Forms: Absence Form

Forms: Absence Form

(2min)

Filming: 1

none filmed for my act 2 yet

Superhero Project: 4 Film Prep

Each group member should post the following to Posterous before filming (copy and paste the numbered list below and fill it out...it is explained in the bullets below):

• Who will be responsible for bringing the camera each time and who will bring the backup camera
• What creative costumes/clothing and props you did or will bring for the film
• Which three categories you will film for your Master Shots & the specific names of the Master Shot you signed up for
  
• Describe in a phrase or two an example of how your film will be both funny and unpredictable
  
• Super List (copied from the email sent by the group leader)
  

1. Camera: Helen brings main camera; Shin brings backup camera
2. Clothing & Props: for my part, I will bring a camera, and a giant pen (journalist effect), sunglasses, a bright-colored hoodie to stand out, and a notebook for jotting things in
3. Master Shot Categories: discovery, dramatic shift, and conflict
4. Name of the visual effect file you will use: atmosphere visual effect
   
5. Humorous: when they look at tattoos and see that it's a very immature childish one
   
6. Super List: 

Angles

1. Eye Line (shin-anytime)
2. Low Angle (shin-when Ninsi trips)
   
3. High Angle (helen-for the falling pencil and shin catching it)
4. Ariel Angle (helen-for the tattoo)
5. Dutch (jessi-for the chase scene)

Subject Shots

1. Long Shot (shin-beginning for establishing?)
2. Medium Shot (jessi-anytime)
3. Close Up Shot (jessi-anytime)
4. Extremely Close Up Shot (helen-for the tattoo)

Action Shots

1. Establishing Shot (shin-in the beginning)
2. Tracking Shot (shin-for going down the hill)
3. Head on Shot (shin)
   
4. Reverse Shot (conversation) (helen -for the argument)
   
5. Vertical Pan (jessi)
   
6. Horizontal Pan (shin)
7. Point of View (jessi)
8. Swish Pan (helen)
9. Arc Shot (helen-time freeze and like spin around)

Cuts

1. Cutaway (helen)
2. Reaction (shin)
3. Jump Cut (jessi)
4. Cross Cut (helen)
   
5. Object Match Cut (jessi)
6. Full Screen Match Cut (helen)
7. Action Match Cut (jessi)
   
8. Action Cut (shin)
9. Progressive (shin)
10. Cutting Rhythm (jessi)

Effects

1. FLYING (jessi-for the chase scene-shin can fly)
   
2. TIME FREEZE (helen)
3. CLONE (jessi)
4. JUMPER (shin) 
   

Master Shots

• FIGHTING (jessi) don't make it very violent, make it "slap-stick" humor style of fighting (e.g. Tom & Jerry)
• CHASING (jessi)
• SUSPENSE (shin)
• DISCOVERY (helen)
• CONFLICT (helen)
• DIALOG (shin)
• ENTRANTS & EXITS (shin)
• DRAMATIC SHIFT (helen)
• DIRECTING ATTENTION (jessi)

Superhero Project: 3 Script

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RgxBP1WbZMT73EKJXJGVfyCgivnixoAL3PvlzeWfQ0g/edit

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Superhero Project: 2 Collaborate

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Typing Tutorial: 2.5

Typing Tutorial: 2.4

Typing Tutorial: 2.3

(5min)

Typing Tutorial: 2.2

(5min)

Superhero Project: 1

Protagonist

Actor/ress: Helen

Name: Meme

Special Ability: Can make up to 5 different clones of herself, each with intense martial arts abilities

Weakness: is terrified of numbers, hates math

Appearance Description: wears a tracksuit all the time

Antagonist

Actor/ress: Shin

Name: Shmeel

Special Ability: his braces shoot out deadly laser beams if he smiles super widely

Weakness: without his glasses, is completely powerless and also  basically blind

Appearance Description: has super thick glasses and braces, wears a button-up with suspenders at all times, smells kind of bad

Supporting Character

Actor/ress: Jessi

Description: is Helen (Meme's) close best friend, kind of a tag-along, and is the only one who knows about Meme's superpowers/fighting powers

Meme was always the nice, friendly kid in school- she wasn't super popular, but she got along with everyone, unlike Shmeel.Shmeel is a loner and is constantly picked on for his "nerdy" appearance, and shmeely smell. One day, Meme learns that Shmeel, the super-smart nerd, is planning to destroy the school because of his anger at their mean-ness to him, and Meme tries to defeat him. Jessi helps Meme along with her plan to stop Shmeel.

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AE Tutorial: 6 Lighting Effects

AE Tutorial: 4 Freeze

(60min)

AE Tutorial: 2 Snowman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD0jviZ-c9M

(70min)

AE Tutorial: 5 Handwriting

Tut5 Handwriting.aep Download this file

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvuc7T3ow6o

(30min)

AE Tutorial: 3 Green Screen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3aa0nJbono

(80min)

AE Tutorial: 5 Handwriting

Tut5 Handwriting.aep Download this file

Hero Project: CP.2 Collaborate

(15min)

Tasks: 4.1b

(15min)

Reminder Tutorial

(10min)

Tasks: 4.1d

The most important thing to know when filming my Master Cut is that the scene change is seen basically through the eyes of the character that's staying put.

