WEEK #6
This is the teaser trailer for our short film CHOICES:
I think we did rather well at maintaining the teaser feel of leaving the audience in the dark while at the same time invoking interest. It was, in my opinion, sufficiently entertaining. An informal poll I took showed that my friends wanted to see the final result. Our goal was to create a trailer that did not reveal the plot yet be able to present the idea that we wanted to relay to our audience.
We weren't exactly trying to be subtle with what we were trying to get out. The intro, narration, and title makes it painstakingly clear that the film is about choices. But that is all we let the audience know.
We did not have lighting equipment yet so the scenes were pretty dark. We are thinking of filming in the day from now on and applying some day-to-night editing magic. I don't find that the darkness detracted too much from the teaser considering the dark, mysterious tone that we wanted to invoke.
I think the music did absolute wonders for us as well as the timing of the scenes to match up with said music. The ending sound track was sort of clashy, however, and I think we should have just stuck with the one track. The ending was too abrupt too, adding to the clash, but these are minor kinks that can easily be worked through. We need to be on the lookout for more tracks that'll fit our film.
For our next task, we really need to solidify the plot. We've had a lot of discussion on the matter and moved some things around, but we need absolute, concrete decisions soon. Some of these changes have been rather drastic to the integrity of the plot. In one point of the discussion, the plot consisted of visions, time travelling, and a good handful of other confusing twists and pradoxes. I'm getting a creeping feeling of getting in over our heads but that's something that's pushing me to get crack-a-lacking as soon as possible.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Teaser Time
Week #5
Our group got together today to work on our Friday Presentation which will be composed of a brief introduction of our film and the teaser trailer we have been working on. I had high hopes and those hopes have been met. We got a lot done and even had time to scout our sites for our next shoots. Ideas were piling up. How were we going to shoot this scene? What angles are going to be awesome? We are continuing to establish and develop our plot and characters. It is proving rather difficult finding a balance of simplicity and creativity that will not go over our heads.
We have been working together very well. Decisions are made smoothly, and we respect each other's opinions in the editing, filming, and directing.
We have all our shots for the teaser trailer and a rough outline has been patched together. We will continue to work towards fine-tuning the editing and also work towards developing scenes for the rest of the movie.
We have decided to name our production group Syncopate Films (after the font), and we have designated roles among ourselves.
Patrick Huynh: Editing/media manager
Brandon Huynh: Plot/cast manager
Benjamin Nguyen (me): Camera/set manager
These will be what we are in charge of, our "specialities." The cool thing about it is not only a fair division of labor, but in the process of gaining knowledge and experience in our field, we are able to relay the what we learn to each other, essentially becoming a mentor to the other two members.
We are still deciding on what kind of budget we can handle. We are speculating it to be roughly around $150 ($50 dollars each). With it we can purchase props and set rigs.
Our group got together today to work on our Friday Presentation which will be composed of a brief introduction of our film and the teaser trailer we have been working on. I had high hopes and those hopes have been met. We got a lot done and even had time to scout our sites for our next shoots. Ideas were piling up. How were we going to shoot this scene? What angles are going to be awesome? We are continuing to establish and develop our plot and characters. It is proving rather difficult finding a balance of simplicity and creativity that will not go over our heads.
We have been working together very well. Decisions are made smoothly, and we respect each other's opinions in the editing, filming, and directing.
We have all our shots for the teaser trailer and a rough outline has been patched together. We will continue to work towards fine-tuning the editing and also work towards developing scenes for the rest of the movie.
Patrick Huynh: Editing/media manager
Brandon Huynh: Plot/cast manager
Benjamin Nguyen (me): Camera/set manager
These will be what we are in charge of, our "specialities." The cool thing about it is not only a fair division of labor, but in the process of gaining knowledge and experience in our field, we are able to relay the what we learn to each other, essentially becoming a mentor to the other two members.
We are still deciding on what kind of budget we can handle. We are speculating it to be roughly around $150 ($50 dollars each). With it we can purchase props and set rigs.
Lights. Camera. Action!
Week #4
I made a switch to an existing DIY project group consisting of Patrick and Brandon Huynh. I was initially involved with them. We were planning to shoot a short movie. I took another path into programming however, and the short run I had actually proved to be more productive than I thought.
During the two weeks or so that we were working on our separate projects, I was still loosely connected to them. I pitched in my ideas here and there, and as I did I became more and more interested in their efforts. They were making great headway, and I wanted to offer my services as the cameraman. I tinker with cinematography and photography on a regular basis. I also already had a sizable knowledge base on the subject so they accepted me into their group.
I was familiar with the difficulty of executing the ideas from script to film. They had great ideas. I was always there to constrain their ambitions. "That's too complicated," I'd say, but to no avail. They went ahead and did it anyways. And I'm glad they did. Goals unattainable are goals to be attained. I admired their zeal to create a short despite absolute budget insufficiencies and little experience.
