Finding One's Trueself Critique

Rational:
Me, John, and Waris did our version of a romantic comedy.  Our working plan was to use Waris's script and produce a film.  We decided to use John as one of the main actors, while  me and waris were the directors/ cinematographers.  We wanted to create a film that was funny, but at the same time romantic.  I tend to prefer comedy, thus this movie contained components of comedy.  I also enjoy action movies, thats why we put the fight sequence into the short film.  We wanted to be as authentic as possible, and we tried, but since this was our first movie it wasn't a spectacular film.  The audience that I believe that this film is intended for are teenagers, for there are some questionable and semi-inapropriate content in the film (especially the condom scene).  I thought this movie was a good idea, for the amount of casting was low, and the locations were all available.

Commentary:
In this film I was the director, cinematographer, actor, and editer of the film.  Although we did all share the roles of directer, I shared the role of cinematographer with Waris Allie.  Some problems that I had as cinematographer were crossing the 180 line, poor movement of camera, and lighting issues.  We solved some problems in the edit, or we redid the scenes.  We redid some scenes up to 5 times, and sometimes we were just getting in different angles, and shots.  Lighting was a very hard problem to tackle, for lighting throughout John's house (location of the boys house) was poor, and sometimes we were filming at night or during the day.  When we filmed as the sun was going down, continuity was a problem, for the lighting was different in some shots.  As an actor I had problems with costume.  We didnt decide that I would play the role as stalker ex-boyfriend till the day we started filming. I didnt have the attire to wear, so I just made the most of what I had.  It turned out well, but it would have been better if the costume was better.  The main problem that arose in our film was the days that we were all available to shoot.  We didnt start filming to late, and sometimes we were all busy.  Anissa was a main actor that we didnt have available after the first day of shooting  Thus changes had to be made and we got rid of the last sequence, but that didnt matter too much since it didnt have a major impact in the outcome of the film.  It was good that we had Anissa, because without her we wouldnt have had a film at all.  John had to beg her to act, and we were all glad that she was able to do so or else we wouldn't have had a film.

Script/ Narrative/ Story

I felt that the story developed well in the beggining, but when we transitioned to the shcool it seemed a little akward.  The middle worked out perfectly, but the end felt a little too rushed for me.  For the theme of our movie it was good that we had our actor "Ms. Tuite" state "the theme for today is finding one's true self can lead to happiness".  I think this transfered over to the audience well, for it was stated towards the beggining of the film.  I think that the dialogue was as concise as possible.  It became a little generic once Ms. Tuite stated the theme, but i believe that this helped the movie.  And without this part it would seem odd why John fell asleep mumbling the theme to himself.  I believe later in the movie the climax after John got knocked out was unique and effective, for the dream sequence was pretty funny to many people.  We decided to change the script and put it into a dream, for it seemed to racy if it was real life.  In my edit though I restated the dream to ask the question maybe the dream wasn't really a dream, or the dream might actually ocur later on.

Casting/ Acting

Our actors were a vital part of our film, and I think all their performances were outstanding.  The ex-stalker role was supposed to be played by Daniel Afieaki, but it didnt work our so i became the ex-stalker.  It wasnt as effective with me as the exstalker for Im not as big, nor did i have the clothes, but I think i didnt a nice job in making it work.  I think that John played a good role as the shy kid who didnt really have a life, and his whole life was a boring routine that occured over and over again each day. I think that Anissa played a great role as the troubled girl who was also a kick ass girl that could beat up even scarey people.  Her fight scen was very nice and it was way more realistic than my fight scene.  That was a major problem with my scene was that I punched over John's head which looked horrible.  I think that we just had problems portraying our characters to display the emotions that they felt.  Some acting seemed a little over exagerated and slightly akward, but it seemed to flow nicely in the edit. Although we argued throughout the production, our arguing bettered the movie in the compromises we made as a team.  Once and a while an actor would look at the camera, or messed up, but that was usually fixed in the edit or retaped. 

Staging and Props

A major problem with our set was that it was the hottest day of the year when we decided to shoot our outside shots.  This caused for a lot of anger and short tempers for the heat was extremely intense on all of us.  I think that all our props were good.  Such as when we had John working on his homework he was holding a pen and was looking down at a piece of binder paper.  He was also working at a table and that provided good staging.  For the bathroom scene it was an actual bathroom, and we used a toothbrush. The scene where he was getting up, wasnt the best staging, for he was getting up from pink sheets which seemed odd since he is a boy.  But he told us that he actually sleeps in the bed, and that the pink sheets were his sisters who went to college.  For our outside scenes during the day they were all good, for the lighting was prefect and there wasnt any cloud cover. 

Lighting/ Titles and Credits

Lighting in our movie was a major problem that we struggled with throughout the movie.  Lighting inside the house was difficult, for there wasnt light everywhere throughout the house, and the lights at our location gave off an orange glow that seemed unproffesional. Lighting was also a major problem when we did our night scene at Allen elementary school.  The only light that we had was the street light, and it didnt fully illuminate John and Anissa's faces.  As they skip off into the night the camera looses them against the darkness, for there was no lighting as they got passed the street lamp.  I think that the title was very nice and I used live type to create it.  I beleive that it was effective, although it didnt seem extremely professional.  The ending credits were effective, for it scrolled down and was similar to many professional movies. 

