Thoughts On The Class

I think this class has been EXTREMELY beneficial to me. I think the most important thing that I have learned in this class is that I CAN do this. I CAN make my own films. This was my first production class as a major. Before I was a major I was really questioning if I was even going to be good at this--mainly because I wasn't getting the grades I wanted in the classes. I thought I was not cut out for film. Even throughout the semester when I kept facing challenges along the way I thought that maybe I wasn't cut out for the film business, but I found solutions to those challenges. I now know that I can be a film maker. I think one of the hardest-and most amazing experiences I had in this class was making my self portrait and showing it to the class. I had a really hard time making it because I had never opened myself up like that. After I showed that film I felt extremely proud of myself. I also felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders.
I also was very nervous about directing the music video. Since this was my first production class other than 201 I was really nervous about being a director. I also knew that most everyone else had more experience with production. I was also really nervous when things went wrong. I thought that maybe I wasn't going to be able to be a good director for the project, but I worked out everything and the music video ended up looking pretty good-even though most of our footage was extremely overexposed.
So I think this class has really made a difference on my thoughts on myself and on myself as a film maker. I've really enjoyed this class a whole lot.

Thoughts On Sending My Films To Festivals

I'm a little nervous about sending out my film to festivals. I am worried about how much money I will spend sending them out. I know I just need to find festivals that like the kinds of things I make. I think that my music video definitely has potential to go to festival. I'm just concerned about finding the right festivals for my stuff. I'm also concerned about how I will feel getting rejected from festivals. I know being in the film business I MUST have a thick skin for that since it will happen hundreds of times. I just know I might feel bad getting my first rejection letter especially. I'm definitely considering submitting my music video to festival. I will most likely start by submitting it to festivals around the area. I'm thinking about submitting it to reel teal as my first festival. I think that will be a good start for me and I'll just go up from there.

Films At Cucalorus

Well I ended up only going to see 2 of the films I was planning on seeing this weekend since the other one was in the morning and I didn't feel well that morning. So I went to the Whirligig Beetle shorts and The New Year. I loved the shorts. I'm extremely glad that I was able to see them. I loved seeing a bunch of different people's short films. I think all of the ones I saw I enjoyed. I definitely thought that Stanley Pickle was more of an experimental film since it had almost a stop motion feel with jerky motions. I really enjoyed Successful Alcoholics, cried suicide, and Dragon Slayerz. I thought those were all really well done and I loved the comedy in them. I also went and saw The New Year which I enjoyed a lot. I thought it was a nice story. It was a little slow at times, but overall it was good. I love how they left the ending somewhat open for interpretation. I think they left it with an optimistic feel, but they didn't tell us what the girl ultimately decides. I thought it was a great experience to go to these screenings and I wish I was able to see more. Maybe next year I'll be able to see more!

Cucalorus

I'm really upset because this weekend I ended up having to do a lot of work over the weekend for a number of different things. I have to work at Blockbuster, and I also have to work at a horse show for the Equestrian Team. I'm also working and showing on Sunday, so pretty much my entire weekend is going to be full of craziness, but I'm still going to go to a couple of the screenings. I plan on seeing the Whirligig Beetle Shorts on Friday which looks very interesting. I wanted to go see some shorts since the majority of what I've done are shorts. I want to see what kinds of films can get into a festival like this. I also got tickets for The Happy Poet, but I'm not sure if I actually can use them because it said Corp instead of Pass. So I'm thinking it might be for corporations to see. I am not sure right now. The last one I plan on seeing is The New Year on Sunday night. I thought that one looked really interesting and it was at a time when I should be back from the horse show. There were a few that I wish I could go see, but they were at bad times ):. So that's my plan for this weekend. I think my weekend will be pretty much insane. I have a lot to do, but I've never been to Cucalorus and I think it's time that I go.

Idea For Instillation Project

So I didn't really have any ideas for this project (I was pretty blank in my head from all my other work). So I am pretty much okay with doing whatever Royce decides to come up with. I think the idea he has come up with so far is a really great idea. I like that he came up with a story and he plans on using found footage along with interactions of people. I hope that finding the found footage won't be too hard for us. I also like that we will be projecting on a circular surface rather than a plain flat one. I'm not sure how we will construct the ball to project on. I'm sure we will make it happen if that's what Royce wants. I'm also hoping he will be able to get the actress he wants cause otherwise I might have to act, which I'm not too fond up, but I'll do it. I think this project will require a lot of work, which I hope we will have enough time to get everything together. I really hope everything will turn out well and our project will look great! I'm really excited to work with Royce on this project.

Music Video Shoot

So I'm sure my group was very frustrated with me as director considering that the day before the shoot I still had no idea what we were doing. It's not that I didn't try, it's that no one could get back to me on ANYTHING. I sent e-mails to about 15 different bands, and even to some labels in an attempt to get a signature. Unfortunately I didn't get to do the idea I really wanted to do because they never did get back to me. So I decided to go with a different song and fortunately Kristin knows one of the band members so we definitely have a signature. THANK GOODNESS! I was stressing out about that for the last 2 weeks. So the idea we ended up going with was taking different shots of shoes walking in different places. I think the idea will turn out really nice. Overall the shooting went really really well. I think the group worked really well together and we all contributed ideas and helped with the vision. I made Laura do some very interesting shots, which also required her walking backwards down bleachers. We had to have Gabby spot her so she wouldn't fall. We don't want any injuries on set. Kristin brought every pair of shoes she owned and was our actress for most of the different shots of the shoes. I also did some with my shoes and I also brought another friend of mine for his shoes. We got a lot of different shots that are really interesting and I can't wait to see how our film comes out.

Art House Reading

I think it's sad that going out to see an older movie has become almost non-existant now. I think it's important to still show some of these great movies the way they were meant to be seen. I know that I have probably missed out on a lot of great older films just because I don't really hear about them all that much.

I think it's neat that there is a place for people who make films that might not be accepted into the mainstream still have a place to go and show their films. I think these film makers need a place that they can show films that are different. They are creating pieces of art and obviously they would want to show that. I think these film makers definitely need these kind of places so that they can show the art they have worked so hard for.

Also I think it can build a community of people who have seen the films. Since the places are smaller it gives them more of a chance to bond and talk about the movie they just saw. The film maker will also get opinions who might be more accepting of art form than some people in the mainstream.