed them how to record and overlay sounds, which several of the kids took to easily.

It was exciting to see the film taking shape and now it was in the hands of Sarah and Scott to put the final pieces in place and have the final cut ready by Friday.

Thanks again to both of them for being willing and ready to meet the deadline, I mean, Seriously?.

[holapublicartproject]

Teaser!!

Here is a fun little boomerang that we created during the filming process...

Join us for the premiere of SERIOUSLY?, a student-written and directed short film, this Friday, July 28th at 12 p.m. at HOLA Royale. There will be tamales and lemonade!

[holapublicartproject]

SERIOUSLY? - Week 3

This week we needed all hands on deck. Visiting artist Matt Green, who’ll be making our movie poster and invitations, presented their paintings, collages and talked about what art meant to them when they were younger. Matt worked with the students and helped paint the backdrop for the Forest of Doom. It's beautiful!

Ahyleen worked furiously on the script with a bunch of other students' input. 

Treyvon cut out large trees for the Forest. Pearl helped Alan finish the titles that introduce each scene. A box mountain grew and eventually got multiple pairs of eyes. Our galaxy backdrop appeared. A group of students finalized the french fry choreography.

And finally, we decided on a title for the film: SERIOUSLY? Proposed by one of the students, it won the vote almost unanimously and seems appropriate for the proposed idea of trying to make a film from scratch with approximately 20 students in a total of 25 hours. 

Next week, we rehearse and begin filming.

[holapublicartproject]

SERIOUSLY? - Week Two

Our guest costumer, Heather Quesada, made a wonderful presentation Monday morning introducing us to her work, from the idea to the realization of a costume. Some of the kids recognized a show or two she'd worked on and were enthralled. She sat at her sewing machine with a couple of our main characters while everyone else spread out and built props, large-scale costumes and set pieces. 

One of the students, Nana, worked on the script.  

There was a lot of energy in the room both days and we have a clear sense of the furious pace that we'll need to maintain in order to make this film.

[holapublicartproject]

SERIOUSLY? - Week 1

Monday and Wednesday morning, we set the groundwork for a film that we’ll be working on and premiering, July 28th, 2017. As a group, we haven’t brainstormed or voted on a title yet but we spent our time figuring out the structure of the film and some of the characters that would be interacting.

Next week costumer Heather Quesada will be joining us.

[holapublicartproject]

Welcome Alison O’Daniel and Scoli Acosta to HOLA’s Public Art Residency

This summer, Alison O’Daniel and Scoli Acosta will work with students in tandem on a 5 week summer film project. Students will do creative writing exercises and physical acting exercises to brainstorm and create characters, locations, props and actions. Through collaboration with one another and exercises with visiting artists, the students will design and build wearable sculptures/costumes.

Based on the sculptures they make, they will develop a genre-based narrative, plan and storyboard the script, and then film, act, and edit in-camera in real time. A guest musician will collaborate on a soundtrack with the students. The final video will be presented in a public screening for their families and friends. 

Stay tuned for weekly updates.