Hello! Hello Glorp! Weclome back! I'm in a jolly little mood right now, and I'm modivated! So lets not even josh around right now, lets get down to business...
(...to defeat the huns.)
(Disney Kids, 2016)
Our jolly teacher Mrs. Stock loss, had us meet in groups where everyone worked on different projects, so that we can offer advice from an outside perspective. I really enjoyed this because it reminded me just how creative and unique everyone is. It was a gentle reminder of how everyone has a different experience in life, and therefor our views the world are different yet equally important and special.
I'm getting off topic.
(Our group!)
(I'm bald now btw)
JOAQUIN
(Joaquin uses any pronouns, but for clarity, I'm going to use "they/them")
They are making a short story about a girl who feels powerless, so she joins a satanists cult and spreads satanism. She's aided by a mysterious character who is later discovered to be Satan. They mentioned the story is a dark comedy with absurdism. They also choose to use the film as a way to comment on people who join a religion for self want, and not for self fulfillment.
When I asked them how they plan on making special effects for a portal to hell, a cathedral, and a women getting run over by a car, they said they'll use PNG's and keyframes. Which, from my experience, never turns out the way I visualized. I suggested that they plan EVERYTHING in those kinds of scenes. And maybe, I mentioned, they should consider having most special effects be hand-drawn or animated by their teammate Emi. I've worked with her in the past, and I know she'd likely be up for it-- also it'll help the special effects feel less jarring. They seemed to like that idea.
I also through that the viewer might be a little confused, because I was confused when they first explained the story. So I suggested that they should really work on making the story within the script clear, but not spoon feeding it to the viewer.
I really like this idea though, and fingers crossed it turns out well because I might lose faith in humanities innate creativity if it doesn't.
ROBERT
Another extremely creative soul came up with another cool idea for a short film.
His story is about a guy who’s dad used to be a famous tennis player, but the guy isn't a good tennis player. And, a doppelganger has framed the guy, so the guy begins to train in order to beat the doppelganger. Rob mentioned that he's not sure how the story is going to end, so as a group, we brainstormed a few ideas. But, I don't think he liked them that much. He said he wanted the story to feel like Rocky.
I never watched Rocky, but I understand that the movie is meant to be motivational, and had to do with a guy training for something related to boxing. I watched this clip later to better understand what he meant:
(Movieclips, 2014)
ZACH
Zach and his team are planning on doing a meta, dark comedy about a camera who falls in love with one of the subjects, and then falls in love with someone else. Which, wow. I never would've thought of something like that. Knowing Zach's skills, the film is going to be amazing.
That being said, Zach and his team don't have a lot of the important things figured out. I asked him one too many questions that he didn't have an answer for. As a group, we realized that Zach needs to establish what he what's to highlight in his film. In the words of Stoklosa, does he want to show how narcissistic we are? Does he want to show how picky we are about how we are represented? We decided, as a group, that Zach needed to figure out the point of his film before expanding the concept further. He said he's gunna finish the script by Sunday.
I'm also very exited to see this one.
SAMARA
Samara is doing a documentary all by herself, which I praise her for because. Wow. I wouldn't dare to do that. I don't think I would want to make a short expert of a documentary, especially not alone. If I got the chance to make one, I'd make a full leigh one.
She told us how she plans to make her documentary on the unity between latin american culture. While introducing her concept, she mentioned how she wanted to represent one part of the conbined cultures. For example, instead of doing an episode on colombia, she'd make an episode on food in latin america as a whole.
I really liked this idea, because it better represents how all the cultures interact. That being said, I noted to her that if she does too many cultures in one episode, it might start to feel the documentary is listing cultures instead of exploring them. I suggested that she focuses on how one thing in a culture impacted other cultures. For example, Tango originated from Italy, which immigrants brought to Argentina. From there, it spread throughout Latin America, with some regions combining Tango and other styles of dance to make completely new styles.
She asked Zach how exactly to interview, and Zach responded by suggesting she thinks about the documentary like a story, where you reveal information in sorted categories. She should think about what she wants the interviewee to say, and then frame the question in a way to prompt the response she wants.
GABY
My goat! She's making a music video also by herself, with the song "I'll call you when I've made it." Her artist lives in Nashville, so making a promotional music video is out of the question. Instead, she's going to do a heavily story-driven music video. She mentioned how she's filming today.
Joaquin brought up how it's easy to get lost in the story, and that she should focus on techniques that will make her video not look like a "student project". They mentioned how they've had that happen to them, and to just be cautious. I don't personally agree, but Gaby seems to have agreed, so I'm writing down that it happened.
Zach suggested that Gaby should also film all sorts of random shots because the song is four minutes long, so she's going to have to use many different shots. This will help fill up time, and she should film as much as possible to help reach the four minute target. "You don't think your going to use these shots, but you will" he said (I'm paraphrasing).
Since Gaby cannot meet with her artist face-to-face, I asked her how she's planning to overcome that obstacle. She thought of sending the artist photos of what she wants, that way the artist can take themselves and send them back to her. These photos would be for the Instagram. I said that's smart. Because it is.
RYAN
Ryan looks so cool, I wish he where a real person.
Ryan told us how he's making a thriller comedy short film about a custodian who's accidently kills a coworker, and tries to burry them. When I hear the story I was like, "that's not a comedy", but then he explained how the comedy comes from the absurd circumstances of the custodian trying to hide the body.
I asked how he's going to film in the dark, since part of his film takes place at night. Zach told him to have a big, navy blue light as the main light (to mimic the moonlight) and then also a smaller while light for highlights and visibility. I told Ryan that he can get that equipment from Shortcuts, since it's available to all students.
CITES (in order of appearance)
Disney Kids. (2016, December 11). Mulan | I'll Make a Man Out of You [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGfJeW_CcFY
Movieclips. (2014, February 19). Rocky (8/10) Movie CLIP - Training Montage (1976) HD [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YYmfM2TfUA
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