For my final video I plan to make a vlog styled video about my day. I have recorded many vlogs before and thought with all the new information and filming techniques I’ve learned this semester that I would be able to produce a high quality, entertaining video that showcases the skill I’ve gained from the curriculum this course provided.

If I don’t go the vlog route I was looking at possibly doing a cooking documentary or a montage of beginning to end of working on an art project!

For my groups short film we are doing a comedy action short based around a heist. We will have 4 characters; Chase: the driver, Anna: the informant, Lottie: the hacker, and Tony: the mastermind. I want this to be set up very intensely with comedic timing dialogue that keeps the audience laughing but doesn’t provoke disinterest through cheesiness. For our short we will need 2 different shooting areas, a industrial park back alley and a dingy planning basement where majority of the film would take place. The short is about 4 people robbing a silly place like Chuck e cheese or subway. Very climactic and tense buildup to a silly outcome.

I think if we can pull off this idea in a cinematic way it would be very entertaining.

The filming for my interview was not what envisioned at all unfortunately. For this project I decide to record my sister and her new floristry business as she’s been excited about it and I though it would be a fun video. The major setback for this was the lighting available to me where we shot. It was incredibly gloomy outside and her lighting inside the home was extremely dim. She only has overhead lighting and it’s very orange and unflattering for any sort of filming. Im hoping through editing I can bring some light into the clips more but I am unsure of how to do that exactly so we will see once I start compiling everything.

Aside from the lighting the other aspects were okay. The questions were well though out and her answers were genuine and entertaining but she was a little unprepared so the the interview section looks a bit unprofessional. The only part I’m content with was my B-roll. I got a lot of shots of her building her bouquet, and of the materials and close ups of her hands doing the work. A possibility I might refilm what I have but we will see.

Visual evidence is a key piece to any sort of documentary styled film or short. I view documentaries and non-fiction shows or videos as almost a visual compilation of just straight evidence to explain a concept, story, or idea. It’s also very important for fictional works but its required for anything non-fiction like The Devils Playground. In the devils playground the concept of amish life is explained din great detail and focuses heavy on the life of the teenage amish and how the complete loss of religious structure will send young amish teens spiraling and possibly bonding amish life as a whole.

This concept is conveyed through a mass amount of visual evidence. For the conveying of how amish life works and how limited the amenities of the amish are we see a lot of shots of the clothing, the wagons and horses, the farming, house hold objects, and one thing that really caught my eye, the use of oil lamps. The oil lamps were never commented on but it just adds to simple nature and technologically restrictive life the amish live.

The visual evidence in this documentary was very compelling and effective. Everything shown is such stark contrast to the life we live that it pushed this story much farther than just briefly explaining the amish way of life and then focusing on the fallout of amish teenagers. It’s like it set a strict boundary and example of how the kids should be acting vs how they are actually acting.

For this post I chose one of the AI created videos, I have a very stubborn view on the topic as I despise all AI used in art. I think the root of my distaste for AI in artistic creations is how fraudulent it feels along with this undertone of disrespect for actual human artists who spend their entire lives curating their style and making art while a computer can make “art” in seconds. The whole concept of it just irks me.

Don’t get me wrong, AI is an amazing tool in so many aspects of life like technology, medical advancements, information systems etc. but it’s a tool I strongly believe should be removed from art.

As for the video I chose “POOF” an AI created short film about muppet looking entities working in an office and exploding from what I’m guessing is the stress of the environment.

This video creates a scene in a world where intelligent life like humans are replaced by puppet creatures and they are placed into a mundane and grey environment like an office. The contrast between the puppets and environment is an interesting piece of the video, I like the idea of putting very child-like puppets that are colorful and textured in a fun way in a drab and flat workplace, it works very well together.

As the video continues on we see a multitude of puppets doing regular office work and over time you can see the puppets starting to shake and get overwhelmed to the point of combusting leaving behind just the fur texture in a pile where they were placed. I think it’s fun to view this as how people, who as they grow with life continue to maintain that ‘child-at-heart’ attitude, and as these people enter the workforce the maturity and drabness of a workplace just overloads them to a point of misery.