This film is call "CHOICES." It's going to be a mysterious, somber film, so I'm expecting it to have a lot of dark films. I notice their lack of gear (i.e. tripods, jibs, lighting, etc.) and I knew I could help with that. The first thing on our shopping list, for cinematic purposes are is going to be can lights (cheap and practical). I cringe at the negligence lighting tends get, I had didn't want our film to come out a grainy mess.
I see this going a far way, but even if it doesn't, it's going to be a huge experience as a first attempt at making a film. The creativity required is going to be overbearing: music selection, timing, animation, editing, etc. It's going to be a long and taxing process. But in the end, it will be worth it!
I made a switch to an existing DIY project group consisting of Patrick and Brandon Huynh. I was initially involved with them. We were planning to shoot a short movie. I took another path into programming however, and the short run I had actually proved to be more productive than I thought.
During the two weeks or so that we were working on our separate projects, I was still loosely connected to them. I pitched in my ideas here and there, and as I did I became more and more interested in their efforts. They were making great headway, and I wanted to offer my services as the cameraman. I tinker with cinematography and photography on a regular basis. I also already had a sizable knowledge base on the subject so they accepted me into their group.
I was familiar with the difficulty of executing the ideas from script to film. They had great ideas. I was always there to constrain their ambitions. "That's too complicated," I'd say, but to no avail. They went ahead and did it anyways. And I'm glad they did. Goals unattainable are goals to be attained. I admired their zeal to create a short despite absolute budget insufficiencies and little experience.
This film is call "CHOICES." It's going to be a mysterious, somber film, so I'm expecting it to have a lot of dark films. I notice their lack of gear (i.e. tripods, jibs, lighting, etc.) and I knew I could help with that. The first thing on our shopping list, for cinematic purposes are is going to be can lights (cheap and practical). I cringe at the negligence lighting tends get, I had didn't want our film to come out a grainy mess.
I see this going a far way, but even if it doesn't, it's going to be a huge experience as a first attempt at making a film. The creativity required is going to be overbearing: music selection, timing, animation, editing, etc. It's going to be a long and taxing process. But in the end, it will be worth it!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Computer Programming
Week #3
I'm still retaining my initial goal of learning to code, but I've shifted from HTML coding in order to create a website and instead have move towards learning to computer program. I'm not going to claim that they're one in the same, but coding, whether for one purpose or another, still adheres to a set of guidelines and a flow of logic that require the same mindset. Despite the differences, the characteristics are similar enough so that this divergence isn't anything too drastic. And in the end all coding can go hand-in-hand and be incorporated with each other.
"Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer...because it teachers you how to think." -Steve Jobs
The above video is one of the largest factors that swayed me. I mean, who wouldn't listen to the advice of the world's must successful and wealthy people of which include Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (FaceBook), and Chris Bosh (NBA player). But an infallible argument they present is a growing technological industry that is in constant need of coders. Their use of extremely wealthy men reinforce this argument of financial viability. I'm not above seeing this as a huge advertisement campaign by the whole of the computer-related industry, but it simply indicates there desperate need for computer programmers.
Again I've enter some courses on Udacity.com concerning Computer Science, one of which is a progressive walkthrough that teaches you computer programming by helping you create a simple program of your own. And there are still plenty of online resources that will help me.
This is my finalized DIY project: creating a computer program. I'll get an idea of exactly what program to create as I learn more about computer programming. The example of codes and the complex algorithmic process makes the task rather daunting. I may only get to creating the program from the CS 212 Course considering it's an "Advance Course."
I'm still retaining my initial goal of learning to code, but I've shifted from HTML coding in order to create a website and instead have move towards learning to computer program. I'm not going to claim that they're one in the same, but coding, whether for one purpose or another, still adheres to a set of guidelines and a flow of logic that require the same mindset. Despite the differences, the characteristics are similar enough so that this divergence isn't anything too drastic. And in the end all coding can go hand-in-hand and be incorporated with each other.
"Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer...because it teachers you how to think." -Steve Jobs
The above video is one of the largest factors that swayed me. I mean, who wouldn't listen to the advice of the world's must successful and wealthy people of which include Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (FaceBook), and Chris Bosh (NBA player). But an infallible argument they present is a growing technological industry that is in constant need of coders. Their use of extremely wealthy men reinforce this argument of financial viability. I'm not above seeing this as a huge advertisement campaign by the whole of the computer-related industry, but it simply indicates there desperate need for computer programmers.
Again I've enter some courses on Udacity.com concerning Computer Science, one of which is a progressive walkthrough that teaches you computer programming by helping you create a simple program of your own. And there are still plenty of online resources that will help me.
This is my finalized DIY project: creating a computer program. I'll get an idea of exactly what program to create as I learn more about computer programming. The example of codes and the complex algorithmic process makes the task rather daunting. I may only get to creating the program from the CS 212 Course considering it's an "Advance Course."
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