This Is Our Final Curtain Call...

Well, this will be my last post on this class, Appreciating Film: Making Movies. It has definitely been an interesting and exciting year, but most of all I'm glad I can look at movies in a new way. Some might say that this class ruined the pure entertainment value of the films they watch in the future, and looking at them in more detail might have that effect. Though this class has taught me to look at films more critically, I believe it enhances my viewing experience, instead of taking away from it. I've always been curious about how they made those magical worlds that I loved from my childhood, as early as my development of an attention span. Now, I've been given a peek into the "film-making world", much like a glimpse of something enchanting, and yet too complicated to fully comprehend in that moment; it's something that probably takes years of education and practice to achieve a good sense of expertise.

Actually being behind the camera while filming gave me a whole new perspective and idea how movies are constructed from random scenes, much like a collage, which the editor then puts together to make the scenes flow coherently. I must say I truly appreciate the job that a cameraman (or camerawoman) does, especially since the normal cameras for shooting probably weigh ten times more than ours. It takes a steady hand and a willingness to be directed and guided to get the needed shots. I also appreciated their talent with electronic devices, because I don't think I ever did, or ever will, learn the endless buttons and what they do or how to actually get the film off the camera and onto a computer.

We are now in the process of editing our films, for our film festival on Thursday night. Hopefully it will all come together in time and all our films will be great successes. Also, we'll be turning in production journals about our filming experiences, from the way the group worked together and scheduling to what you learned personally from it. I don't see an academy award in my future or anything, but I loved the class and learning about movie-making. The discussions on the films we watched and the behind-the-scenes details that Eric taught us were both educational and enjoyable, which is a combination you would hardly expect in a Film Appreciation class, except this one was on a whole new level. This class gave the tools I needed, if I ever considered it, to make my ideas come to life on the the big (or any, for that matter) screen. It's been a great semester, and I must say it's a little sad to see it end. Well, I've said my piece, and to all you future and fellow filmmakers, I wish you nothing but success in your future endeavors.

Filmmaking is Pretty Complicated...

While out filming a few weeks ago, getting hold of the camera and finding the perfect times for everyone to meet proved stressful. Yet, it was exciting and exhilarating to finally be out on set. We worked together to make the script come to life and our actors were very cooperative in giving us exactly the mood and personality we needed from them. I personally enjoyed getting the camera angles just right and submitting my ideas to the director so we could include all of our shots in the raw footage to work in later. We had a good group dynamic, and definitely got the job done. One thing we lacked was planning, but somehow we made it work and randomly got together some of our friends to stand around and be extras in our crowds. We somehow worked in our props: the mime, the skull, and the cheese grater; our ideas were pretty creative, in my opinion. It was a long week, but worth getting the good shots we needed.

I was surprised that some of the risks we heard about could really come true, and I felt a bit of a daredevil with some of the shots we had to get. We scared the police into thinking that Wilson was lying on the ground and hurt, who then promptly came over to check on things and informed us that they almost called the paramedics and that we should inform them that we are filming next time. Another time, in the same location, we sort of "blocked traffic" for a minute or so to get some more shots of that scene, and were told nicely that we should "get out of the way" by a patrolling policeman. We weren't really official with our permissions, but we did ask to film in our locations directly before filming there, and the whole thing had such a "student film" vibe when we mostly just decided to wing it.

Filming went pretty smoothly overall, after scheduling conflicts finally worked out and we got all the footage. We had to get it digitized, like all the other groups, since the file transfers are challenging to many of us in the class. Things are starting to get busy with finals week, and I hope we'll all have successful films and semesters. Now I can almost see that lovely one-word horizon: summer.