Well, Cucalorus this year……hmm….well, I am a little undecided on my experience this year. Maybe it was the fact that I had sooooo much fun last year, that I was expecting soooo much out of this year’s festival…or if I truly didn’t enjoy myself. I am still figuring out this answer. I was really syked when I found out that my film was actually going to screen in the festival. I actually got a lot of great feedback from people at Cucalorus and the days following Visions. This was a fantastic feeling for sure! It was a lot of work and trouble trying to re-record sound for my film in time for the festival. It is difficult when you actually like what the original product was and you have to change it. It was a bit nerve wrecking sitting there waiting for my film to go on. I wasn’t nervous all morning or the night before. But, the second the films began, I started feeling overwhelmed. No one else had watched the new cut with the new sound, so this was a bit scary. In the beginning of the screening, the right speaker in the front of Jengo’s started buzzing in and out and even losing its sound. Right at that moment I knew that if this happened during my film, it would definitely lose much of its dramatic effect. And it just so happens that that speaker went out right in the dramatic point of the film…thus killing all intensity of the experience for the audience. This was a huge bummer. The way that the sound is set up is that the interview is louder, and of main focus….the interview was sooooo quiet at Jengo’s. And we also put smalls sounds that create an eerie strange feeling…but they are set low, to not over power the man’s story. This was upsetting for sure…although I still got good feedback and questions from people. That screening was truly a mess!!! First, the screeners were adjusting the screen during the first film…then the woman from the Ukraine that was there and had a film in the screening….her film ran for about 2 min without the sound! No sound…I was a little more fortunate. And they didn’t even re-start it! THEN…the sound from my film started playing again at the beginning of another person’s film…it was crazy…I have never seen anything like that happen at Cucalorus. And THEN….I heard all about that filmmaker from Australia showing up at Lumina to see his film and it was put on wrong by someone…and they told him that they would screen it on Sunday…but he was already having to fly out before then…he came all the way here and never saw his film…that’s an expensive trip…did the festival pay for that?
Not to mention the fact that all of the parties and such were scattered all over the place and I felt like I didn’t see as many people in one place at a time the entire festival this year…unlike last year…so I was a bit bummed I was not able to catch up and network with as many people. But, I did enjoy the filmmaker’s brunch…although I never got to enjoy the filmmaker’s lounge. You know, come to think of it, I think that much of the scatteredness of people had to do with the fact that Thalian’s large theater was under construction, thus it was soooo far to go to see the late night screenings, which I enjoy the most. Honestly, I mainly went to the shorts. I went to one late night, “House of the Devil,” which was no “Dead Girl,” but it was pretty cool. It was shot on film, so this was a nice thing to look at…andddd it was set in the early 80’s late 70’s….so I always enjoy seeing how people are able to adapt and date their films. Agghhh I guess I’m just bitching. I enjoyed my mom coming to see my film and also her watching the experimental films…esp the abstract ones….priceless!!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
48 Hour Film Race
I truly enjoyed this assignment! I actually like having to work with all of the constraints. It forces you to be creative, and honestly some of my best work has come from being under time constraints such as these. I have always found the Dogme 95 stuff fascinating and exciting. I am glad I have had the opportunity to work with these sorts of limitations in this class. Not only this specific project, but, pretty much every single project that we have been assigned in this class. It has given me a completely different perspective on filmmaking. I am actually pretty content with the product that came from this race!
My idea actually spawned from my previous project in Modes of Animation, in which I also used barbies and did stop motion animation. On the last shot of that project, which was the second story out of two animations that I shot for that specific project, I was infuriated by the fact that the dolls just wouldn’t stay standing and they kept falling and knocking over the props. I had to keep starting entire sequences over and re-shooting them entirely. It was exhausting and without a doubt, TEDIOUS. The Donald Trump doll fell on the last shot and enraged with frustration I had a temper tantrum. I slammed him down on the floor, and unlike the barbies who are made of a solid, rubbery plastic, he broke into a million pieces. My roommates were a bit weirded out by the fact that there were tiny body parts scattered around our house. I threw most of them away, but I left his hand strategically placed around the house, just as a joke (that was apparently just strange). After that night, I told myself that I would never do this stop motion animation stuff ever again.
