Short Film Critique: Reminiscience

A. Rationale
With this film, I wanted to craft a story around a woman who remembers a distant memory about a specific period during her high school experience by looking through an old yearbook. During this period she is constantly being bullied by a boy(Justin), but instead of revealing that another boy(Tim) is helping her, only the bullying scenes are initially revealed. Only when she finds an old picture of her and Tim does she remember how he would help her out after she was bullied.

Maria, Justin and I wanted to pursue this story because it seemed like it would be relatively simple to shoot, yet very effective because of the twist at the end with Tim being a romantic partner with the female protagonist. We liked the idea of a story that was about bullying, but also at the core was a romance.
Since this film needed to connect with Amelie, we incorporated a male protagonist that isn't immediately revealed to be a protagonist, but instead remained a mysterious onlooker that would later help the female protagonist.

B. Commentary
For this film, I was the director/cinematographer and I was the editor for my particular edit. Because I was the director and the cinematographer, my main responsibility was to make sure that we approach the script in a way that most effectively conveyed the story through filming all of the scenes that were necessary in order to have a coherent plot. As cinematographer, I made sure that all of the scenes were shot from multiple angles in order to achieve a more dynamic feel to the scenes. Because I felt that shots that lasted long only made the movie seem boring, I utilized various angles and shorter cuts to help make the film a little more interesting.

One of the main problems we faced was trying to schedule an adult version of the male protagonist to show up in a final scene that showed that the two of them ended up getting married. Because we were unable to shoot this scene, I had to end the film in a flashback that essentially would give the same feeling of closure that the original intended scene would have brought to the film. This scene was the last scene that showed the origin of the picture that the older version of the female protagonist finds in the old yearbook.
I thought that our choice of actors and actresses contributed beneficially rather than take away from the film. The female protagonist, Maria, did a great job in expressing confusion in the scene after she was kicked, annoyance after her books were dropped, and awkwardness during the final scene. Justin, the bully, executed his actions better than expected and Tim, the male protagonist, was able to convince me that he was the "knight in shining armor". Overall the acting was well done and was able to add to the story rather than be a burden that film must carry.

As for mis-en-scene, we arranged boxes in the first scene of the film to show that the adult female protagonist was looking through old boxes so that it would be very likely that she would find an old yearbook packed inside a box. We wanted the boxes to convey that she accidentally finds the old yearbook, rather than is intentionally looking for it. This gives a slight sense of wonder because the series of flashbacks would be coincidental.

For my choice of music, I made sure that the music would add to the mood during the scenes. For example, when the bully knocks over the female protagonist's books, I made the undertone of the sinister music faintly playing under the main soundtrack overpower the main soundtrack and crescendo right at that moment. Another example of attention to detail with music was during the beginning of the formal night scene. When we are shown the male protagonist knocking at the door and we see that the female protagonist opens the door, the score was mysterious and uncertain, and again, crescendos right when we see the male protagonist's face.

One particular field that I was proud of was the match action cuts I was very careful able during the editing process. I made sure that every shot flowed into the next so not only did I made sure that our shots during the production process were lengthy enough to match action, I cut the film so that there were no disruptions with continuity. For example, when the male protagonist turns around to help the female protagonist, I cut the film so that the male protagonist's action in the first shot matched the second.

In order to achieve the sense that the adult female protagonist is actually looking back in time, I used a black and white filter to give a sense of flashback and a dip-to-color: white transition after the scenes where she is looking through the yearbook. Because we had a scene depicting a flashback within a flashback, we had to make sure that the scene wouldn't be confusing. The use of transitions and color tinting helped me to not confuse the audience.
When I was watching my edit of the film in class, I noticed a slight hiccup that perhaps no one else noticed. Because transitions take a little bit of film from the ends of both clips, the beginning of one clip was not trimmed properly and I was unable to catch it during editing.

