keep all your receipts

Wow that song will be in my head for a very long time! What a fun day! It took a long time to gather all the props and load them into my car. It is more difficult to find old electronic devices than I thought! I spent a lot of time searching through every thrift/bargain store in town. We shot in room 2002 of the CIS building and put together a little office setup. Everything looks fairly normal at the beginning of the shoot until the very end when everything unwinds and goes crazy! We really made a mess in there.... but cleaned it all up of course. Our band members Tim & Dustin, Michelle, Haley, Royce, my roommate Jessica, our friend Abby, were all amazing! I was really happy with how smoothly it went and I think everyone else had a good time. It was hard me not to waste time giving everyone a lot of hugs because I was really excited. I typed up all of my ideas so everyone could see what was going on in my head. Everyone seemed to like them and everyone on set contributed to help build the "vision" I had. My favorite part was when I gave all of our "stage crew" members each a set of different directions. I asked them to do their assigned "tasks" at the same time so we could watch it all unfold simultaneously on film. Being in the middle of all this as it was occurring was really impressive to me, I'm just crossing my fingers that it has the same feel on screen. We filmed in a tight space that gives it a claustrophobic and chaotic feel as this group of people are all walking and dancing around the office. We ran out of time to do some other things we thought would be cool, but it wasn't a big deal because what we had should be sufficient and Michelle and I went to their live show around 1am that night to shoot some more footage. The boys were there (still looking spiffy in their office attire!) lighting was dim, but we are hoping that won't be a problem. Thanks group members for all of the work you put in! I think it will pay off.

Art House Cinema reading

I'm one of those people who can't help but whisper about a movie during a slow part or after the showing. Hearing how other people react to a film is important to me as a filmmaker, because I want to know what people like and what they don't like. I love the idea of sitting in a quaint little room or bar, watching an obscure movie no one has ever heard of, and asking questions about it after the credits roll. Who isn't tired of paying $10-15 for a ticket+$10 for popcorn+$4 more for a drink?! When watching a movie I'd like to feel included instead of feeling robbed. From this reading and everything I have learned in Kreul's Avant Garde history class, I wish I lived in the 60's. In my hometown of Asheville at the Cinebar there is always a showcase of short local films before the showing which is exciting, and of course Cucalorus is a place that student filmmakers can go and learn from other filmmakers as well. Last week I attended Kreul's screening at the Opera room and that was a neat experience too! I recommend that everyone go. I find it very important for people to build communities and be able to enjoy these things together. There are still micro cinemas around according to the reading and I'm hoping that they will catch on. It's a difficult situation though because if a micro cinema was advertised like crazy it would probably grow into a large popular "mainstream" cinema and then no one would think it was cool anymore. I guess the trick would be to gather people you know who appreciate good foreign, classic, or independent cinema (in its true context) and find a small venue to invite a group of people.

MUSIC VIDEO

I'm excited for this project! We have been hanging out on the mixgrotto page for many days now, listening, analyzing and trying to figure out who to choose from out of the list of talented artists. When I heard the Justin Lacy and the Swimming Machine had a tap dancer, I was sold. They have many musicians that play many different instruments, and they collaborate with another band that wants to do a short skit in our video which is awesome. The only issue we may have with this is scheduling. I realize that we need all of these people in the same place at the same time and we need to have a very accurate game plan/storyboard to get it all in on time. I want the audience to feel very involved with the live music, the camera movements should move to the beats in the music. Hopefully when it's all said and done the viewer will feel as if they are sitting in the middle of the stage surrounded by a circle of musicians (and hopefully a tap dancer). We also have other options if the band members will not all be available. D&D sluggers was a possibility because they only have 2 band members, but as Royce pointed out they may not work well with Super 8 because their style is very digital and electronic. Personally I was thinking maybe the contrast could be bizarre and interesting?? I don't know.... we'll work it out :)

Experimental in the mainstream

I am presenting my presentation on Michel Gondry today. I did not recognize his name at first when I signed up to tell about him but I really like his style and he is everywhere! I loved Eternal Sunshine and his music videos are really fun catchy and colorful which are two of my favorites. My favorite of his videos was definitely his band Oui Oui's Ma Maison because that tune has been in my head for days and I am in love with the key frame animation, I want to know how to do that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yymYmzZPJe4

I also love the White Stripes, LEGOS and this video, as well as The Hardest Button to Button

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27BfBkRHbs

Brainstorm

It is always difficult to explain yourself to someone, so I think that an experimental collage will come close enough to convey my life and what's in my head. Like everyone else I'm a jumble of past experiences beginning with my childhood, traveling through obstacles, making/breaking friendships and relationships, setting goals/making plans, failing, succeeding, and just living day to day. I took some notes on some ideas but cannot find the paper anywhere! I think that I will try to use footage from my childhood and mix in images of my best friend and others that had a huge impact on my life. I want to sort of express what my life has currently become...a montage of a week in my life. The weekends will be shown slow and relaxed, involving miscellaneous activities. Work days will involve me in different masks cleaning the mirrors and (and camera lens) at my workplace, Halloween and more! During the school week the images will speed up incredibly, as I rush to read, write, and madly finish everything I was supposed to do. Someone brought to my attention that none of my photos I put on facebook show my complete face because they're always far away, or I'm wearing a mask, hat or glasses, or my face is painted. I guess it's because I'm shy. That's why I plan to step out of my comfort zone and "expose" myself for the ending.