Short Film Critique

A) RATIONAL: Through this film I wanted to send a message that would show the teenagers who watched this film, to enjoy and remember their high school years as best as they can. The short film starts off with a woman looking at an old high school yearbook. Through a flashback, the setting is moved to (Maria) her at her old high school. While we watch the memories of her, we begin to see what she is truly remembering as a bully (Justin), walks by and knocks down her books. In another memory we see the bully pull out her chair as she sits down. These instances set a sad mood as we watch the girl be punished for no apparent reason. As an actor and an editor of this film, I thought that it would be extremely effective if the bully was given a "sidekick" so to speak. The role of the sidekick became that he would participate in the bullying of the girl, but then help her after the bully had left the scene. This little surprise, gave the film a romantic twist to it. By doing this, the reason for the woman remembering these specific memories is also revealed in the closing scene when the girl and sidekick are going to prom together. I decided to portray the message of the film through this sequence of shots because it shows just how good things can be when looking at life with a positive outlook.

B) COMMENTARY: I played two roles in the creation of this film, as the main bully, along with one of the editors. Little problems occurred while acting due to the simplicity of our film. Along with the good team work and conjoined direction of the film. When editing though, I had much difficulty; I greatly underestimated the difficulty in editing a film, even one as short and simple as ours, and by not being properly prepared I was faced with problems I could not overcome easily. Of these problems, the worst for me, was finding and matching sound and music for the individual pieces of footage. During editing, in order to help solve my problem, I often referred to the tutorial videos that we had been shown in class. This helped me remember a lot of trick and methods to editing that I had forgotten. I would also often ask for help from friends. Due to the difficulty I had when editing in my sound, the only thing I am able to do now is to learn from my mistakes. Through watching and hearing other peoples opinions, I found that my greatest problem came in the fluidity of my music. Because the mood of the scenes would change so quickly, from happy to sad, I had trouble finding music nuetral enough for me to alter to fit each seen. As a result I was forced to use clips of different music which ruined the fluid motion of the scene itself and made the mood even more confusing and difficult to follow. Also we had problems with some aspects of continuity, for example in certain scenes there may have been people who appeared in the scene when they had previously not been there, or the apparent laps in time during certain scenes was detectible due to the audiences' knowledge of the setting. Other small aspects of mistake came in situations like lighting or transitions where unwanted silhouettes appeared or transparent shots from other scenes over lapped the scene.
         Luckily though while filming, my group managed to work well together which greatly minimized our problems. I feel that we could have been far more productive if we had chosen to film more thoroughly than we had. At the time, Max mostly, had the smart idea to film each seen from many different angles and distances in order to give us more footage to use when creating the final piece. Although this was a good idea, due to poor planning we ended up shooting few or limited shots from each angle. I feel it would have been more beneficial to have more versions of the same shot and many different shots that were poorly planned. Not to say that this didn't help, as is it did; simply that we could have taken this idea to a further extent. In order to make up for this, when editing, we were forced to make up for this in our editing. By using more transitions and subject change we were able to keep the audiences' focus on the what we wanted, like an emotion, rather than on the shortened length of each shot or the incompleteness of certain shots.
      As a final evaluation of the film, I'd like start by saying that although I'm not satisfied with my work, I am not completely disappointed because this was my first film. The sound in my film was way off, but I feel that the video was descent. I was satisfied, for the most part, that the continuity of the film was often consistent and clear without much distortion of time and space. I also feel that through my editing of the film, I was able to portray the emotions and ideas I had intended. In the future I believe to most effectively solve the problems I faced in this film could be fixed very easily. First and most importantly, I need to learn to manage my time more effectively. By waiting so long to start editing, I caused many unnecessary problems for my self. Second, I need to better plan how the film is going to be made, this way I will be able to edit the film more effectively because if the filming is pre-planned I will be able to minimize the need for editing entirely. 

Short Documentary analysis: Firsthand "Preston Strout"

"BALANCE"

     Preston Strout is a co-owner of High Cascade Snowboard Camp. FUEL TV does a firsthand documentary of what his life is like within the camp and how this has effected him on a personal level. High Cascade Snowboard Camp, is located at Mt. Hood, Oregon, and is a year-round camp that gives teenagers from all over the country a place to enjoy snowboarding and other outdoor activities to the fullest extent. In this documentary Preston constantly repeats his advice about the balance of responsibility that working at the camp has taught him. He explains that although the job is so fun, he must still balance the work aspect of it, in order to keep the camp running smoothly, and attempts to incorporate that as a message to the viewer as well. He also talks about how all jobs can be strenuous and that it is always good to step back, take a break, and make some time for yourself to relax. He says, that even though he has the most fun job he can think of, it still wears him down over time, after doing the same thing so consistently. To break this, Preston often enjoys snowboarding or fishing, and expresses his thoughts about this to the audience by encouraging them to pursue what they enjoy as well.

      In this video the cinematography does a fantastic job of helping the viewer connect to Preston, and even more to his experience and passion for snowboarding. By using shots of Preston working on paperwork, while daydreaming and staring at the snow-covered mountain out the window, with such curious and depressed expression, it helps understand his passion and desire to be outside doing the things he loves doing, but that he is responsible and does his work. In other shots,                                                     Preston can be seen snowboarding and smiling at the success of his tricks and just the amount of fun he is having. Preston even goes on to say that he has come to enjoy snowboarding for just the experience; not striding to pull off amazing tricks or impress people, but to just have fun doing what he loves.
      The sounds and music that accompany the documentary also help extremely to express the overwhelming emotions that fill each moment at this camp. The sad tune that plays as the buses leave the camp with the kids inside leaving the camp vacant for a period of time. During the competition between snowboarders there is an upbeat song playing that almost envelopes every aspect of the scene. This greatly helps to emphasize the unity that the kids feel while snowboarding; even during a competition all the boarders cheer for one-another and appreciate the joy that everyone shares.

