guest speaker - Mr. Norwood Cheek

normally guest speakers come in and preach to your class with that fake, cheery, you-can-take-over-the-world-if-you-get-an-education-and-work-hard attitude, that bothers me because all i can think of is that everyone is going to school now and everyone (for the most part) is on the grind to get where they want to go.  You can't just explain your success story to a bunch of scared undergraduates, who doubt themselves every day and wonder what it is that is going to be the next step, and expect everyone to be like "ohhhh, so that's how it works?! i had no idea!" But the other day, we had a different breed of guest speaker come talk with us, yes i mean talk, He wasn't condescending or even an advocate of our college life as the right path.  He came to be real with us. When i say real, i don't mean that He wasn't positive and encouraging, because this dude definitely was! What i mean is that He had this genuine outlook for our development as well as an understanding of our tough environment as future filmmakers.
He told us of his past in school and about how He studied French because if He was "actually going to learn anything from school" it might as well be useful and language was something He understood as such.  He also talked about His creation the Flicker Film Festival as well as his current work with music video production.
so who is this man you ask (if you haven't looked at the title already)... Filmmaker Norwood Cheek!  His work with making videos for bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers and She & Him is amazing!  He showed us a few of His works, and the visual themes corresponded to the mood of each song perfectly.  He also told us that ultimately it is what makes the band happy that is important.  i thought that statement was really reflective of His personality in general because it told us how He views the process of making a music video, in that it may be His creative vision but the whole product needs to match and reflect the image of the artist(s).  Mr. Cheek's attitude inspired me to stick with my initial thoughts of entering music video production.

After listening to Norwood tell us about His experiences, and His questions he has for the future of film in general (ie will there be any use of actual film after the next 10 years? will there be any original ideas or will each new movie be a remake of some earlier classic), i left class that day reassured and thinking "wow okay, this is right. i'm supposed to be here"

(this is one of his videos he showed us! She & Him- Thieves )
ps if you were wondering if i intentionally capitalized every pronoun associated with Mr. Cheek, the answer is yes. yes i did.  He is that cool.

music video shoot

for the music video shoot i was excited about being the director of this group assigned project, but as i thought more about it and our shooting date approached i became a bit apprehensive.  director! .... director. .... director? .... okay yea director. 

we all came together for pre production planning and for the most part unanimously agreed upon everything with ease.  then on the day of the shoot we all arrived on time and ready to rock with everyone bringing things to transform the location of this old historic, ghost inhabited house into this dysphoric, restless space for our main character to dance around.  we cut out shapes of stars and diamonds out of aluminum foil and decorative paper and taped them to clear fishing line and the fishing line perpendicular to another fishing line to two wooden rods.  we had one person hold up one rod on a step ladder and another person on the opposite side of the room holding up the other rod to create a bouncing light reflecting set of images of childlike craft time stars around our erratic moving dancer.  (it sounds confusing because it is haha) 

another scene which our group worked hard at creating great art direction, was when we had the dancer slumped out on the couch and we had the furniture and home decor move closer to her as she herself folded up like a piece of crumpled paper.  the idea was to make the space around her move in a claustrophobic manner which we will accomplish in the editing process by means of stop motion animation.  

overall the shoot went really well and everyone worked as a team to get the project executed following the vision we wanted.  we are now in the process of editing and i'm excited to see how it's going to turn out!

inspiration for music video project

contemporary alternative rock music videos that influence my ambition to go this path in school

the kills-black balloon

the klaxons-magick

reptar-context clues

the cults-abducted

the cults- go outside

storyboards and overhead for music video

Reflection To Project 1B

From this portion of the project I expanded my knowledge of Final Cut Pro immensely.  Before working on this I knew how to organize things on the timeline and place in and out points and create sub clips but I wasn’t aware of the neat things you can do to manipulate sound.  One of my favorite sound effects that we used in our sounds cape is the reverb.  We placed it on this sound of a girl screaming and like magic it sounded as if the girl was screaming while falling down a hole…perhaps even a rabbit hole (Alice In Wonderland maybe?). 

            In the beginning of the editing process my partner and I had a conceptual idea about our title we were given, but as the hours passed we played more with the sounds and consequentially the whole project got really dark, really quick.  We liked the eerie noises we created and got even further into our imagination.  I learned that even though you can’t necessarily see images from the sound clips, you could still see the levels.  Also, you can close your eyes while you playback something and your mind automatically creates a visual to match the noises coming from the headphones.  I really enjoyed this part of the project and would like to start more projects in this order of sound first and picture later. 

Light Observation

            As I sit in one of the many corners of Randall Library I glance around noticing how secluded this area is, especially from the crowd at the front.  Row after row of enormous shelves surround me as if they’re here to barricade me in my seat until my To-Do list of homework is complete.

            Fluorescent lighting from above casts thick shadows of the desk aside the trash can to the right of it, but across this space, I notice the darkness from the shelves glooms over the next row, all the way to the back.  I’m glad I don’t have to get a book from back here, it would require me bringing a flashlight or a headlamp in my search, and unfortunately I have neither of those with me today. 

            I also notice the three-drawer filing cabinet to my back, which has a latte color that assuming because of the light layer of dust and slight rusted handles, serve no actual purpose.  Glancing around some more I understand how appreciated the back of the library is not just in terms of noise level but also in terms of how no one walks by you and causes you to look up to see who it is.  Focus is key back here until, BLACK.  The overhead lights are off.  Ummm this is the library, not the editing lab, let’s eliminate this motion censor nonsense.

