Student Project Review

             As Though Lost Review

Working on the set of As Though Lost was one of my favorite experiences throughout my eCommunication career. I worked as the location manager, and honestly when I was assigned that position I wasn't sure if it was right for me. As time went on I found that it was actually really fun getting to decide where certain scenes would be filmed at. Being the location manager I felt extremely involved in the production of the film, because I was helping decide what the tone of the film would be. I personally believe that the locations chosen to film at greatly impact how the audience feels about what they are watching. Additionally, I believe that lighting goes hand in hand with tone as well. 

As Though Lost was the first big short film that I have ever done, and I definitely learned a lot. When it comes to being location manager you have to get permission to film at all locations, you need to know where you can and cannot park, you also need to know how to get to those locations, and you need to know where the nearest stores are in case someone on the crew needs something. I think that I did a good job choosing locations, but if I'm being honest most of the getting permission and knowing how to get there was done by Mrs. Morris, so I owe a lot to her for helping me with my job. If I were to have this job again I think that I could definitely improve by doing more research on each location I would like to film at. There were a couple instances with As Though Lost where I had the wrong address or where I needed to have verified that we could for sure film at a particular location. In the future if I am ever hired for this job again I hope to not run into those issues again, and to do a bit more research on each location in order to ensure that the tone of the short film is presented well through each and every location. 

You can watch as though lost here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C8nCEIiazpA 

Professional Article Review

Can You Tell You Tell The Difference Between Film & Digital?

No Film School 

I've actually never analyzed the difference between film strips and an SD card, but after reading this article and watching the video attached with it (see the article here) I prefer the look of film over digital. Film offers a much warmer look while digital seems to look more cool. Although, in some instances you can hardly distinguish the difference between the two mediums. In the video that is linked with the article on this topic the last shot looks so similar that it took me quite awhile to figure out which shot I believe to be done with film and which was done with an SD card. After re-watching previous shots and comparing them I realized that film allows you to see much more detail than digital does. You can see the differences here:

Professional Project Review

You've Got Mail

   If I'm being honest, when I first watched the trailer for this movie I wasn't expecting to watch a movie that had crazy good cinematography. Although I loved the movie, I was right about the movie not being out of this world when it comes to the shots that were used. Overall, most shots were pretty basic compared to a newer action movie. But I think that is understandable, because this movie was filmed in 1998 and its a romantic comedy. If theres one shot that did stand out to me it would be one of the opening shots of the movie. The camera starts in front of the doors to Kathleen Kelly's (played by Meg Ryan) apartment, and then the camera ascends upward into Kathleen's apartment window. I assume to film this shot that the camera was on a crane or something similar, but I thought that this was a really good establishing shot because it adds movement to the film which is important to have in movies.
  Now the reason why I loved this movie was for the story. Lets be honest, just about every girl loves a good chick flick. You've Got Mail is great, because it's not a typical chick flick. The storyline is really unique compared to other romantic comedies that I have seen which made me enjoy it even more. Plus I love how well Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan act together!

Dance Team Client Work Continued (Music Video blog)

Chisolm Trail Dance Team Slideshow 2014-2015

This is the final product of the slideshow we created for Ms. Hankin's dance team. The transition between 7th grade and 8th grade, and the end of the slideshow are the little parts that I feel like make our video a bit more interesting than the average slideshow video. We successfully created a slideshow that our client was proud of and that Megan, Jayleah, and I are proud of. This was our first slideshow for Chisolm Trail Dance Team, and in the future I definitely think that we have room for improvement, and I hope to push my creativity levels in order to see how creative I can make a banquet slideshow.

Chisolm Trail Dance Team Spring Show

Client Work (North by Northwest)

While the class watched "North by Northwest" Megan, Jayleah, and I worked on our Chisolm Trail Dance Team client project. For the assignment we were asked to do two main things; create a slideshow video of the dancers, and to film their spring show and then create copies of the show for all of the dancers.