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Typing Tutorial: 2.1

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Typing Tutorial: 1.2

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Typing: 1.1

(10min)

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Task: 1a

Scene Swap

Master Shot Summary

Scene swap is a master shot that's used to make the transition between two mini-scenes not awkward and forced, like when you want one character to hold two conversations, one after another, in the same location. You can make the transition smooth by showing the conversation between the two people ending (the staying character looking at leaving character), then a POV shot of the staying watching the leaving leave, have the new conversational character slide into the scene, and then you can show the new conversationist sitting down and the two having a conversation. It is important that the scene change is seen basically through the eyes of the character that's staying put, as he watches the second character leave, and the new character that enters the scene should be sliding in relatively close to the camera. Having the difference in depth of field of the background leaving character and the sliding in new character enhances the shit of focus.

Scene

Location: stairs outside gym area

Mean friend 1: Jean

Mean friend 2: Annie

Friend being talked about/angry: Rachel

Summary: Jean and Annie are talking bad about Rachel in the stairwell, saying what a hypocrite she is and how she's always trying to copy them. They talk about how she's such a wannabe, and they say they'll talk more later because Annie has class. Jean watches Annie leave up the stairs with her books and bagpack, and Rachel walks in from the left, and she's heard everything they just talked about. She is angry and talks/yells to Jean about how immature she is and what a backstabber move that was.

Film Project: Editing CP.1

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iMovie Tutorial: 1

Filming: CP.1

(10min)

Tasks: 3.4

(2min)

Film Project: CP.6c

(60min)

Film Project: CP.6b

(60min)

Film Project: CP.7

Steven Song: Protagonist, a very active student in his student community who's gone through struggles of adjustment(can only be Steven Song-12th grade)

Mr. Swanson: student council leader, who's passively observed Steven's growth (can only be Mr. Swanson-teacher)

Mr. Hale: Steven's tennis coach, who's passively observed Steven's growth(can only be Mr. Hale-athletic director)

Jessi: Steven's friend, who's been with him and seen him change over his high school career (Jessi Son-12th grade)

Jane: Steven's friend, who's been with him and seen him change over his high school career (Jane Lee-12th grade)

Tennis Teammate: teammate who's played with him for at least 2 years ont he team (Jun Lee-10th grade, Nick Kim-11th grade)

School (lunch): Steven [tbd]

School (anytime): teammate, Jessi, Jane [on separate dates will be fine]

Cafe (anytime): Steven [tbd]

Mr. Swanson's Office (anytime): Mr. Swanson [tbd]

Mr. Hale's Office (anytime): Mr. Hale [tbd]

(10min)

Film Project: CP.6a

(60min)

Script Tutorial: Script Format

(15min)

Tasks: 3.3a

Title: Please Drink Less
PSA Topic: Alcohol
First narrative line of text: When you drink too much alcohol, you won't be able to walk straight.

[A: eye-level, S: establishing/long shot, then to medium shot]

Second line: When you can't walk straight because of drinking, you will trip into a swing at the playground.

[A: dutch angle, S: closeup]

Third line: When you trip into a swing at the playground, you will break your wrist.
[A: low angle, S: tracking medium shot]

Fourth line: When you break your wrist, you won't be able to open your chocolate.
[A: aerial view, S: over the shoulder medium shot, then to extreme closeup shot]

Fifth line: When you can't open your chocolate, you will be hungry.
[A: high, S: tracking long shot, then to tracking medium shot]

Sixth line: When you are hungry, you will starve to death.
[A: eye-level, S: swish pan closeup]

Conclusion: "Don't starve to death, please drink less."

(10min)

Shoot Tutorial: Fight Scene

(60min)

Forms: Extension Form

Tasks: 3.3a

I plan on doing the public service announcement for Adopt-A-Pet, using my pet Twinky, to show cute funny scenes of the benefits of having a pet, and how not having one may cause you to be lonely.

Film Project: CP.5

Act 1

Scene 1

Location

Actors

Props

Scene Summary

Act 2:

Scene 1

Location

Actors

Props

Scene Summary

Act 3:

Scene 1

Location

Actors

Props

Scene Summary

Shoot Tutorial: Angles

(10min)

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S-telling Tutorial: Elements

Character
Explain your main Character Arc:

1. How you will use Peeling the Onion:
2. Establishing Universal Empathy (use two out of the five ways to show empathy for your main character:)
3. Protagonist: (round or flat, dynamic or static)
4. Antagonist: (round or flat, dynamic or static)
5. Minor character: (round or flat, dynamic or static)

Conflict

1. Tension (who/what will be involved? explain)
2. Character Lock (change internally or externally? explain)
3. Forced Action (explain)
4. High & Low Stakes (explain)

Plants & Payoffs

1. What information will you plant throughout the film that the viewer will have to figure out by the end?
2. What will be the film's throughline?

