Semester Review

Videos Made Over the Semester 

PSA

The PSA was about suicide and was made to show that you are never alone and should always seek help from friends or those you can trust. The story behind it was done very well and had good cinematography. It didn't take a long time to create the short film and was made very quickly. I learned how to work people who are not very open and don't like to work with others very well. Some of the feedback that was given was for the edits. The story was good, the cinematography was good, and the acting was played very well. We went back and changed the flow of the short film so that it made it better to follow and made it much more interesting and hard-hitting. This video was pretty good but if it was under my direction I would've done it much differently, relying on more visual storytelling to show a story of someone struggling with suicide. 

Short Film

The film we crated was taken down due to copyright but the video was a basic short that featured a stalker and someone who has to fight him off. It was shorter than what you'd consider a short film and was very simplistic. This was very different from my short film that I wanted to create which featured more drawn out characters and set pieces but was not able to be created due to problems with actors not being able to show up. We had very short time to work around it and did the best we could to make a new short film that would work. 

Time in Class

I used most of my time in class trying to learn more about filmography and different techniques that can improve my film making. When we were not doing anything with our projects I was watching videos that would help me create a better story in films. I didn't have much to do with the post-production with most of my projects and usually stuck to pre- production and production, so many times I watched videos to help me further my production values and worked with the post-production team. When I wasn't in class I would work on client work or continue to research ways to improve my films. I would also write out my film ideas and try to create a more comprehensive story. 

Areas of Strength

I would consider some of my strengths to be through my story telling ability and telling a very advanced story that is played out well and has emotion and feeling to it. My visual story telling is also very good. I use these to create an interesting story that can keep people entertained.

Areas of Improvement

I could use some improvement in my editing skills. IN the break from school, I did not work on any projects over the summer. I lost most of my editing skills and forgot how to use editing software. 

Learning From Guest Speakers

We had 2 different guest speakers in class that had a lot of knowledge to share with us. The first speaker provided experience of working with a larger production team and working on professional projects. The other speaker provided more experience on working on projects yourself and building yourself up on your own. 

MX4D

We took a field trip to a 4D cinema one day, which was a very interesting experience. MX4D technology has sensory enhancements (Movement, smell, air, water, lights, fog, etc.) that go along with what film is being shown. We saw Justice League and the 4D technology hindered the film more than help the film. The smells were very bad and there were strobe lights that were not needed. There were some movements that were not needed and there were many missed opportunities missed with any Aquaman scenes. 

Final Thoughts 

For next semester I plan on creating many more films and working as a gaffer in our class feature film. I've already learned a lot about cinematography this year and I am ready to apply it to next years films. 

MX4D Expierence

There are only five 4D movies theaters in the country. One of them just happens to be in the midwest, twenty minutes down the road. 4D is a sensory movie experience that enhances the movie by using movement, smells, air, and other sights and sounds. The movie that was playing in the theater was Justice League.

I had seen Justice League before seeing it in 4D so my expectations for the movie were high for watching it in 4D. However it did not live up to the expectations I had hoped for. There was random movement that didn't go with the scene. Many water scenes had a missed opportunity of having water splash and the smells and air could be very distracting. The strobe lights for bullets were overused for some scenes but with any of the Flash scenes they were used effectively. The smells though, they were bad. The smells and strobe lights were probably the worst part of it all. My favorite parts were probably the Flash scenes.

Overall the 4D didn't do anything for me and probably made the movie worse. The smells made my head hurt and the air noises were very distracting. I would much rather watch a 2D movie over a 3D or 4D movie. 2D movies have so far delivered a much better expierence for me because it's just movie on a big screen that you can sit back and enjoy without any crazy special effects around you.

How to Make an Audience Feel Emotion

There are many films out there that are able to make us feel something while we're watching it. Some films can do this expertly and others fall short to make us feel anything meaningful. I will show some of the ways that you can make feel emotion.

