Blog Assignment #13

This class has taught me so much about being a filmmaker! Out of all my classes in college I feel like this one has taught me the most. Working in groups and switching out roles with every project helped me to realize what every job is like and better understand the entire process of making a movie. I found out that I don’t particularly like editing and enjoy working with sound the most out of all the jobs on set. I learned that sometimes its hard to work in a group with different personality types, and that you have to have a lot patience with everyone. I also learned about things I had never heard of before, like soundscapes, overheads and the three-act structure. Making these projects has taught me that there are a lot of unforeseen problems that can occur while on set. It’s always important to be a quick thinker and to not get discouraged when stuff like that happens. I really loved this class and I’m ready to take the next step to earing my degree here at UNCW.

Blog Assignment #12

Plans for next semester

Next fall I plan on taking four classes: 3D Computer Graphics, Modes of Animation Production, Special Topics in Film Studies: Politics in Film, and Sound Design. I’m on the wait list for Sound Design, but I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I get in. I accidentally missed the advising session so I was held back on signing up for classes until the 19^th. I was really scared that I wasn’t going to be able to get into any of the classes that I need but I was pleasantly surprised with how my schedule turned out. There were a couple of things I was really curious about in film and I feel like I’ve explored all of them in 201 except for animation. That’s probably the class that I’m the most excited about. I think working in animation could be a lot of fun and look forward to learning more about it. 

Role in Wildcard Assignment

My role in the Wildcard Project is Sound. Out of all the jobs I’ve had in the previous projects, sound is by far my favorite. We have a really good story planned out, and there is a montage sequence included. I’m looking forward to making the montage and finding the perfect music to go along with it. One of Channing’s friends plays guitar and sings, she showed me one of his songs and I really liked the way it sounded. The lyrics even said something about a dream, which is perfect because the montage sequence is supposed to be a dream. We’ve changed the script a lot since we’ve started but I know that’s nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to movies. We shot on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend at Channing’s house and then at Airlie Gardens. I recorded sound on the H4N but most of my work will be done in post-production. We plan on having voicemails run throughout most of the piece with there being no other dialogue.

Blog Assignment # 10

      This week Jonathan and I edited our soundscape for project 3B. It was interesting to see that certain sounds sounded like a lot of other things. We still have about ten more seconds to add to the soundscape. So far I really like where we’ve gone with it. Our line was “thickly keeping the light out” so we wanted to make the tone more dark and ominous. We talked today about exactly what it meant to take this project from a conceptual angle, rather than a narrative angle. The idea we were going with when we first started was a guy trapped inside a house or warehouse and the sounds were everything he was hearing around him. We decided to begin with the sound of a door opening, and today we talked about ending with the sound of a door slamming. I can’t wait to wrap everything up today and hear the final product!

-KP

Blog Assignment #9

Creating the sounds for this project was a lot of fun. I worked with Mike, Kayla, Sarah, and Jason. We wanted to make a really unique library of sounds that would stand out among everyone else’s. At first we met at the library and tossed some ideas around. After a few minutes we decided that we should just get started and the ideas would come to us. We learned that you have to make sure you don’t have any wind or air conditioning units anywhere that you record. Also we learned that some sounds that you record sound like something completely different. We wanted to get really creative with the sounds so we went to Sarah’s job, which is a gymnasium. There we recorded people on trampolines and also walking on beams. We were trying to find sounds that could be used as a lot of different things. I’m looking forward to working on 3B. 

Blog Assignment #8- Master Shot

We haven't edited our project yet- we are meeting at Kenan tonight at eight to create our rough cut for tomorrow's class. So I don't have much to say about editing as of now, but I can post about shooting the Master Shot Project. We met on Saturday to scout the location and go to Halloween Express. Early Sunday morning we began production and wrapped somewhere around two or three. I had a lot of fun that day, and felt like I learned a lot. I thought our group did a good job staying positive when we encountered unforeseen problems. Working with lighting is brand new to me, and the lights proved to be critical to the film set. We we’re working in a dark room with fabric over the windows. We wanted a dark and ominous look, but not dark enough to the point where you couldn’t see the character’s faces. With only one power chord in the light kit, we had to get creative. In the end, I thought everything worked out fantastic. I loved the look of our shots and had a great time on the day of production.  

Blog Assignment #7

The Master Shot project is the first experience I have ever had with using previsualization materials. Now that I have used them once, I can’t see myself going to make any other film without creating storyboards, overheads and a shot list. They are extremely helpful with planning your movie and making your production process go a lot smoother. I am responsible for lighting so I created the overheads. The first set was a very rough draft, because I had not yet seen the storyboards or the shot list. After meeting with my group and checking out the previz materials they made I have created a new set of overheads. These are much more precise and congruent with our shots and scene. The most difficult part of preplanning was drawing the overheads without seeing the storyboards. Now that my group has all of our materials ready I am eager and excited to start production and get some hands-on experience with lighting.