Overall, I am very proud of my first film because I paid a great a lot of attention to detail not only during the production process, but also during the post-production process. Although we were unable to shoot a scene and I left in a rogue frame that shouldn't have been present, I can say that this is easily my best film to date, not just because its my only film.

Documentary Pre-production

Purpose: To inform people of the Japanese Art of Taiko drumming

Contacts: Sensei of the dojo, drummers/students, maybe some parents, maybe some experts opinions

Interview Questions:

What is Taiko drumming?
Talk about the history of the art
Describe some of the techniques involved.
What made you want to teach Taiko drumming?
When did you first begin Taiko drumming?
Who taught you?
Take me through a daily practice
What are performances like?

Many more of the questions will be a result of impromptu questions for expanding on ideas brought up during the interview.

General Flow:

The Beginning will entail a brief intro of the art, history through scenes of drumming performances, practices etc
The Middle will go into more personal stories with Taiko drumming maybe any struggles
The End will show resolutions to struggles and future prospects in America

Shot List:

Contain establishing shots of the city, dojo
Shots of drumming, CU etc
Maybe go more into shots of just the sensei
Too much shots to just list

Scripts:

Most if not all of the narration will come from interviewee commentary
Our voice overs will sounds too unprofessional
Maybe one or two shots of the interviewer asking the question

Intro:

Est shots of city around dojo LONG SHOTS, then closer maybe to streets, driving by shots, then focus into dojo (with drumming as the music score)

Closing:

Maybe shots of sensei packing up to go, closing the door to signal ending

Short Documentary Review: "Beating the Unbeatable: Joe Wise"

"Beating the Unbeatable: Joe Wise" is about a 15 year old who was diagnosed with Mitochondria Myopathy, a disease that affects the mitochondria in his cells. Because of this, he can't be as active aas other kids his age. Instead he swims, and thats whats essentially keeping him from being in a wheelchair with life support.

This documentary was actually engaging compared to others because it captured my interest through the focus on swimming. Me being a swimmer was drawn in to the various depictions of the pool environment and the idea that Joe Wise actually made it to 5th place in a Paraplegic Swimming event in Beijing.

This story was extremely effective because it tells of a success story and how someone overcame their handicaps and exceeds expectations. Many of the shots shown corresponds well with the story being told. The story begins with a vague exposition of people he knows commenting on his disability. Then once you meet Joe, you are curious what is actually affecting him because he seems like a normal person.

This documentary works because it is structured extremely well. It begins with an explanation of the disease. This exposes viewers to his disability and the audience begins to sympathize with him.

As the documentary goes on Joe elaborates more on how this disease has effected him, and how swimming has saved him. You now think that yes, it is a miracle that he is still alive due to swimming. But no, the story isn't over, that isn't the the miracle. Not only did he overcome the restrictions of his disability, he made it to Beijing and finished in the finals of his race in 5th place.

Baraka Review

Why does the film Baraka not have any obvious or conventional uses of plot? Why no dialogue? Perhaps because the title of the film means "breathe" or "essence" in Persian Sufi. In this respect, the film attempts, and in many ways, succeeds in bringing the essence and purity of life on screen. Instead of suffocating the majestic aspects of life with a plot, the director gives the audience a pure interpretation of life, freed of any forms of restrictions (well except the fact that it is a movie rather than the actual locations of course).

The film is a critique of the modern world and the oppression it brings to the purity of the planet and it's geographical elegance. It criticizes industrialism, modern man's conquests for wealth and progress, and attempts to capture the essence of tribal life and all that it represents with a long sequence that shows a tribal dance that would be otherwise unknown to the everyday man of the modern world.

The cinematographer typically begins a sequence with a majestic view of earth, yet the true majesty of the location is not immediately revealed with the beginning of the shot. In this particular shot, the camera dollies to reveal the vast landscape, beyond the geographical formation initially revealed by the opening shot of the sequence.

By contrasting sequences of urbanization and nature, urban life that is shown as organized and seemingly restrictive, where on the other, nature is unrestricted and free.