To start off the project we began working on the slideshow for the banquet. Ms. Hankins, the drill team coach, had the parents of all the dancers put pictures of their son or daughter onto a google drive folder that was being shared with us. There were also video clips that Ms. Hankins recorded of the dancers talking about their favorite memories from the year. We had to import all of those clips into final cut, but once we started to edit we found out that not all of the dancers had the pictures or video clips that we needed. Learning to work with google drive was a bit of a challenge at first, but throughout the process we emailed Ms. Hankins frequently about who was missing what, and in doing so we were able to efficiently get the job done. The actual editing process was challenging due to the fact that our clips were not very organized, and it's hard to make a slideshow video creative. We learned the importance of naming your folders and having your project organized as well as how beneficial and important it is to communicate with your client. Creativity wise I think that we did a good job adding little elements to the slideshow that made it interesting to watch. Ultimately Ms. Hankins was really impressed with the outcome of the slideshow, and how efficient we worked.

After the slideshow was completed and given to Ms. Hankins to be played at the banquet Megan and Jayleah went to film the spring show at Chisolm Trail. Prior to them filming I checked out all of the equipment- camera, SD card, tripod, and battery. Unfortunately, I failed to realize that a 60D camera was not the camera to be used for filming long clips such as a spring show. As a result Megan and Jayleah encountered several problems while filming such as the camera randomly turning off, and the SD card saying that it was full. Had I checked out a Panasonic camera these problems could have been prevented. Luckily, Ms. Hankins had a dad at the show film all of the dances so we are going to get the clips that we missed from him and then continue to edit. I have definitely learned the importance of knowing which camera's are best for what and how important it is to have several SD cards in case something goes wrong with the first one. Although, we started editing with the footage we did get, we have yet to receive the clips from one of the students father's. Once we do receive that footage we will still face challenges when editing, but so far I have already learned a lot, and I am expecting to learn more as we continue editing.

I hope next year we are contacted by Ms. Hankins again, because I really enjoyed working on this project. If I could change anything about this experience and our editing process I would start by organizing all of my clips and pictures as best as possible, then I would check to see if I had everything that I needed. Also, I would of course make sure that I got the right camera depending on the task that was presented to me.

My 5 Strengths

My Top 5 Strengths

Belief 

My first strength was Belief...I think that the reason why I got this as my top strength is because of my faith in Christ and my desire to live according to His word. When working in a team I think that this strength could help me because since I have strong values I can work hard and get my job done as well as help other students with their job if needed. 

Harmony

Having harmony as one of my strengths allows me to help bring others together. This can be an extremely good strength for working in teams because I can help reduce friction between people that may not work as well together.

Connectedness

Connectedness gives me the ability to "build bridges between people and groups" which will show people how they can relate to others, and how they can rely on others. This is good because throughout this journey of creating a short film a lot of people may get frustrated and impatient with people, and I can remind them that we are all working on this together and need support from one another.

Developer 

This quality allows me to be able to see the potential in others. If someone I am working with feels as if they don't have a specific quality that makes them good at their job I can remind them of all the reasons why they ARE good at their job and remind them of how they can continue to grow and improve.

Adaptability

Adaptability means that I am a "live in the moment" kind of person. This can help in a team, because when others are stressed out about the future I can help them stay calm and focused on what is going on that day rather than what may happen tomorrow or a week from then. 

No Film School Blog- Location

Location & Whether Or Not It Matters 

Location. Does it matter? Is having a good filming location reallyyy all that big of a deal? To be honest I hadn't ever really put much thought into whether to not the location where a film takes place is a big deal or not. I came across the article "Casting Locations: Mark Friedberg on the Role Architecture Plays In 'The Ice Storm.' Friedberg chooses locations that add "a new dimension of storytelling and poetry to film." Friedberg notes that most of us aren't going to remember the location where our favorite film was shot at, but if you think about how different a film can be portrayed if it were filmed at a different the location the whole tone of the movie or short film may be completely changed. So, is having a good filming location really a big deal? Yes! Location can add a specific tone to a film and as a location manager I want to make sure that the tone being portrayed by the surroundings of an actor or actress matches with the vision of the director and producer.

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/08/mark-friedberg-on-role-architecture-plays

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TY2rfGERh8A