Documentary pre-pro

Purpose- the intent of our documentary is to inform people what it is like to run a business. Many people live their lives with realizing the kind of work and effort that goes into creating the things that make their life so easy. This documentary will show people what it is like to work in the motor industry and what goes into making the cars that people so often take for granted.

Contacts- For our project we will be interviewing John  , who has worked his way up to regional manager after working his way up through every job at Toyota, starting with janitor. We shall also talk to owners of Toyota cars and some employees at Toyota.

Interview Questions- During our interview we will be asking questions about the process in building cars, how and who comes up with the ideas for these cars. We will talk about the kinds of tests and requirements that cars must meet in order to pass to be sold. We will be able to discuss the changes in cars from the past until now. These are some topics which we pull specific questions from.
Some example questions are:
 Having worked in all levels of the Toyota business, which job was the most difficult, the easiest, and your favorite?
What negative results may occur if someone does a job incorrectly in the process of building these cars, and how does this tend to effect the company on a large scale? [lead into topic ex; Prius brake dispute]
What kinds of tests do these cars go through before being deemed safe to sell?

General Flow:  Beginning: discuss the beginning of car building. (idea formulation, material gathering, design creations, preparation for building, beginning portion of building process)

middle: discuss middle portion of building the cars along with evaluation of jobs. (discuss the roles of employees in relation to manufacturing of the car, evaluate importance and difficulty of jobs, talk about what it takes to obtain these jobs, and the core of the manufacturing process)

end: briefly discuss the end of the manufacturing process, and talk about sales (explain safety checks and the selling process (ie: sales pitch example), talk to owners about how satisfied they are with their Toyota)

Shots:- we will use individual close ups of people being interviewed.
overlaying footage of related topics (ie: when discussing safety, show video of safety test or crash while listening to the voice explaining the shot on screen)
pictures of different kinds of Toyotas, and short clips of the manufacturing process, some of cars being built possibly.
the backgrounds will be either blank, a plane white wall or hallway, possibly outside of the dealership, in order to avoid distraction from speaker.
if interviewing an employee, the background will be of the employees job, or even of them working.

Scripts:- the scripts will have questions and topics that we will be discussing. but it will have minimal answers pre-planned, in hopes that our subject will give creative and personal insight that we will not be able to give him in a written script. (although sounds risky due to the fact that we will be depending on someone else, but he is a professional and has taken part in many interviews before).

Intro:- will open up with pictures of John, if possible of him working in the different jobs, some clips or pictures of the cars or some clips of Toyota commercials.

Transitions:- quick and direct transitions between relating topics in order to control the energy of the film to make up for the possible slow tempo of the interviews

Conclusions:- possibly clips of cars driving away, or a short sequence of the change in Toyotas from their original car designs to what they are now.

Baraka film response

          
    Baraka is an incredible movie in many cinematic aspects while portraying worldwide themes and ideologies. The enveloping theme of Baraka is the unity of the people on Earth as one, which gives it it’s name, “Baraka” of “Breath”. It is referring to the idea that everyone on Earth is part of the same living spirit or organism. All people are alike and share the same “Breath” of life and that they all breath as one and live as one. Some might say that Baraka is in a way, looking down on what the world has become, divided and narrow-minded. But I believe that it is actually doing the opposite. Rather than ridiculing the human world for dividing, Baraka is trying to make this known, to show the people that this division is unnecessary and that we are all equal.

                Baraka was an unusual film, as it had no voices being used. I feel this choice to exclude voices helped greatly to make the point of equality in the world clear. By eliminating voices, the director eliminates opinions. Without added opinions, the audience is able to look at the different peoples, without discrimination of any kind changing their understanding of the film’s message.

                In the film many views of life in foreign lands today, is incorporated directly with nature. In India, people can be seen bathing in the Ganges River. Looking at the water and the people in it, it is clear that it is not actually cleaning these people. But, with careful attention, people can be seen praying to the river, bathing in the river; children are seen playing in the river. The children represent the connection of these people to the river, who likely all spent their entire lives there. The people bathing express the peoples’ trust in the river to protect and support them. Finally the people praying show how the river spiritually connects to these people, expressing it’s true importance to this society of modern day people.

                In Japan a shot of a monk of a monk is taken as he slowly makes his way down the street through a crowd of people. This monk, who walks around preaching and praying expresses the integration of culture and religion into the urban atmosphere of the modern day. By directly placing himself in the middle of such an industrialized and modern society, and expressing what appears to be an older method of practice. This monk shows how religion lives and incorporates itself into a society.

                In the film the major aspects that caught my attention to be unique and intriguing, were the transitions. One scene in particular which was very dramatic and different was a transition between a monk lighting candles for a prayer, and the oil fire in Kuwait. At first a peaceful monk is seen praying and lighting candles, and the motif of fire transfers over suddenly to a blazing inferno which dramatically changes the mood and energy of the scene. This is interesting and unique because it couldn’t work in almost any other film.

                I feel that Baraka is an extremely special film. The messages and ideas it portrays couldn’t possibly be recreated in another movie. The blending of culture and life from around the world, gives one a totally different perspective on people and their relations to one-another. It makes me want to travel around the world possibly experience some of the same things as the people who got to make this film.