Reflection: From Art House to Microcinema

I wish Art Houses and Microcinema's were more well known in general society. I know this sounds super hipster-ish, but bear with me. Microcinema's are one of the few places besides film festivals where you can see unique, innovative, and never before seen content that you will not be able to see in mainstream movie theater chains. As a result, more people who do not usually seek out obscure films now have the ability to watch these wonderful films. It brings more people into cinema and the process behind it who usually are not cinephiles. Unfortunately, the demand does not seem strong enough to support this independent ecosystem for too long. If these movie theaters cannot bring in enough people or ticket revenue, they will likely go under. Despite this tremendous effort, there is still hope for film makers to get their films screened through these avenues, and for new audiences to fall in love with filmmaking.

Self Portrait: What the Hell Does Anything Mean?

When being assigned to make a self portrait about yourself, it is difficult to not go insane and crazy with different ideas. Sure, you could theoretically make anything your heart desires, go for it! You go, gurl. However, once the idea well runs dry, it becomes difficult to make a cohesive story without it just being a jumbled mess of images and noises. It would be unpleasant for people to view a film that is the visual equivalent of puke after chugging a fifth of Burnett's and the audio equivalent of someone farting into your ear consistently. Fortunately, I have a somewhat cohesive idea of what I want to do for this film, so here it goes:

I want to make a film that shows the inside of my head on a daily basis. A head where a thousand different thoughts are layered on top of each other, where a little bit of everything makes sense but your train of thought gets derailed easily. I want to show how these ideas can drive you insane and scare you sometimes, then transition to more calming, relaxing moments in life. You know, the times where you walk on the beach, where you drink some warm chocolate milk, where police pull you over for speeding to fast; just the most relaxing times. I want to show what source material has had great influence on my life and what inspires me to go forward with this career disguised as a lifestyle called "film making". This includes showing all of the German films and TV series I grew up on, the films and TV series I watch now, the surreal and bizarre things I find on Adult Swim, YouTube, and other parts of the internet, old school animation from Ub Iwerks, and tons more. This will form a cohesive montage that flows from memory to idea back to memory and thoughts in between a few ideas and memories back to actions and memories throughout a plan then work and sleeeeeeeep then back to memories and.... yeah you get the point. It will be a bit hectic. I don't want this montage to be overwhelming for the viewer, I want the viewer to be able to make connections between different things that show up on screen and the soundscape created as a result. I don't want the viewer to mindlessly sit through a bunch of nonsense thrown together, I want the viewer to be able to look inside of their head and see their crazy thoughts within themselves. At the end, the montage will end and will zoom out to me staring off into space. Someone (most likely my girlfriend) will wave their hand in front of my eyes, asking if I am alright. I say yeah, then they respond with something along the lines of "haha, you're always in a world of your own". Oh boy, this world would be quite the trip.

TECHNICAL SPECS TIME!!!

Alright, for this project I have a ton of different ideas for sick edits I want to use. First off, I have a huge love for datamoshing (example can be found here) and want to incorporate it in this film in one way or another. It would look pretty sick and make the viewer go "whaaaaaa....". I also want to try and use some deep dream sequences (example can be found here). I don't quite know yet how to accomplish this video effect, but I could do frame by frame animations, but that would take forever. I have drone footage that I want to use and a TON of source material. Like, a butt ton. Not too much, but a healthy amount.

So yeah, that's the general outline of what I want to do and accomplish. I need to get started with editing, like, now, or else my brain will move out and I will need to sublease my head to another brain. I don't want my brain to move out, he makes for a good room mate. Although he can be all over the place sometimes, its still my brain. Breezy out

Project 1C Reflection

This project was so much fun for me. I have always wanted to shoot on real film stock, and it was a wonderful learning experience being able to shoot on 35 mm film. Although it would have been nice to use motion picture film stock, it was much easier being able to shoot with photography stock. That way it would not be as expensive if we screwed up one of the shots.

Overall, our group did a wonderful job. We enjoyed the photos we took, but we did not realize how centered all of our photos were while shooting because we were so focused on getting everything right with the camera. Although it took a bit of learning and tinkering, everyone in our group did a wonderful job, with each one of us getting some wonderful shots.

If I could change anything about our project, I would have focused on getting more unique shots. We had good color depth and composition, but our photos lacked interest within the frame with most of our subjects being in the dead center of the frame. If we would have played with different framing more, I feel like we would have gotten a better overall grade. Oh well, what is done is done. Maybe next time I will focus on getting more unique shots.

In conclusion, film stock is amazing and I want to shoot on film for the rest of my life. Digital cameras are a wonder and joy to use, but being forced to think about the logistics behind every shot makes me appreciate the art of cinematography that much more.