How to make an Audience Cry

There are many movies that are able to make their audience feel sad and sympathetic towards characters within a movie. Many people assume that the way to make people cry is by forcing a sad situation on to a character and trying to force the audience to feel something. This may work for a few people but for others it may just turn out silly r have no meaning. There is a correct way to make an audience feel sad and even make them cry and feel for their characters. In order to do so you must not just show their characters in a situation that would make the audience feel sad but show their reaction to the situation. This is the most effective way to make people feel something. Any good scene that makes you cry usually show some type of reaction to a situation. 

How to make an Audience Laugh

There are a lot of comedies out their that can make people laugh through the whole movie. However some movies just don't know how to do comedy and make their audience feel something. Usually in order to make a joke their must be a victim. Just look at some of your favorite jokes, is it targeting anyone? Targeting a certain object? These are the types of jokes that can create a happy feeling within a person and make them laugh.

How to make an Audience feel Happy

There are many ways to create a happy feeling within your audience. Not only is it making characters themselves feel happy and putting them into a good situation, but similar to making an audience cry it is the characters reaction to a situation. If a character returns after another has not seen them in a long time it is not just the Rouen that makes people happy but their reaction. Look at how Gandalf returns in Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. It wasn't just Gandalf returning from a terrible situation that made people happy but also the other three characters reaction to Gandalf returning. Another way is to make a character rise up from a terrible situation where there is no hope. This can truly create a feeling of happiness since the audience want s to see the character succeed. 

How to make an Audience feel Scared

There are a lot of horror movies out there but many of them don't hit the nail on the head with making people feel scared. Most of the time they just set up some villain with something scary about them and then have main characters that have no idea what they're doing. Most movies rely on jump scares to strike fear but that only lasts for awhile. A really great way to make a character feel something is by shattering expectations and have a character that defies what the audience is being forced to believe. 

Short Film

Recently I was put into a video project to create a short film for video class. Unfortunately the final video that we created was taken down for copyright. Many things fell through with this film and complications arose but we were eventually able to pull together and make a very short film about a stalker. It was short and sweet and had very good shots.

Concept

Since the film that I originally wrote fell through and my actors were not able to show up we had to come up with something else quickly and were able to use another another script form the group. But being it had to be done on such a short notice so the story behind it was not as drawn out as it could've been and that brought down the overall quality. The new film was about a stalker hunting down his prey and ultimately failing with his target being able to get away after a fight between the two. There could be so much to the story but it was rushed.

Process

We handled the film like you would for any other film. WE designed the overall film on pre-production, we shot the film in production, and we put it all together in post-production. In pre-production I wrote a script and we created a story board from it. However there were minor complications so I had to change some details in my original script. When we got to production, things started going south. My actors weren't able to make it so we had to create a new film based off of another script some one in my group made. It came together pretty well but being short on time, we didn't get a lot of shots. In Post-production we put it all together quickly but after posting it, the video was taken down due to copyright. 

My Role

My role was a director so I created a script, got actors to be in the film, and created a vision in a film. After my script fell though, I was shifted from directing to co-directing. I still worked with the actors but it was not my vision that we were working with.

Technical Skills

Since I did not work with the camera as much my technical skills were not able to be improved with this project. 

Learning From the Project

There was not a lot to be learned form this project. The first thing I learned is that you won't always get the best production crew to work with. My team didn't work well together and didn't much care for what we wanted to do. I also learned that you have to constantly communicate with your actors to make sure they can be there when you need them to. Some things I would change is my choice of crew and also my time management with the project. Some things I would keep the same is using my script next time. 

Video Final Review

Semester Overview

ONW Procedures/PSA

This was one of my first videos of the entire year. It took a short time since none of us really knew what we were doing so we just winged it mostly. Some challenges that we had was the fact that we didn't really know what we were doing with our time. However I learned a lot from this project. Since this was just the beginning there was a lot to learn from so being able to learn very on was good. Some feedback I was given was that we shouldn't so many jump cuts within our video. There are a few that are various obvious but we can't really fix them now. The only adjustments that I made were some audio issues and the pacing of the video. My opinion is that this wasn't very good for a film but we all have to start somewhere don't we?