Sound/ Camera Operation

I felt that the camera operation was executed effectively throughout the scene.  Some shots seemed a little ametuer due to the crossing of the 180 line, and some zooming that was a little too jumpy.  The panning and tilting were all smooth throughout the film, which was very nice in adding to the quailty of the film.  This shot in the picture to the right was effective, for it showed the main character's apparent love for each other in the close up on their hands holding onto each other.  Then fading to black and white was nice finishing touch.  I added the sound of the camera snapping, to add to the idea that this moment would be remembered by both the main characters forever.  Music was a hard

Editing

Editing for my film took a long time.  I had added filters into the beggining when John looked at Anissa, for it was unclear who he was looking at and what made it worse was that Anissa and Kristen (the girl next to Anissa) were both wearing yellow.  I enjoyed the editing process the most, for i got to control the whole movie and how it would look like in the end.  I also decided to use the Pow filter in the fight sequence, for my punch unrealistically went over John's head and created a highly unrealistic effect to the film.

Documentary Prepro-

Purpose: How religion turned a kids life around, and how he now gives back to the commnity. 

Contacts: Armondo Perez

Interview Questions: 
Tell me your life story?
Why did you go to Juvinile Hall, and how was Juvinile Hall?
How do you give back to the community?
What current events are you doing; for example college, a job, nothing?
What or who inspires you?

General Flow: 
The beggining maybe still images of his life as he narrorates in the background.
The middle will show some of the interview, while he narrarates more of his past and flash to pictures or footage.
The end will be what he is doing now in life, like the work he does with kids.  End with his passions.

Shot List:
Shot of him in the interview mid shot.
Rack Focus Shot, Different angles and positions of cameras of him coaching and playing basketball with the kids he outreaches to.
Wide shots, panning, possibly dollying of his garage where he does an intern program to teach kids how to fix cars.
Close up shots of his passions such as his car and motorcycle.

Scripts:
Use narration from the interview throughout the movie.  Always using his voice.  It is highly unlikely that I myself would include my own narration.

Intro:  Still image of when he was young, slowly progressing.
Possibly footage of when he was younger

Closing:  Driving away into the sunset, or sitting on a beach with his wife as the sun goes down.  Possibly dunking on a kid if i wanted to make it funny. 

Short Documentary Review "Jamie Thomas"

Jamie Thomas is a professional skateboarder who co-owns Zero Skateboards and Fallen Footwear.  Jamie Thomas was born on October 11, 1974.  This documentary was shot by fuel TV and is called Firsthand.  As Jamie Thomas and his team (Zero) tour the mid west they go through autographs, signings, and most importantly they get to skate.  Skating takes a lot of cameras.  To get all the action that occurs throughout their run, there are one, two, or even more camera men posted at every obstacle.

In the beginning of the documentary Jamie was recently hurt while skateboarding, and has to attend physical therapy for his knee.  The color tint of this scene portrays the gloominess that Jamie feels from being unable to skate.  A wide shot is also used to display the sign in the front to explain to the viewer where Jamie has to go. 

 This shot creates an intimate shot of Jamie and his kids as they play at their home.  Jamie has three kids and enjoys spending time with them.  Jamie narrarates throughout most of the documentary, which creates a more personal touch.  The cinematographer in this shot fully utilizes the time of day, for the setting sun adds to the intimacy of the shot.

Jamie tattoos while he is on the road.  He usually tattoos his team members.  In this shot fast fowarding is used to fasten the pace on the slow parts and wait for the finish project.  Then during this fast foward we see the passing of time on the clock and outside as the camera fast fowards on the sun rising outside the motel.

As Jamie heals he is able to skate once again.  Typically this shot would be bad camera work, since Jamie is whited out by the outside light.  But in this shot the cinematographer utilizes the white out to symbolize the light as healing and benevolent, for Jamie is starting to regain his ability to skate.

Baraka Film Response

I personally enjoyed the film Baraka.  Baraka is a nonverbal film that was reported to use a $4 million dollar budget, where Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson with a three-person crew, took 14 months and 24 countries to make the film. The film is titled Baraka or "breath", because the images and the sequences of shots take one's breathe away.  Everyone in the world breathes, thus the movie displays the breath of the world and its breathtaking features and inhabitants.

I believe that the planetary view of the film express a critique of the cliche good and bad of the modern world.   The movie displays the "good" wondrous nature the modern world still holds.  The beauty of breath taking shots such as this one shot in Bali Indonesia portrays some of the natural wonders of the world.  Shots such as this give the viewer a perspective on the true beauty of nature, and that beauty doesn’t always come in human form.  This film counters many films that use action, people, and words to portray the life around us all.  This film brings us all around the world as we examine the far reaches of the world.  The opening shot of the movie shows us that the breathe of nature is everywhere.   The monkeys bathing in the hot springs create a sense of tranquility and peacefulness in the coldest and harshest climates of Japan.  Nature seems to become surreal in the monkey’s tranquility.  The cinematography is main item of the movie as camera work such as; trucking, panning, tilting, zooming, and many other techniques are used to take our breathe away.

While at the same time the movie displays a modern artistic view of the somberness in the poverty of the modern world.  The transitions are also very powerful in the movie.  After this scene the plot goes to a cemetery made of all white.  The editor maybe trying to convey the fact that poverty seems to be as somber as death, yet there is still lots of poverty in the world today. The use of music was also a key feature in this movie to convey the feelings the directors were trying to get across.  The music would add to the tone of poverty, majesty, or sadness throughout the novel.  Although it displays poverty, it also displays the joy that children are still able to attain.  I believe that the main point of the movie was to contrast the wonders of nature with urban life in the modern world.