            Someone’s shadow in the distance passes by the aisle and the lights return to their brightness and I to my conclusion.  Guess the area best for less distraction in Randall depends on how you’re affected by sound (at the front by the coffee shop) or by light (the creepy-shutoff-without-warning back area).

1A Project Reflection

On a regular basis we tend to drown out ambient sounds we are accustomed to hearing.  There are so many noises we zone out because they are ordinary and typical with our routine.  Waking up to a cell phone alarm in the morning, driving to campus, walking to the buildings, sitting in class; all of these habitual doings flood our subconscious with clamor.  However, we either ignore the background noises all together or balance them out with images we associate them with when noticed. 

            After playing with the H4n mics and the sound library project, I started to be more aware of the sounds of my daily routine.  I generally take the same route to my classes (unless I’m running late and park outside of my designated zone), and one day last week I was ahead of schedule and off to my French cinema class. Since time was not an issue, I decided to walk the unexplored route from Trask to central campus.  I took this route to see if there would be any difference in travel time since there seemed to be less congestion of confused, lost freshmen, and as I was looking at my phone to check the clock, I decided to take a gander at Twitter too.  No one was around except for maybe one other guy at least a couple hundred meters ahead, and as I looked down at the screen, I heard a rustle in the leaves right next to me.  Normally, it wouldn’t have caught my attention seeing as we have odd squirrels around campus that aren’t afraid of people, but because I had been thinking about sound and noise recently from this project I quickly stopped looked up and saw a tiny bunny among the flowers and the bushes to my left. (precious bunny pic from this occasion)

            This project helped me realize that even banal repeated procedures can have unexpected bouts of excitement if you just tune into your environment.  Take the effort to examine the noises around you because they can bring new perspective or even add a smile to your day!

sound observation number two

            When we were told to go to a place in an outdoors setting away from human noise for our sound observation I immediately thought of this dirt (and part sand) trail behind my old apartment complex, behind Target off Market that I used to go running around.

            After walking a solid ten minutes into the trail in the humid early evening, I began to change my perspective on this place of seclusion.  When focusing on sound alone, I realized I could still hear the distant whizzing of cars off of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.  The cars sounded like a lull because of the distance and I could understand after thinking about it for a second, how I probably never noticed it while running here on past occasions.  Cicadas buzzing, the eerie rhythm seems to try to compete with the traffic.  Wind brushed lightly through the leaves, and suddenly a roaring of plane ripping through the atmosphere above interrupted the delicate sweeps.  After some uneventful minutes, after only hearing my wheezing breath from the signs of an early cold coming on, a crow or some similar bird squawked and spooked me.  I took that as a warning and decided to leave.

sound observation number one

            

            Saturday night, not happy about getting wake up calls at two in the morning from my friends who clearly had been having a good night with some pals by the name of Miller and Bud, I let the phone ring and ring.  Thinking it over and maybe it’s something serious, I answer.  Twenty minutes later I’m pulling out the driveway of some guy’s house in my car loaded with two of my best friends, one of their boyfriends, a freshmen I’d never met, and incessant bright flashes from someone’s camera sitting behind me.

            They demand to get food before going home and after a moment of hesitation, I willingly surrender to their impetuous chanting “COOK-OUT! COOK-OUT!”. 

            After parking the car, they all rush the line to place an order and I decide to take notes on my phone about the chaotic environment.  I lean on the side hood of my car and hear the murmur of a million cars speeding by on College Road, the indecipherable and drunken slurred language of tons of college students, as well as the screeching brakes of an old beat up Crown Victoria passing through the drive-thru.  I try to discern the voices and immediately recognize my friend arguing with the freshmen that there aren’t baked potatoes on the menu.  The siren of a police car sounding across the road causes people to turn in the direction of the loud whirling noise.   The crowd gets quiet and then all at once returns to the loud volume of drunken conversations.

            I try to listen beyond the chatter and hear the plastic swinging door of trashcans flapping, a crumble of muffled ice and a thump as someone drops their full XL Styrofoam cup to the pavement, the cash register drawers slamming shut from inside the building, ripping of paper from the receipts (to be handed to the customers), car engines humming.  The dialogue inside a Volvo wagon going through the drive-thru calls my attention immediately because of the loud yelling of the people inside it.  The guy driving is trying to order while his friend in the passenger seat is screaming about a “mexi-dog” and a “large-ass sweet tea”.  They both keep talking at the same time and the lady taking the order continually asks them to repeat their words.  I can hear the dull and sandpaper scraping of tires across the cement as a kid drags his bike at an awkward angle towards the window to place an order; there’s also a car parked with bass thumping to some top 40 hit.  With all of the noise, it’s actually quite comforting, reminding me that I need to appreciate the ephemeral joys of college life.

Fred Camper Response

Fred Camper’s Naming, and Defining, Avant-Garde or Experimental Film argues that labeling the genre that is usually known to have limitless form is impossible to actually confine to one title.  He attributes this problem to the constant progression of the self-proclaimed avant-garde film, and the vast range of characteristics that develop from this that have come to define the field.  Films such as Man Ray’s “Le retour à la raison” have distinguishing production techniques, such as the use of the photogram and the absence of a linear storyline, that are unusual and often unexpected compared to the traditional commercial cinema. By juxtaposing the individual films with a set of generalizations, there comes into form of one genre that is completely separate of the mainstream culture.