Thursday, March 31, 2011
So, why do I like character driven drama?
My film is all about the characters. While I do develop the plot and I make the story interesting it is really all about the characters. Especially the three main ones, Michael, Jimmy, and Paulie. The reason I am doing this is for several reasons. One I just like character driven drama haha. Two I think its more interesting when it's all about the interaction between the characters. You grow attached to the characters and it almost feels like you are going through the story and experiences with them. Also lets just face it, really well done and enriched characters are just so much cooler than generic archetypes that just fill a hole in a plot line. I like to spice things up a bit and so sometimes you don't really know if someone is good or bad. It's just so much more interesting and makes for a better story in my opinion. So if your looking for a movie that's all about the plot then sorry you're out of luck. But if you like cool and interesting characters than stay tuned!
A call for help
Unfortunately one of my actors had to drop out (due to a hectic schedule) and will not be able to participate in the film. If anyone that is reading this would possibly be willing to fill in? It is a fairly small part so you wouldn't have to commit too much time. If you are at all interested please contact me.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Mentor Meeting 3/30/11
First we just started with a change to my blog design because all those comments at the top of the blog were driving us nuts. Then after I filled Mr. Heurich in on my progress so far we talked about what I need to do more of in my blog to both make it better and more interesting.
- More research entries are needed where I talk about what I have learned from my sources and from my community contact
- Write at least 1 or more entires about why I like character driven drama/ why I am making this movie
- Talk about what aspects of film making I'm doing ie. special effects, special shots, playing around with sound and lighting.
- Character profile of the week. Me talking about my inspiration for the characters and their backstory
- Specifics of what I am learning about final cut express
We then moved on to Mr. Heurich showing me how to use the audio recording device that I will be connecting to my mic boom in order to get some good sound. We realized that I need to learn how to extract audio from my video clips so I can overlay the sound from my audio recorder (which is much better quality sound) onto the clip. Finally we scheduled our next meeting for wednesday next week.
Some Reflection
So now that the first phase of my project is beginning to come to a close I wanted to do an entry on reflection on what I have done. First I'll start with some good things, Script writing went faster and better than I had originally thought and while I had thought at the beginning that it would be the worst part of the project I ended up really liking it! It was a lot of fun to develop characters and my story. Also I am happy to say that I am probably going to finish the script by the end of the week!!!! Some not so great things are that now I have to re do my survey because I forgot to put a required name field so even though everyone was great in responding quickly to my email that I sent I cant actually see who responded with what which is a pain but everything else seems to be moving fairly well so I am overall pretty happy with things. Now if only I could find a way to get sleep in addition to working on my project haha
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
WISE Class Meeting 3/28/11
1. Money?
2. Self Assessment
3. Friends Help Friends research
4. Show and tell
So WISE has about $500 that we as WISE students can submit a grant for yet, the other class (Ms. Lords) thinks we need more money. Thus, our WISE class is thinking of holding a fundraiser to help raise money for people, such as like a talent show or a show of WISE projects.
Then we did a lap around the building. No I’m not kidding.
After we were done with that we did some show and tell. Miriam showed us some tape and wrap used for preventing injury. Paul brought in a jazz improvisation book that he is using to further his knowledge with chords. Alexi brought in his skit idea journal that has all his ideas for his skits and things he finds funny. David brought in a book called “the Tao of physics” which relates physics and eastern mysticism. Erin brought in the first picture of her children’s book which is about a girl with an over active imagination. Marley brought in two magazines that have really good project ideas and ads for tools that she could need. Gabe brought in a mouthpiece of his saxophone and talked about his experiences learning the instrument. Marcel presented his journal and talked about his notes from watching a movie about how cheap food is hurting our health. Gabe then showed us what he had learned on his saxophone. Jenny showed us some really cool pictures from her project which is equine photography.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
My questionaire
First off I would just like to apologize for not posting for a long time. Things have been absolutely crazy and so I have really fallen behind on my posts. In the future I will make sure that I keep myself up to date for its really crunch time for me now and this next week could really make or break my project. I plan to be doing several posts this weekend and also to try and post an entry in my blog every day of next week.
Now on too business. Below is a copy of the questionnaire that I made and have sent out to all of my actors. Hopefully soon they will get back to me and I can post a full film schedule later this week.
Now on too business. Below is a copy of the questionnaire that I made and have sent out to all of my actors. Hopefully soon they will get back to me and I can post a full film schedule later this week.
