Reflection

Tristan

We had watched Tristan's film The Forgotten in class and I was really impressed. What impressed me most about his film is the amount that he filmed by himself. I have tried to film sequences of a project by myself before and it is a very strenuous and time consuming process. I was also impressed by the use of editing when Dean is trying to reach his friends to hangout. The way the sequence is cut together allowed for me to see how hard Dean was trying and failing to connect with people. This was probably the most emotionally felt sequence in the entire film. Something that I learned from seeing Tristans presentation was how to utilize practice footage. This is a concept where you go to a location maybe alone or with a stand-in and you test shots. After hearing about this I will use this when I am planning my own films. It is very helpful and efficient to know exactly where you want the camera to be on location. If I used practice shots I wouldn't have had to search for the angle on location to match my storyboard. In total, I was found Tristan's film very impressive and a good learning experience.

Allen

Allen's clothing so far

When watching and taking notes on Allens presentation I was very impressed by the amount of in-depth research he performed when creating his animation. He wanted to have accurate clothing, weapons, characters, and environment. I could tell immediately that he had done the work by the amount of knowledge he shared on the specific dynasty he studied. What I learned as a result of this is to research anything and everything that might be useful to know for production. More specifically not only research technical aspects of production but also production design elements such as props and sets. In doing so you are able to create a more accurate and meaningful film with depth and subtext. Even though I am not creating a historical piece like Allen I will still need to do research for my Sci-fi production. For me I will be researching modern science and where it will advance to as well as other fictional texts.

Lance

The first thing that Lance touched on in his presentation was the use of a theme in art within his production. He explained that his story was one which involved destiny and the uses of that theme as a story. As he explained this concept I realized the importance of grounding your story within a theme. Lance's theme in art was the theme of stories in history. Once you have selected a theme you want your work to focus on it becomes extremely easy to create your story. Writing this way also allows for you to keep a coherent and logical story. If you ever lose track of where your story is taking you just look back at the theme you originally picked. The other thing Lance mentioned was the importance of time management in the production process. You never want to let work pile up on you because you procrastinated. This only leads to lower quality work as well as unnecessary stress for you. Personally I have been practicing the management of my time for a while, but Lance's statement reinforces the reasoning and importance for my believe in not procrastinating.

A Reference image Lance displayed in his post

Miranda

During her presentation, Miranda discussed the difficulties of the pre-production phase of her project. She mentioned that it was difficult for her to choose an idea since she had done both film and animation. She also mentioned the struggle of hesitation when going about executing the production process. She had originally hesitated because she wasn't invested in the original project idea she chose. One of things that I took away from her presentation was the necessity to be interested and invested in the project you're doing. When working on film it is a bit different because you are working with a crew. This can lead to certain compromises that must be created for everyone to stay invested in the film. For animation since it is an individual production team at this level, you don't have to compromise. In this instance I prefer animation as well for the freedom of individual decision. As long as what I create is appropriate for school I can do whatever I really want to do. With film however, you are constrained to the investment of your crew as well as your own. That is why it is essential to find people that are just as committed as you. Below is an animation that Miranda found inspired her to create her own animation.

Carey

even though Carey is focusing on 2D animation and I am focusing on film I still learned essential aspects of performance from his presentation. In Carey's presentation he showed the first scene of his animation. It consisted of a man lying on his bed breathing and holding a pillow. At first I didn't think that there was anything that I, a film student, could learn from Carey's presentation that would benefit me. However, Carey started to discuss the breathing rate of his character and how he selected the duration. At first the breathing rate was too fast which wasn't portraying the character in the way he wanted. This taught me the important effect of the speed of character movement and the posing of the character in relation to the audience's interpretation. In order for a character to seem energetic they have to move fast and with seemingly no purpose. For a character to seem sad they lower their head and drag themselves around. I will try to focus on writing my characters with this in mind so I can better direct an actor's performance. I will also implement this in my own acting in order to aid the audience in interpreting my movement.

A screenshot of Carey's first scene

Mon - Critiqued Tristan's film

Tues - took personal growth test

Weds - acted in the Aiden Rimmer Show

Thurs - acted in the Aiden Rimmer Show

Fri - started brainstorming next project