Plot

1. Explain the catalyst of your film
2. What will be the biggest conflict?

(30min) 

Sundance 2012: Those Lusterless Celebrity Documentaries

Sundance 2012: Those Lusterless Celebrity Documentaries:

I’m always leery about documentaries made by celebrities. I’m not talking about people who are celebrities because of the docs — the Moores, Burnses and scant others who have name recognition because of their work — but rather the famous who jump in seemingly out of nowhere to make documentary films.

With Sundance 2012 bringing us the premiere this week of Ice-T’s Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, and Rory Kennedy’s documentary about her also not un-famous mother Ethel, I find myself with that vaguely sickening feeling that celebrities make documentaries because they are burnishing self-image, protecting or enhancing their brand, or sometimes doing a salvage job. Think Al Gore. Or Exit Through Gift Shop, 2010 Sundance pick that a) may not have been factually accurate, and b) did more to build the artist Banksy’s brand than all of his previous work, but, most terribly, c) probably inspired a string of maybe-not-so-true-true-story docs.

Ice-T's Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

Sundance has always been a strange marriage, combining Robert Redford’s star power with a love of the independent and obscure doing good work. Sundance programmers could argue that the decision to screen celebrity docs is part of its diversification, with stars bringing one kind of attention, while the festival legitimately launches the careers of a handful of lesser-known (and more worthy) filmmakers. Buzz, it would seem, is the tide upon which all boats rise.

Documentary is likewise a marriage between art and something akin to the journalistic. But, and maybe it’s because of my own background in journalism, I lean toward the work of people who don’t make films about themselves, who explore a topic of consequence and who stay behind the camera.

I realize the horse left the barn two decades ago in the substantial form of Michael Moore. Seeing a filmmaker squarely in the frame was not new when Moore first appeared in Roger & Me, but it had never been done so successfully. While that begat people like Morgan Spurlock vomiting McDonald’s out his car window, it also brought the curious Sketches of Frank Gehry, in which the famous architect was profiled by his famous friend, Sydney Pollack. The shots of the longtime feature-film director Pollack (a man with armies of film crews at his beck and call) shooting Gehry handheld, while himself being shot by a presumed film crew, stay with me.

Too many celebrity documentaries are marked by the filmmaker spending more time in front of the camera than behind it, rarely asking very involved questions, instead offering their mediations on a topic, and at times emitting a whiff of rank self-promotion. When I hear of Johnny Depp making a documentary about Keith Richards, I don’t expect any closure on questions left unanswered by Richards’ own generally forthcoming autobiography (although Keith may well repeat his assertions about Mick Jagger’s genitalia).

Beware documentaries that try too nakedly to lure star power. Tabloid fixture Lindsay Lohan signed on for a 2010 BBC documentary on child trafficking, delicately entitled Lindsay Lohan’s Indian Journey, a film that was pitched as Lohan “investigating” the topic. Who could take it seriously? The film was greeted with shock, and disastrous ratings. Lohan, apparently unscathed, was back partying in LA in no time.

Poster from Chris Rock's Good Hair

Celebrity docs may have hit their most egregious with the comedian Chris Rock’s Good Hair. Rock invited documentarian Regina Kimbell to screen her film about African-American hairstyles, My Nappy Roots. Some time later he came forward with his own documentary, not only on the same topic, but also sharing many elements with Kimbell’s film. She lost a lawsuit against him, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have every right to see his effort as piggybacking on hers. The comparison between the films is, to me, chilling.

Second on my list may be William Shatner’s The Captains, a documentary about playing the captain on TV’s “Star Trek.” The New York Times‘ Mike Hale’s dutiful review of the film is far better than the film itself: “Much of the fun of watching The Captains is waiting to see just how shameless a huckster and self-promoter Mr. Shatner can be. You don’t have to wait long.”

Taking the bronze is a yet-to-be-completed Juliette Lewis documentary, which makes the podium based simply on headlines from September like this one: “Juliette Lewis preps rock documentary on herself.” Exactly! But the articles back in September say she was aiming this film at Sundance 2012, something that has not come to pass, for good or for ill.

And a dishonorable mention must be made for the Casey Affleck-Joaquin Phoenix disaster I’m Still Here, which they first said was true, until it got an awful response, and then they said wasn’t true. When the nonfiction part begins to fade from nonfiction film, I am given pause.

Documentary film has given stars, who might have spent their time trying to get attention in other ways, a new avenue. No one says documentaries have to be completely objective, but can Ethel do anything but forward the Kennedy legacy? Will Something from Nothing, with its roadmap title, tell anything but rags-to-riches stories that positions rap, and rappers, in a favorable light? Maybe we’ll be surprised.

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