Napoleon Dynamite Movie Trailer Remake

This is a more recent video that I worked on. This one took a little longer as it was more complicated and we had scheduling issues. A few challenges that we faced were getting actors and getting good locations. We had to use what was given to us so we just used one of my group members houses and for a scene that involved a new character, I had to step in and play the part. I learned how to have proper lighting and audio for this video since that was one of our main problems. I tried to fix it as much as I could but it still wasn't great. Those two things were some of the main feedback I received. The other of course was for my great looks.

Violent Delights Short Film

This is how far we've come in video. This was a short film about a girl who falls into love with a  manipulative boy. It took much longer to make as again we had multiple schedule issues and people not wanting to work together. The main challenge that I faced was some of the cinematography. There were multiple instances of having shaky cam and random zoom ins. That wasn't my fault but i'm not blaming my cinematographer either. The main thing I learned along the way was how to actually balance audio and cancel out nat noise during post-production. Some of the feedback we received was the fact that we had random zooms and it made awkward nat noise for the film. The only thing that we changed was the balancing of audio and how the film plot moves. We had to change a lot due to school restrictions

Time Well Spent

I used my in class time very well. I tried my best to do work every time that I had the opportunity. If I finished early then I would try changing things to make my film better. Having extra time is a blessing for any project so if you are editing a video and finish it in 7 hour but you have 8, you use that 1 hour to try and make your film even better than it would be with what it was. Since I don't have any of the adobe software outside of class it was difficult for me to do anything. Often times I would come in before or after school to finish things up. 

Areas of Strength

Some areas of strength that I have are my ability to edit and shoot with cinematic style. Ever ytime that I get to be the cinematographer for a video I shoot as many takes as I can using all of the principles of film that i've learned. 

Areas of Improvement

While I may a good editor and cinematographer, my technical skills could use some work. I have very basic knowledge of the equipment and programs I use but it's all part of the learning process. I used online tutorials and the people around me to enhance my skills. 

Summary

The thing that I loved most about this semester was meeting new people and being able to develop of love for directing and shooting movies. I had a small love before but this semester opened up an entirely new world for me. There's not a thing that I would do different or change. Everything that I did led me to this point and now I have a greater knowledge and understanding of film because of it. A few of the take-aways that i would take away is how cinematic films can be. I'm very cinematic with my films already so being able to develop that skill will be very useful. The one goal that I have for next semester is to make more films in my free time. Every chance that I get I am going to be making films. My final thought for video is for the reader. If you have a dream or an idea in your head that you want to pursue, then go after it. It doesn't matter if it's a stupid idea or not, if you can execute well, then it's sure to be a great film. 

End of the Year Reflection

Valuable Takeaways

In eComm we have 5 main guarantees which include Technology, Collaboration, Communication, Project Management, and Leadership. 

Technology

technology is one of the main skills that is involved in animation. All of the things we work with are technology based. Since everything is based around it I had to learn how to handle the technology. It's very important skill to have for a class that revolves around it. Sometimes technology doesn't like to work so you have to learn how to work around it. It took awhile for me to learn the skill, even after having to ask the teacher how to do things 50 times a day. It's not one of my strengths but not one of my weaknesses either if that makes any sense. I have significantly improved in technology but still have a ways to go. I still need to work on 3D modeling part of programs like Maya, so that I can use 3D models later on in life. The main part of technology that I am going to take away from Technology is the use of green screen. 

Collaboration

Collaboration isn't something much thought about in Animation. For most of the year we did work on our own and had very little group work. However you still have to be able to collaborate with the people around you. You don't have to like some one in order to collaborate with them which I learned very quickly. That's why it is such an important skill to have. This is definitely a weakness for me because I don't like working with people who are hard to work with. It's something that i've always been good at so there was a little room for improvement. I still have some things to work but its not to bad. 

Communication

Communication is always an important skill to have no matter what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, being able to communicate with others is a very important. I also had to communicate with my teacher multiple times. Being able to ask questions and tell him exactly what's going wrong is very important. There aren't very many challenges when it comes to communicating so that's not a problem. 

Project Management

This is a skill that is another one of my weaknesses. Sometimes the programs don't work quite the way that we want to so its hard to have good project management. It's important to have good project management because that will get your assignments get turned in on time and not having to stress about deadlines. I've improved quite a bit with management since starting animation and now most of my projects are turned in on time. 