Filming Questionaire
Hey guys please fill out this questionnaire as quickly as possible so i can start making my shoot schedule for the month of April. We have roughly 9 weekend days + break to film EVERYTHING!!!! So time is of the essence thank you guys for helping me out. you are all life savers
* Required
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Medieval Maury Show
Here is a Movie that some friends and I made for Medieval History. It gave me some great experience on learning how to use final cut express and I appreciate and comments and constructive criticism anyone has. Thanks!
Some inspiration and some scheduling
So now I would like to take the time to say a few of the things that inspired me to both choose this as my project and also shape. For starters I would have to say that English Media which was a class I took last year as a junior inspired me to both take WISE and to decide to make a movie as my project. The show Burn Notice gave me lots of ideas on how to frame my 'bad guy' and shape his character and back story of starting wars for profit. Not to mention the coolest sunglasses in the world and how to film fight scenes haha. Also the game Mass Effect 2, who's story line helped inspire the character Dante, who is the leader of the fixers and also the organization called 'the fixers' themselves. Finally last but not least the show Chuck which helped show me how to put some comic relief into an otherwise action setting.
I also wanted to give a full character list and who possibly would be their actors. The actors are all tentative as I will be able to better distribute parts based on how much time they can commit to the project. Character bio's will also be added later to give you a more in depth look into who the characters all are. There are also some very minor characters without names who will also be in the film that are not listed here.
Main characters: (the 3 man team)
Michael: Me
Jimmy 'the butcher': Jimmy Todhunter
Paulie: Paul Westin
Secondary Characters:
The Fixers Organization: (aka the good guys... well sorta)
Dante: Jordan Mathews
Andrews: John Nord
THE Organization: (it has no name aka the bad people.)
Diego: James Eaglesham
O'Reilly: Zack Bend
Other Secondary Characters:
C.J.: Matt Mcgill
Brian: Kevin Hilgartner
I also wanted to give a full character list and who possibly would be their actors. The actors are all tentative as I will be able to better distribute parts based on how much time they can commit to the project. Character bio's will also be added later to give you a more in depth look into who the characters all are. There are also some very minor characters without names who will also be in the film that are not listed here.
Main characters: (the 3 man team)
Michael: Me
Jimmy 'the butcher': Jimmy Todhunter
Paulie: Paul Westin
Secondary Characters:
The Fixers Organization: (aka the good guys... well sorta)
Dante: Jordan Mathews
Andrews: John Nord
THE Organization: (it has no name aka the bad people.)
Diego: James Eaglesham
O'Reilly: Zack Bend
Other Secondary Characters:
C.J.: Matt Mcgill
Brian: Kevin Hilgartner
Plot Outline
I wanted to take this time to outline the plot of my film now that my script is getting closer to completion. Although I will be leaving some surprises for the actual showing of the film.
The movie starts out with a set up scene where you are introduced to two people from an organization called the fixers. They are discussing how the world is tearing itself apart and how they need to find someone to lead a team of people to stop the people responsible. Enter Michael who while at first reluctant to join eventually turns the other cheek and decides to help. He then forms a team of two others Jimmy 'the butcher' and Paulie. After the team is formed the three of them go after the organization that's causing all these wars, and conflicts for their own personal gain and goes after the head of the organization who's name is Diego. They meet an informant named C.J. and after "extracting" the information about Diego from him find Diego and then go and try and take him out in order to cut of the head of the organization. You'll have to watch the movie to find out what exactly happens at the end
The movie starts out with a set up scene where you are introduced to two people from an organization called the fixers. They are discussing how the world is tearing itself apart and how they need to find someone to lead a team of people to stop the people responsible. Enter Michael who while at first reluctant to join eventually turns the other cheek and decides to help. He then forms a team of two others Jimmy 'the butcher' and Paulie. After the team is formed the three of them go after the organization that's causing all these wars, and conflicts for their own personal gain and goes after the head of the organization who's name is Diego. They meet an informant named C.J. and after "extracting" the information about Diego from him find Diego and then go and try and take him out in order to cut of the head of the organization. You'll have to watch the movie to find out what exactly happens at the end
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Makings of a Mic Boom
Here is a list of the materials we used plus some pictures.
After we sanded it all down we drilled a larger hole in the foam tube and put the paint roller through it. We then took the whole thing and stuck it through the hole we had drilled into the PVC pipe.
After that was complete, we measured the length of PVC pipe we would need for the Mic and then cut it to our desired size
Once it was to size we removed the copper wiring around the small bungee cords and then drilled small holes close together and threaded the bungee cord through the holes to create a web where the mic could rest without having to touch the PVC pipe at all!
