Ranking the 6x1 projects:

1. 16mm Film Manipulation
2. Rhythmic Editing
3. Bolex Shoot
4. Freestyle
5. Multi-plane Animation
6. Crowdsourcing

The reason I chose the 16mm assignment as my favorite simply was because of getting to play so much with actual film stock. I had never used it before and Travis and I's project turned out really, really cool and we had so much fun editing it. It was different from anything I had ever done and I am super pumped whenever I talk about it.

I chose crowdsourcing as my bottom spot simply because of it feeling like so much work. It took an extreme amount of time and outside help to finish all of it, and while the final product was beyond rewarding and awesome to see, I can't help but feel it was just too much, especially for a first assignment.

For the middle, I had a hard time deciding. I got to work with Travis again on the rhythmic edit and it was a lot of fun to shoot and probably the most unique editing experience I've ever had. I'm really proud of mine and the ideas I had.

The Bolex shoot was really cool but shooting on a Saturday was a pain, and we waited so long to present them I kind of forgot about it. However, figuring out the blocking of the take and the rehearsals gave me a whole new respect for being able to do as many takes as I want with a video camera.

My freestyle actually surprised me and turned out pretty well, and I think outside circumstances prevented me from enjoying it further, with being in the hospital and all. I seemed to lack direction on the project for a while.

The multi-plane animation was an awesome project with an awesome product but it was absolute insanity for my group. It took us way too long to finish and I felt very crunched for time. Because of that it affected my view of the project.

Overall I am really, really proud of the work I've done in this class and will always appreciate the new perspectives and techniques I learned.

The rough theater to me

The idea of a rough theater is a fascinating one. What engrosses people in cinema? Is it the imagery? 

Well to be honest, it’s probably the combination of multiple things working together to create the film – almost like a technological mise-en-scene. However, for me, there are certain elements that need to stick out to fully engross me into a film.

Sound design – whether it be dead silence, a soft thought-provoking piano piece, or hard rock music, sound is what can envelop a person into a scene from the first frame and keep them until the final one. Sound is so important in this way, especially music, with it’s ability to connect with our minds on an emotionally crazed level.

A weird one I always think of as well is typography. Are the fonts of the opening credits and title in tune with the tone of the film? I know it sounds weird, but take Interstellar for example, it has a very definitive typography. And the spacing between the letters is larger, making it easier to read and super cool looking. Now had the film used times new roman or something like that, it would have lost some of it’s impact on when it appears. I’m really picky about how fonts should be used in film. They have to be perfect.

Those are just two of the things that get to me, and it’s crazy to think that that notion of a rough theater is subjective to everyone, allowing for infinite possibilities. 

Responding to the Bolex shoot

The Bolex long take was quite the intimidating shoot. Our group had a cool idea, not super complicated, but still tricky. We had to get the blocking down perfectly so that our one take was not wasted or ruined. And that’s what got me – we only had one chance for perfection. It’s such a daunting task. Growing up with digital video cameras made takes seem somewhat obsolete considering that you can do as many as you like and it not cost extra money or supplies. But working with film stock, which my first time ever doing so was in this class, brought a whole new perspective to film for me, and a whole new respect for filmmakers. Shooting on film is much more intimidating, as you want to have the least amount of takes possible to capture a great scene, so directing, blocking, etc. become much more crucial to each take. With only having one take at our disposal, rehearsal became a huge part of production when most students probably dismiss it and just wing it on the first few takes. When we got around to actually filming, I was quite nervous. I didn’t want anything to mess up and fail at our one chance and that be it. Luckily, it seemed to come out pretty cool other than a few minor hiccups. I can’t imagine what going through an entire feature’s worth of film stock on production would be like. 

Whoa.

Media Fast Response

Sound Response

Sound is something that is very crucial to everyday life. It is a part of everything we do and hearing sound is one of our primary senses. I love how sound is and how it can draw people in, or aggravate us to no end. Sound is fascinating.

The articles present a unique case for the preservation of sound. I had never considered this before and it is quite the concept to ponder on. National parks for example have all sorts of natural sounds and by replacing them with urban areas, 'noise' is created. I sometimes love to just stand outside and listen to all the natural sounds going on, from the wind, to the leaves and tree branches and everything else.

I'm also a big fan of noise. I absolutely cannot sleep without some kind of background noise going on, mostly a ceiling fan or AC unit blowing. I also find myself hating to study in absolute silence. If there is not some form of noise going on for me to tune out, I end up subconsciously looking for it -which sounds weird but makes sense. Our lives are so full of noises every day that when we are faced with complete silence, we don't know what to do with it.

Crowdsourcing.....creating something huge from so many things!

Crowdsourcing is something that has always seemed cool to me, but I never knew how much went into it. Working on this project has opened my eyes to the variety it can bring to projects. One such example is Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir. This guy sent out music and a video of him directing it so people could get the tempo down, and received hundreds of videos of people singing different parts to the song. He then put them all together and had someone put each individual screen together with Eric’s in front, and it became a virtual choir. I was quite astounded by this feat as it was one of the biggest crowdsourcing projects I had ever come across. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs

Also, I had never considered Wikipedia a crowdsourcing project, but it totally is! I am on Wikipedia almost daily, to look up information movies, actors, comic books, and etc. and it’s one of the coolest websites ever for having SO much information. I also find it interesting that many fandoms have their own Wikipedia site, such as the Marvel comics’ wiki, or my personal favorite, Star Wars’ ‘Wookiepedia’ site. These sites always have such an overload of information and I have spent hours researching on so much comic book lore my brain melts. Seriously.

These types of projects also make me wonder what else could be done with crowdsourcing. There is so much raw talent out there just waiting to be discovered, it makes one think, how can we tap into it?

As Neo would say, "Whoa."

Whoa. 

Synesthesia is an interesting concept. As I viewed the Wikipedia page, it defined synesthesia as, “a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.” It gives examples such as 1980 actually feeling further away from 1990, or numbers/dates having precise locations in space and time.

As I read this, I wondered if I was one of the” synesthetes.” I began thinking and realized that with number a lot of the times, especially addition and subtraction, each number is almost a ‘shape’ or ‘size’ that fits together perfectly with other numbers to create the sum or minus. The best example I can give is that in my mind, 4 just magically combines and ‘fits’ together with 6 to create 10. It’s an odd phenomenon I cannot describe. I’m not sure if this is around the same territory as synesthesia, but it seems plausible. Interesting stuff! Daniel Tammet is an interesting man and his ideas on perception from his writings blew my mind. I was still skeptical on the subject but his talks convinced me, and has actually kind of made me reevaluate my thoughts on experimental film. Before, I tended to dismiss experimental but now I see that they can have a more profound effect when seen through the correct lens.

Cymatics are one of the freaking coolest things I’ve heard about in a long time! It’s simply amazing to see that sound can have such an effect on so many things, even mundane items like a metal plate. I wonder how that could be used to manipulate film in an experimental way. Maybe it’s been done? Also, as a Christian, I believe that God created this rich, complex world we live in and when I see discoveries like Cymatics, it just strengthens my belief that everything is truly connected, and that God created it that way. So cool. 

Whoa indeed.