Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

     For the last two weeks I've been woking on a music meant to mimic the stylistic choices of an already made music video. My group and I began to search for a video that had a style we found interesting, but also was simple enough that we could re-create it with our limited resources. Eventually we decided on Let's Go by Matt and Kim, because we knew we had access to a green screen and could get ahold of a few actors.

     Once we had decided on the video we were going to re-create we began assigning which costumes each of us would be in charge of bringing to the shoot. Then we began texting as many people as we could asking if they would be interested in acting in our film. Once we had the video completely planned out we began production. We set up the camera in front of the green screen and began messing with the lighting until it was just right. Once that was done we began dressing our actors in their costumes. After filming was complete we began editing which took a decent amount of time due to all of the backgrounds we needed to insert.

     This was the first time I had used the green screen and I learned a lot about the importance of lighting in a video, especially one that involved key framing. It was also one of my first experiences in directing actors and I learned how important it is to give your direction clearly and concisely to get exactly want you want.

     If I were to do something different I would have found a group of more reliable actors. Most of our actors were just looking to get out of class and weren't actually interested in helping create our video.

Overall I feel the journey was a little rocky, but I am happy with the result.

- Daniel

   

Here is the original

Here is our version

North by Northwest

North by Northwest

    In this 1959 classic directed by Alfred Hitchcock we follow the story of a middle-aged Madison Avenue advertising executive, Roger O. Thornhill, as he is dropped into a world of government agents and foreign spies after being mistaken for CIA agent George Kaplan who is wanted for murder. 

    Director Alfred Hitchcock captures the suspense perfectly, utilizing continuity editing techniques including establishing shots, reverse shots, and match editing, as well as discontinuity techniques. One part he is lacking in is the sound department, many of the scenes lacked foley sounds that could have been added easily. When there were foley sounds it was very over the top and blatantly obvious. 

   In this classic suspense film finds New York City ad executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) pursued by ruthless spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) after Thornhill is mistaken for a government agent. Hunted relentlessly by Vandamm's associates, the harried Thornhill ends up on a cross-country journey, meeting the beautiful and mysterious Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) along the way. Soon Vandamm's henchmen close in on Thornhill, resulting in a number of iconic action sequences.

    
Stylistically the film is done very well, but there are some aspects of the film I am not a big fan of.  The plot to me feels too muddled and confusing to easily follow. Like always, Hithcock does suspense perfectly and does a great job of giving the movie the tone of a classic spy movie. 

    Overall I enjoyed the film, but I felt there were pieces of the film that I could have done better, but that is very easy to say about a movie that was made in 1959.

My 5 Strengths

My 5 Strengths

Gallup's Strengthfinder assessments are about 15 minute computerized tests that use science to assess one's strengths by asking a series of questions.My results told me that my top 5 strengths are:

Input:

My first strength was input. I believe I got this as my top strength because I'm very inquisitive in nature. I think Input would be useful in a group setting because the resourcefulness and curiosity lead them to store knowledge that can be culled and shared. Input belongs to the strategic thinking domain.

Adaptability:
Adaptability means that I am a "live in the moment" kind of person. This can help in a team, because of the way an adaptable person respond to chaos, people with adaptability find ways to keep moving when the unexpected happens. Adaptability belongs to the relationship building domain.

Deliberative:
People with strong deliberative talents are careful and vigilant. In a group setting people with deliberative talents bring a thorough and conscientious approach to their endeavors. Deliberative belongs to the executing domain.

Strategic:
People exceptionally talented in the strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues. When working in teams a strategic person would be very useful because they can easily find the best route moving forward. The strategic theme is a part of the strategic thinking domain.

Restorative:
People who fall under the restorative are adept at dealing with problems. They are good a figuring out what is wrong and resolving it. Those with strong restorative talents bring a solution-oriented mindset to group settings. The restorative theme belongs to the Executing theme.

Now that I have learned more about my strengths ill be sure to take advantage of them while working in an individual or group setting.

No Film School

Backyard Foley

Foley is a very important part of film, but it can be hard to do it well when you're on a budget. In this article on NoFilmSchool.com (which you can read here) Rob Krekel, sound designer for the game The Last of Us, walks us through the basics of capturing (cheap) foley, like setting up your recording devices, arranging your mics, and choosing the materials that will give you some great sounds.  Krekel sets up shop in someone's backyard to show us how to create fight scene foley with all of the hits, slaps, bangs, whooshes, and bone breaks one would expect from excellent on-screen violence. Krekel describes many ways to get some nice foley sounds using cheap items you can buy anywhere. For example, he talks about using celery to replicate the sound of bones breaking and how if frozen it can give the sound an even more brittle feel. So if you are an aspiring foley artist this is a great article to read, because it is chock full of great tips for beginners!

Montage

Montage

By definition, a montage is "a single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs." In filmmaking, a montage is an editing technique in which shots are juxtaposed in an often fast-paced fashion that compresses time and conveys a lot of information in a relatively short period of time. Russian film director, Sergei Eisenstein, is known for being the father of this technique. Eisenstein believed that film montage could create ideas or have an impact beyond the individual images. Two or more images edited together create a "third thing" that makes the whole greater than the sum of it's individual parts. Eisenstein's best example of the power of montage comes in the "Odessa Steps" sequence of his film Battleship Potemkin. Montage allows Eisenstein to manipulate the audience's perception of time by stretching out the crowd's flight down the steps. He uses the rapid progression and alternation of images to arouse emotion in the film's viewers.

In our montage we use many of the same techniques patented by Eisenstein. Only instead of a stampede of people moving down a staircase, our video features a group of friends laughing and sharing stories. Our video is an intro to a series of shorts we plan to create. To incapsulate the feel of the show and to make the audience feel the same emotions, we used a lot of shots of characters smiling and laughing. We also included props that will be essential to the storyline.

Watch our montage here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtFPaWQAsGY#t=12

Music Video

True Affection Music Video

Our task was to make a holiday/seasonal music video to be included in a holiday video medley to post on e-comm's youtube channel.Our original plan was to create a video for the song The New Year by Parachute. It was going to be a large party where the depressed main character eventually gives into the holiday spirit and joins that party. We decided that it would be very difficult to create such a large scene in such a small frame of time. So we moved on to our Plan B. A love story set to the song True Affection by the Blow. In the story a young boy and girl learn they have a shared interest of drawing and can really connect over it, but the problem is that their social circles are so different that it keeps them from being together. The song itself is about the long distance relationship between two people. I didn't think that was something that we could accomplish in our timeframe. So we simplified it to a high school romance separated by differences instead of distance.

You can watch the video here on my partner's youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofo07iozP-o&list=UUh-lU5OKHGmlvWCqjJ6mteQ

Spoken Word ( re-done)

During this shoot we tried to juxtapose shots of something man-made (a dam) and shots of the nature around it. We did these shots at night because it went well with the tone of our spoken word. We used a lot of still shots and focused more on the subjects than the movement of the shots.