Final thoughts

This class has effected my ideas and perception about being a filmmaker in many different ways. One thing I learned is that coverage is essential and that, for the most part, cannot shoot too much.  I always felt that with good enough preproduction material and organization you can get away with shooting just the essential takes you envision, but you there is so many outside factors that contribute to how a scene actually develops, like acting and the weather. One thing I learned about filmmaking in general is that it requires tons of patience and working long hours. It isn't as glamorous as it is portrayed on tv and movies,  and hopefully that is something I can show in my wildcard film.

Preproduction Material for Wildcard Project

Below is all of our preproduction material for The Omen Queen, a short mockumentary film about student filmmakers trying to make a short film called The Omen Queen. Sounds complicated, but it's not. Enjoy!


WARNING THE FOLLOWING CONTENT IS VERY GRAPHIC

The Omen Queen Budget

The Omen Queen Budget

The Omen Queen Marked Shooting Script

The Omen Queen Marked Shooting Script

The Omen Queen Shot List

The Omen Queen [Shot List]

The Omen Queen Mockumentary Storyboard
(mainly just the dramatization, since we want that live captured feel while getting mock footage)

The Omen Queen Storyboard

The Omen Queen Trailer Storyboard

The Omen Queen Trailer Storyboard

The Omen Queen Trailer Overhead

The Omen Queen Overheads for Trailer

Wild Card Crew Position

As director in this final wildcard project I am excited, part of it is that there is less restrictions and more freedom because we aren't limited to a certain script, like the Bran and Park one. For this final project I will not only direct, but will also act as a naive, narcissist Director who has to act in his own films. While working on the script I wanted to incorporate as many film references, as well as inside jokes in regards to the film program, hopefully we are able to make our fellow students notice comic attributes of being a film student, after all this film is made by us for us. One of my personal goals for this film, current title The Omen Queen, is to create memorable characters that the audience can not only relate to, but find interesting to watch. I think this film has the possibility to be something special. It is almost like Inception in many ways, it is a film about making a film, and the short films within this film will be shot in very different styles than the mockumentary that holds this all together. I am very excited, and I hope the viewers are as well. :) 

Experimental Film

Editing 3b was actually quite fun, especially as producer, all I really did was make sure everybody was doing their tasks and keeping track of the time that was left until the assignment was due. I also provided the raw sound files and some input for the artistic development; but I mainly wanted to try and keep as much artistic control with the director along with getting the sound designer to give his input on certain sound aspects of the edit. 

Producing during the experimental project was pretty much only management of people and time while also providing assistance during some technical aspects of editing. This usually involved me searching for how to do certain editing effects while the rotating editors kept adjusting the rest of the timeline. If anything I was just IT, powered by Google J with minimal file logistics; since I was responsible of knowing where all of the files are located. 

Sound Recording Experience

Sound recording was actually very fun. One thing I learned about the directional / shotgun microphones we used is that they can really zero in on an exact area, an example is when we wanted to capture the noise of the fountain but were unable to get really close to the fountain so we just used our backpacks to cover the sides of the mic to prevent wind from distorting the sound, and aimed right at the area that we found most interesting to listen to. During most of the time it was Luqi and I walking around and listening to unique sounds and trying to capture them. After removing our headphones the world sounded different, we were unable to hear the specific noises that we picked up on the mics. 

I think one of the hardest things to do is record people (at least without them being aware). One has to develop a skill of almost becoming invisible and recording people in their natural environment; it might be invading some privacy laws, but capturing nonsense is a skill that I have yet to develop. 

Editing the Master Shot sequence

Editing the master shot sequence was quite interesting, for one because we shot it all in one day and in sequential order the editing for the rough cut was fairly easy. The hardest part about this edit was trying to be creative with it, I needed to get with the director more often in order to edit it together, but sticking to the storyboard the workflow became pretty quick. One thing that I would like to have done with this footage was apply more effects, but unfortunately because I am just starting off I am unable to know exactly what it is that I wanted to achieve. I think the shoot was pretty solid and once I sit down with the director it will be easier to get an idea of what exactly it is that he wants to do for the visual look of the film. Until later this week there will be another, better version of the film, hopefully a final edit.

Previsualization Experience

Making previsualization material was not difficult once everybody in the group knew exactly what they were doing. I feel the hardest part was starting due to the fact that everybody was still working with their previous groups finishing up the documentary project. Regardless of the early struggles, the previsualization materials are very useful; one can see how many different camera setups are required for a simple scene. I feel the storyboard and overhead diagrams show how complicated we are making this scene. Not that it is bad, but it shows that we are willing to try something challenging, and hopefully we are successful. I was in charge of making the overhead diagram and one of the things I learned from it is that you need to know exactly where all of the camera shot placements will be before you start drawing your overhead. I started the overhead with a general idea, and at one point the camera setups where getting really close to one another. Anyways, this previz stuff is very useful, and I definitely see the benefit of incorporating it into even the smallest projects.