Thursday, May 6, 2010

Movie Frenzy

This week was finals week and also a hectic week in the movie world. Our movie is due to be watched tonight but is apperantly unfinished. I edited the movie last week and thought we were finished. We did not have all the clips but I thought it was too late to start over and we should go with the hours of work I did editing it. However, no one in else the group agreed. They decided that the clips should be integrated in. We recieved the needed clips Wednesday, too late for me to do anything with them. Jordan made a valiant late night effort to put our movie together but decided to start over instead of integrate the new with the old. They decided to change from using windows media player to using AVS which is much more difficult. I wish I could have helped more at then end, but my advice went unheard. I had two finals today and was not available as I had to mentor as well. I hope that the film goes over well but we have done all we could do with the time we have been given and our technology woes.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

one more week

This week technical difficulties kept me from being able to edit our film. I am getting nervous about finishing it (with any quality that is) by next Thursday. Tonight we should get our technical difficulties fixed and try and get to work. Hopefully, tomorrow I can get the movie edited and get it to Jordan so she can finish up as well.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Last Week and This Week In ONE!

Last week was completely uneventful and no work on the film was done so I won't waste your eyes. This week was a little more exciting as we got our film digitized. It took for ever and poor Eric had to put up with everyones impatience. Eric got it done for us and now I can get to work on editing. I am excited about the editing process. I am excited to work on the film and see how I can put it all together. I really want to use effects to inhance what we already have. I like our film and I only want to inhance it. I think the move and lighting is overall pretty good and just want to make a few things sharper and cut things fast to make it more actiony.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Last Week

Last week in class we attempted to digitize our film. It was not possible with the technology available. We left shortly after. All that is left, which is mostly my job, is to edit and add sound. We may have 1 or 2 pick up shots if we have time.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

More like Kevin James

This weeks movie was another awful movie. What I mean by that is by no means would I ever enjoy any of the last few movies we have watched. Singing in the Rain is the last movie I enjoyed. However, with that all said, it is and has been very interesting to watch these movies about movies. It was funny how when suggested by the movie specialist that Charlie make it have an epic film with sex, drugs, and conspiracy. When he did just that, it was hilarious. But at the same time the movie was not exactly enjoyable. I am just what the movie producers and writers think I am. I am a person who loves cliche endings. I am very dissapointed when things turn out unhappy at the end. Now I do enjoy movies that are epic like Shattered with Pierce Brosnan. That movie was totally unpredictable and the ending wasn't exactly cliche but it was not way out there either. Unfortunately, I guess I will never come to enjoy movies that try and represent things how they are. I want to see epic things and plot twists and really for the most part don't care if its historically accurate or not. Jo Beth recently shared the fact that Marcus Auerilis (probably spelt that wrong too) is mispelled on the sword in Gladiator and that things weren't completely histroically accurate. I think I would rather just not know as it is my favorite movie. I am currently watching Meet the Parents with Ben Stiller and although totally predictable, is great.

Next week I hope to start editing our movie. We filmed the week before spring break. I hope that I can put things together in a way that will represent what Imran and Jenny were planning. I was in a minor role in the movie and I found I am not much of an actor. But maybe like other editors I can help myself out and make myself look like, well not Tom Cruise....maybe Kevin James. I like that guy.

I find it interesting that the director had the flowers growing over a number of days at the end of the movie. I am not altogther sure what he was going for, but with the movie being about flowers I guess it made sense. I think the best part of the movie was that part. I love Planet Earth and Life (shows about nature) and that gave the last thirty seconds a comfortable nature film.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Pretty Bad Movie

Filming has been quite the process. The movie making process so far has been good. That of course is easy for me to say because I am the editor and have not been very involved in the filming. It looks as if everything is going well. The movie wrapped up today with a scene in which I was an actor. I felt as if I was a pretty bad actor. My southern draw, if you can even call it that, sounds pretty uneducated and thick on the big screen. (well little bitty screen) But oh well, the shooting is over except for some probable pickup shots. I think our movie is going to turn out really well. THere are a few shots that will take some good editing but for the most part jenny and imran and our actor justin have made the job easy for me.

This week in class we watched a senior students film that he made. I was not very impressed with it. It was definitely more polished than ours will be. However, he spent tons of time on it, like a year, and it still was boring. The sound was poor at times and the acting wasn't so great. However, everything he did was for free and it isn't like he had Tom Cruise lined up for the roles so I guess it was alright. I just altogether did not like his movie. The plot was really boring and the ending was abrupt and left me without any type of closure. The lighting was also pretty poorly done. Who am I to critique him, well I guess I am as good of critic as any. I have watched tons of movies. I hope that our movie ends with closure and can leave our audience with a sense of what is going on unlike his. I can tell he worked hard and I congratulate him on achieving what he desired with his film. But it just didn't flip my switch.

I guess editing will start soon following spring break. I hope that I can do a good job and take the great clips we will have and turn them into a cohesive movie. It seems as if the editing process will be tough but I enjoy challenges. I will definitely enjoy making this move my own.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Creepy oh so Creepy

After watching "The Player", I can definitely agree with Donna that nostalgia for 70's and 80's movies has not yet developed. I again did not enjoy the movie we watched. I can't quite pinpoint why I don't like the film. It was very dark. I think I might not like it when justice is not served. Mill gets away with murder and it seems as if all the other side plots in the movie just constantly keep me uncomfortable. For the second week in a row the director has made me feel a certain way about things and I don't like it. I am not sure if I just dislike being led to feelings by a director or if I just want to be led to better happier feelings. The movie was so creepy it was just difficult not to feel creeped out. I went to red box to pick out a movie after last nights class and had real trouble. The movie put me in a weird mood in which I didn't want a suspense, action, or thriller of any kind. Those are usually the only movies I watch. So I picked out "Where the Wild Things Are". It was interesting and innocent enough to allow me to relax. The ending was okay but not quite what I was expecting. Although it may be neat to finish a movie with a writers finish, I can appreciate cliche endings just as much, if not more.

With our film, I hope that our ending and movie doesn't make people uncomfortable. I do not think it will because it is not what we are going for. We are hoping that we can keep the viewer on the edge of their seats throughout our action film. But there shouldn't be any weird plot twists that end in our main character murdering someone and sleeping with his girlfriend before enjoying a mud bath. One thing I thought was interesting about the movie we watched that might be useful in our film creating is the use of clothing to represent mood as the film progresses. Tim Robbins seems to wear darker and darker clothes the more evil he gets. I think we could possibly do this with some of our supporting characters. It is hard to describe it any more fully without giving away to much. So guess what, I won't.

We are shooting this Saturday so that everyone can go away for spring break. Well everyone was going away anyway. I hope it goes well. I hope that we can make a movie that is enjoyable. I think that it will be. I hope we can do as well as some of the directors we have seen thus far in portraying our vision or thoughts about things to the audience. Either way the process will for sure be fun.