When we got the jars, immediately this idea came to my head. I stuck the hand in one of them, and put some of the Barbie heads in them too. But, I still needed more body parts because I had 6 jars. So, I began cutting the barbies into bits…needless to say I felt like a serial killer getting rid of the evidence and such…or maybe mobsters, Tony Soprano and Christopher chopping up Ralph…or even Christian Slater chopping up a stripper and a bell boy and dumping them in the dessert…awkardddd. And barbies actually have this piece of white plastic in the interior of their limbs under the rubbery stuff. It looked like bone…ughhh it was a little sickening. And, Halloween had just passed so I had a lot of fake eyelashes sitting around, so I utilized them too! I think that everyone ended up being very weirded out by me, I guess it was a bit strange? I don’t know. But, I like it…I would actually like to continue it and add some more to it. It is so short…although short and sweet is good sometimes. I am really getting into this stop motion animation stuff. It is sooo much fun! I am definitely going to do more!
The tent making night was sooooooo much fun. Some of the most fun I have ever had in a class in college. EVER! Everyone’s projects were so different, and so awesome! I was really impressed with them. I felt like we were all soo relaxed that it was easier to speak freely and discuss eachother’s projects with one another. I hope we can do something like that again before the semester is over. I just don’t want it to end : (. This is my last semester in college and I am soooo sad…im really glad I took this class, because I believe it has truly helped me as a filmmaker. I feel much more at ease about creating my own films outside of school once I graduate…I feel much more confident!
My idea actually spawned from my previous project in Modes of Animation, in which I also used barbies and did stop motion animation. On the last shot of that project, which was the second story out of two animations that I shot for that specific project, I was infuriated by the fact that the dolls just wouldn’t stay standing and they kept falling and knocking over the props. I had to keep starting entire sequences over and re-shooting them entirely. It was exhausting and without a doubt, TEDIOUS. The Donald Trump doll fell on the last shot and enraged with frustration I had a temper tantrum. I slammed him down on the floor, and unlike the barbies who are made of a solid, rubbery plastic, he broke into a million pieces. My roommates were a bit weirded out by the fact that there were tiny body parts scattered around our house. I threw most of them away, but I left his hand strategically placed around the house, just as a joke (that was apparently just strange). After that night, I told myself that I would never do this stop motion animation stuff ever again.
When we got the jars, immediately this idea came to my head. I stuck the hand in one of them, and put some of the Barbie heads in them too. But, I still needed more body parts because I had 6 jars. So, I began cutting the barbies into bits…needless to say I felt like a serial killer getting rid of the evidence and such…or maybe mobsters, Tony Soprano and Christopher chopping up Ralph…or even Christian Slater chopping up a stripper and a bell boy and dumping them in the dessert…awkardddd. And barbies actually have this piece of white plastic in the interior of their limbs under the rubbery stuff. It looked like bone…ughhh it was a little sickening. And, Halloween had just passed so I had a lot of fake eyelashes sitting around, so I utilized them too! I think that everyone ended up being very weirded out by me, I guess it was a bit strange? I don’t know. But, I like it…I would actually like to continue it and add some more to it. It is so short…although short and sweet is good sometimes. I am really getting into this stop motion animation stuff. It is sooo much fun! I am definitely going to do more!
The tent making night was sooooooo much fun. Some of the most fun I have ever had in a class in college. EVER! Everyone’s projects were so different, and so awesome! I was really impressed with them. I felt like we were all soo relaxed that it was easier to speak freely and discuss eachother’s projects with one another. I hope we can do something like that again before the semester is over. I just don’t want it to end : (. This is my last semester in college and I am soooo sad…im really glad I took this class, because I believe it has truly helped me as a filmmaker. I feel much more at ease about creating my own films outside of school once I graduate…I feel much more confident!
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