Leadership

Leadership isn't very prevalent in animation since we don't really have a chance since it's mostly solo work. leadership comes in when we work in groups and when people look to you for help. It's important to have leadership and lead people because that will take you a very far. It's something that i've improved on since i've ;earned a few other things and have been able to lead other people. 

Real Life Transformers

Introduction

Ever since the release of the Transformers in 2007 I have been in love with transformers. While the movies have not been entirely successful and have many faults they do bring on some very cool ideas. One of the ones that I thought of is what if we could bring those transformers to real life. 

Some of these transformers exist already such as the BMW transformer which can be found here:

When it transforms it can only move its arms and head and there is no explanation on how it is powered so it is assumed it is just a normal car engine. However what is we could make it walk, talk and drive all in one? That is what i've come to find out. 

The Transformer

There are so many transformers out there. From Optimus Prime to Megatron every Transformer has something to transform into. Seems a little far fetched and science fiction. However it could become a reality soon. 

The main problem presented now is: The ability to be powered and the ability to move while in robot mode. It would take a massive engine to create a robot that could walk for more then 10 minutes. It would use up very much energy to stay balanced and moving at the same time. So i created a solution to being able to move. 

Now the next problem is the shape of the transformer and where the parts go when he transforms. As a car there will have to be a very small interior as the rest will be made for parts for the transformer.

Car Mode

The car that I have chosen as an example is the Jeep Wrangler. It has a very blocky and simpler design which will help in the robot mode. For the most part it will not have an interior. It will be remotely controlled form a human operative. They will control all of the movement that the transformer does and the driving. 

Since transformer robots are so dense so then the car will have to be dense as well. It will look like a normal car from the inside but will have no interior. The undercarriage will be put mostly iunside of the car to protect it from outside damage.

Robot Mode

It will be more similar to the old G1 transformer designs than the new Transformers. The old ones are much more simpler and will fit more to modern technology. They have a blocky design which will help for simplicity. 

The front of the car where the hood and engine are will be where the chest is while in robot mode. The arms will fold out from the doors and join with the chest section of the robot. The wheels will remain where they are and be one of the main connectors between the the arm and chest. Imagine a Jeep Wrangler. The arms would form from both the doors, folding into each other using hydraulics and gears. 

Since the arms will have to be larger than an average door the interior will contain part of the arms. 

The legs will be in the back and be made into the interior of the car. At first it will only be the lower part of the legs and will then use hydraulics to push the rest of the leg out.

Movement

Once it transforms the wheels near its feet will move towards the center of the foot similar to Sideswipe's design in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformer: Dark of The Moon.

In robot mode it will not be as swift and will be as swift not as fast however it will conserve more energy while moving around.

Summary

It was more simple than you think to create a transformer. You can use a normal engline that would be in a normal car. It will have to more powerful but will be effective. Hydraulics will be used for the transformer to move in robot mode. Most of the interior of the car will be filled with the necessary hydraulics to transform. 

Napoleon Dynamite Recreation

The Scope

My group wanted to recreate a popular High School movie known as Napoleon Dynamite. While not directly recreating the trailer we created are our by using the shots and storytelling from the original trailer.

Process 

We started by watching the trailer multiple times to see how we could recreate the original trailer with our own equipment and our own actors. One member created a storyboard by taking screenshots from the trailer and adding audio cues and time stamps. we used the school and another members house to try to fully recreate the trailer. 

Learning Process

A few things that I learned along the way are quick pan shots to create a blur into a shot. There were also a few professional skills that I learned along the way. I learned how to work under pressure when scheduling conflicts come up or when people decide to back out last minute. We had to cut out an entire section because we couldn't get the necessary actors to do it. 

Changes

Some things that I would do differently are starting earlier with my project so that my group would not become as stressed as we did. I would also do m multiple takes so that we could create the right feel in our trailer. Some things that I would do the same is the natural lighting that we used. It worked better in our favor than I expected. I would also do the overall recreation the same because I thought that it was recreated very well.