After we finished threading the cords through we drilled some more holes in the PVC to make it lighter and then put the Mic into the PVC and boom we had created our very own home made Mic Boom!
- Long painters roller
- Small piece of PVC pipe
- Foam noodle
- 1 Zip tie
- 4 Very small bungee cords
- Microphone
Our first step was to put the piece of PVC pipe into a vice grip and then drill a large hole in opposite sides and then sanded down any rough edges.
After we sanded it all down we drilled a larger hole in the foam tube and put the paint roller through it. We then took the whole thing and stuck it through the hole we had drilled into the PVC pipe.
After that was complete, we measured the length of PVC pipe we would need for the Mic and then cut it to our desired size
Once it was to size we removed the copper wiring around the small bungee cords and then drilled small holes close together and threaded the bungee cord through the holes to create a web where the mic could rest without having to touch the PVC pipe at all!
Mentor Meeting 3/15/11
We are brainstorming topics for Blog entries for this week and beyond.
- Research entries, what research I have done and what I have learned from it how i'm applying it in my project
- Script: What's the story about? Why is it important? Why do I want to tell the story? What unique characteristics of film making am I employing? Who are my characters? Ups and Downs of writing the script. Any random ideas I have for my script. Sample dialogue/excerpts from my script.
- Summary of my interview with Sahara Byrne -community contact
- Inspirations for my script, filming, and editing.
- Production prep
- Scheduling check in
- Cast and Crew list
My immediate goal is to identify my cast and crew and work out a shooting schedule based on people's availability.
Monday, March 14, 2011
WISE Meeting March 14th 2011
So we are back in WISE class for our weekly meeting, and we talked about how many of us were falling behind on our journal entries and so I would like to apologize again for my late posting of all my videos.
We also talked about research entries so I’ve decided to from now on do a weekly research entry/what’s going on my head entry. In these entries I will be talking about the research that I have done that week/what I liked or learned and what I didn’t. Then I will also do a weekly vlog entry where I will talk about what I’m feeling, problems that are coming up, and really any ideas or thoughts I am having. These will be in addition to my weekly WISE and Mentor posts, and my project posts of what I I’ve been doing.
Then we talked about getting out of our comfort zone and deciding exactly what we want to do with our projects. To make community contacts and trying things within our project that get us out of our comfort zone and so we can grow and learn from it.
I will also be doing a blog response later too two articles/poems called “practicing” and “two tramps in mud time”, how they relate to each other and how they relate too my project etc.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!!!
Ok so I have decided to just continue with text posts until all my vlogs are uploaded to youtube (as we speak the first on is uploading and is only 2% uploaded grrr) anyways I once those are finished uploading (there are 7) you should see a large post of videos to this blog so be watching for that! However, In the mean time I wanted to give you guys an update on my thought process so far, what I've learned etc. I'm not going to go into detail about how much I have completed because you'll just be able to see for yourself once my vlogs are done uploading. Also I have made a YouTube account called RJPProductions1 you should all go check it out, subscribe comment ect.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Mentor Meeting 3/4/2011
Provided update to Mr. Heurich about what I have been doing so far:
- Reading books about script writing
- creating an outline for my first few scenes
- creating vlogs of my progress
- writing the script for my first few scenes
Made possible plans to go to Lowes this weekend with Mr. Heurich
This will be the clapper that I will be purchasing for my movie
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
WISE class meeting 3/1/11
So its the second semester and I DONT HAVE TO GO TO WISE CLASS ANYMORE. or so we thought. we actually have weekly meetings that we attend to help us along with our projects.
Today we talked about the WISE semester check in after the next three weeks where we have community members or mentors take a look at our journals or blogs and review and grade them. oh joy haha.
gleaning from the past- me reading a journal and all the paper work at the end of the year of a former WISE project
watched a documentary called Barnsong, I liked how he took a documentary what you thought was just going to be about Austin building a barn and made it more personal by talking about Austin's relationship with his dad too and how the project was more than just a barn it was about what Austin learned during the project. The music choice and placement also fit perfectly.
Today we talked about the WISE semester check in after the next three weeks where we have community members or mentors take a look at our journals or blogs and review and grade them. oh joy haha.
gleaning from the past- me reading a journal and all the paper work at the end of the year of a former WISE project
watched a documentary called Barnsong, I liked how he took a documentary what you thought was just going to be about Austin building a barn and made it more personal by talking about Austin's relationship with his dad too and how the project was more than just a barn it was about what Austin learned during the project. The music choice and placement also fit perfectly.
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