Blog Assinment #6 Narrative Master Shot Sequence Previz

For the Narrative Master Shot Sequence I am in charge of lighting and also the Assistant Lead Director. Being a Gaffer, or Grip should be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to the experience. Our group met on Sunday and we discussed our ideas for where we could take this conversation. The setting we came up with is a secret society initiation ceremony, where two actors are tied to chairs, back to back. We are going for a creepy, ominous tone with a touch of dark humor. I wanted to use red and purple gels to help create the mood of the scene. I still haven’t seen the storyboards so I’m not sure exactly how its going to play out but I created a couple ROUGH overheads:

Blog #5 Reflection of vox pops and interview

Last Friday we shot our expert interview with one of the officers of Flicker. We ended up doing it in her office instead of the theater because we were unable to get permission to shoot in any of the theaters on campus. The office was fine though, it made for a nice shot with everything on and around her desk. The space was cramped with five of us in the tiny room, one huge boom mic, a tripod and a camera. I was so excited to finally be working on a real production and part of an actual crew! The vox pops were really fun to make too, it was thrilling talking to random people on campus. I have always been really curious about working with sound so I had a lot of fun with this project.

Interview Storyboard!

We plan to shoot our expert interview on Friday, February 8th. I think that Dallis is still working on getting an exact time for the meeting with the officers of Flicker. We want to interview them in a theater setting. Either in King, Kenan Auditorium, or Morton. Here's the storyboard:

Flicker Doc!

At first our group was going to do a documentary on “Chops Deli”, but today I found out that there was a change of plans. We will now be doing a documentary on a film society named Flicker. They are a student organization here at UNCW that creates films and encourages students from any major to join. “Students interested in every aspect of filmmaking — script writing, acting, cinematography, tech support, marketing and more — have a great outlet in Flicker for hands-on experience and access to industry professionals.” Our interview will be with the department chair of the film studies department, Dave Monohan. Today we talked about doing the interview either in his office or inside Lumina Theatre in the seats. I think that the office would create a professional and serious tone whereas the Theatre would make it more relaxed and comfortable. We could make either one work, but I think it would look better in the Theatre. The vox pops will be shot around campus. Not sure exactly where, we will be scouting for locations on Friday afternoon.

1.     What exactly is Flicker?

2.     How did you get involved with Flicker?

3.     How did Flicker start?

4.     Why do you enjoy student films?

5.     How does one become a member of Flicker?

6.     Where are the meetings?

7.     How many people are in Flicker?

8.     What is your favorite part of filmmaking?

9.     Have you worked on the films with the students?

10.  What encouraged you to join Flicker?

Vox-pops

1.     What do you know about Flicker?

2.     Do you ever go see movies on campus?

3.     Have you seen any UNCW student films?

Light Observations

Observation #1: Two weekends ago I went surfing on Carolina Beach just a couple of hours before sunset. The sun was really low in the sky, and the water was extremely glassy that day. As I was sitting on my board waiting for a good wave to ride, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the sunlight looked shining through the waves right before they crashed into white water. Right before waves curl over they become much thinner, allowing for the sun to shine through from behind and create a vibrant yellowish-green tint. This is something I have always noticed while surfing in the afternoon, and has always been one of my favorite sights to see.

Observation #2: Yesterday morning I was in one of my friend’s apartments watching my roommate, Kelsey, smoke a cigarette. Because everyone that lived there smokes, they let people do it inside. (Not something I could ever life with, but hey, to each their own.) The blinds were halfway open letting in little slits of morning light. Kelsey was sitting on the ground near the window casually talking to our friend Dax. I was sitting pretty far away, trying to avoid the inescapable smell. I found myself captivated by the way that the light was hitting the rising smoke. Slowing drifting around in circles and spirals, the smoke highlighted by the sun looked almost solid as compared to the smoke hidden behind the blinds. 

Location Doc. Storyboard

Blog Assignment #1

Blog Assignment #1

Kelley Presson

1/15/13

(me and my mom)

This passed summer I worked as an intern for the Art Department on a movie called Safe Haven that will be coming out in February. I had many different jobs and they varied every day, but I mostly worked under the set decorator and the graphic designer. Helping them out with whatever they didn’t have time for, which was usually replacing labels or decorating things like mailboxes, gas pumps, and store shelves. Throughout the summer I also worked together with a production assistant to organize and coordinate several extras and volunteer kiosk stands that were going to be used on a 4^th of July festival set. Some days were less exciting than others, a lot of time I was there to get people lunch and coffee, or to run things back and forth from the set to the production office. I didn’t mind though, because I was able to go on set and to see what really happens when a movie is being filmed, which is all I ever hoped to get out of the experience.

In this course I hope to expand my cinematic vocabulary while also learning more about certain aspects of film that I have always been curious about. These things include, but aren’t limited to, animation, experimental filmmaking, editing and sound. I am still not sure exactly what I would like to do in film, so it would be nice to get a better idea of exactly where I want to go with this degree. I would also like to learn how to better collaborate and work with a group on movie projects.

In ten years I would like to be financially independent, working in the film community and doing what I love. It is hard to say exactly where I would like to be because I am undecided as to what exactly I want to do. My dream job would be scriptwriting, because I have always enjoyed writing, and I feel that I have a unique imagination and could possibly create stories worthy of being brought to film. Or sometimes I think I belong working with sound, something about an image moving perfectly and simultaneously with music or sound has always fascinated me.

Something not film related that you don’t know about me? I love pugs! I am going to get one one of these days and probably name him Baxter