Edited as group due to technology malfunctions.

I find this scene super entertaining in the way it’s shot and edited. The use of short frames and zoomed in frames focusing on each issue is very well done. For example, they show the milk being empty and needing to replenish it by adding water but there’s a full bottle of vodka in the fridge showing that there is certainly an issue with priorities as far as keeping the fridge stocked with anything aside from alcohol.

They also zoom on the power box being passed around as young kids put money in the pot to pay the electricity bill leading the viewer to believe that this family struggles financially. Adding to this is the comment about the phone minutes and the way Fiona jimmy-rigged the washer so it would work.

As far as what this scene explains visually, it is a compilation of short clips to create a sense of urgency and intensity. There’s such a subtle panic that is almost palpable, this scene encapsulates the chaos that comes with the Gallagher family as a whole.

I’d say the visual anchors are the milk scene, the urgency each character is expressing, the shared phone with limited minutes and the power bill issue. Each of these scenes add to the poverty theme and give us an idea of the family structure and the usual functionality of the family as a unit.

first piece to final product.

For this assignment I chose the scene where our main character is stopped at the train and the antagonist pulls up behind him and starts forcefully ramming his car closer to the train in hopes to cause the protagonist to crash into the moving train. I chose this scene for the chaos and consistent frame changes. This section of the film is made up of primarily empty frames and match on action shots. This scene is highly intense and is a pivotal moment for our main character as he realizes this guy genuinely is out for blood and it’s no longer just dueling leap frog down the road like previously.

When the truck first pulls up behind the protagonist it uses a shot reverse shot to present the scene as if the viewer is right alongside the main character by showing us exactly why his car is being rammed as he figures it out at the same time. This use of shot was a good way for the director to make the audience feel as if they ARE the main character. This helped rope in viewers for the building intensity to come as the scene continues to ramp up.

Next is a series of empty shots showing the gravity of the situation and how dangerous it will be if the truck driver is successful in his attempt to push the car forward. These also help the viewer get a clear image of the surroundings and further build the image in our heads as if we were really there!

There is also many match on action shots of zooming in and out from the character, to the full view of the car, then to the front wind shield, to the full front view of the car, and so on. This framing helps set the scene and build a detailed view of the entire situation from all angles and the viewer is able to better understand the intensity of what’s taking place.

There is so much movement of the angles and frames. it helps build the intensity of this scene by going back and forth between so many different shots of the wheels then the train moving then back to the wheels and BACK to the train moving to inflict a sense of urgency and danger on the viewer. I think that this constant frame change makes the scene seem super quick as if “it all happened to fast” which is a common emotion we feel after being in an intense scenario such as the predicament our protagonist is in.

Thank You.

I started my clips around 2:20 because the framing was varied a lot after that time stamp.

My all time favorite movie is Fantastic Mr Fox made by Wes Anderson. Not only is this movie an entertaining watch for the characters and plot but also Wes Andersons unique style of filming centers around one thing; framing. Anderson is known for his framing, color palette and consistent symmetry in every scene, its actually quite fascinating.

medium closeup

Very long shot

long shot

long shot

long shot

medium closeup

long shot

closeup and very long

closeup

mid shot

Long shot

long shot

closeup & mid shot

mid shot

A lot of these shots are two layered, that’s why I enjoy Wes Andersons film style so much, it’s all so stacked and every frame compliments the other. There was 7 different frames from this 20 second clip and I think they fit each scene so well.

I love the framing of the last 5 shots, the camera stays stationary but the moving of characters changes the framing which is so interesting. Long shots are most common for this clip and I feel as if the framing fits the scenario of this part of the movie so much, it shines light on how small the characters really are and shows how vast the Boggis farm is as well as how heavily armed it is which wouldn’t be conveyed as well in anything smaller than a mid shot.

You’ll also notice that characters will share the same frame one after each other without moving the angle or position of the camera or changing to a new scene.