Updated video and I forgot about the thumbnail so please don’t tell my girlfriend.
Category: montage
Favorite Place: Video Essay
Hey everyone,
Here is my video essay for this week.
I took a gamble using the voicemail audio for my narration, and depending on how it sounds in class I may change it.
Thanks for watching.
-Caleb
AI Cinema Project
Hi class,
Here is my AI cinema project.
I apologize for the non 16:9 format, I realized much too late that you can change the format of the videos in RunwayML.
Please don’t be mad.
Caleb
Week 6: Loops
Hey everyone,
Here is my loop video, I included all three loops into one.
This was a tough project personally but a creatively expressive one nonetheless.
-Caleb
Breaking Space
Group Video Project (Student vs Student)
Montage/Discontinuity
Hi class,
Here is my video for this week’s project.
Not quite sure how I feel about this work but I took some inspiration from Requiem for a Dream.
Thanks for taking a look!
-Caleb
Breaking Space Video
Creating Space
Hey everyone,
Here is my 55 second video about creating space.
I hope you enjoy and I’m stoked to see what you’ve all made for this assignment!
-Caleb
30 Second Day
Week 2 Blog Post
Autumn Mists
I find interpreting silent films fascinating, especially since I grew up watching sound cinema. Watching silent films comes with a challenge, however, of relying solely on imagery to understand a silent films meaning. This challenge arises while interpreting Brumes d’automne by Dimitri Kirsanoff, but I believe I’ve gathered a good comprehension of the twelve minute silent film.
While there is no established plot outside of the audience’s perspective, the film does include a very poetic story. I believe this film is about a person’s emotional experience with the loss of love. This experience is expressed through intricate montaging techniques and visual storytelling as the world around the main character distorts and blurs. Close ups, stills, panning, transitional shots, film distortion and blur, just to name a few forms of editing this film employs. This love seems to be potentially romantic given the time period this film was made. Various scenes also suggest this theme, including the burning of letters, the shaking of hands with a figure, the scenes of a person leaving a house, and the close up shots of the main character tearing up.
I managed to get a few screenshots to note the scenes I mentioned above to illustrate my reasoning behind my interpretation of the films plot. To start, we have the scenes where the woman is clutching letters that they ultimately burn in the fireplace.
The woman seems reluctant at first to dispose of the letters as she holds onto them for multiple beats. The film shoots from the shoulders up in these scenes, allowing the audience to see the characters whole face and movements with the letters. For these particular scenes, the spatial shots work well to convey this type of emotion.
A montage then follows the rest of the film as we see the woman shake hands with someone, the camera holding position until the hands slowly slip away from one another leaving the woman still in frame. Cut then to a person leaving a building while a piece of paper falls out of their pocket. Then cutting back to the woman, then back again, and so on until the whole scene changes.
Once again, the film’s editing succeeds at conveying the emotion of the woman as we experience her point of view while the figure, assumedly lover, leaves her. Sudden, confusing, and without explanation.
Next up are the usages of montage express the woman’s feelings after her loss of love. So much so that film depicts scenes of nature with a lens distortion/blur while cutting to the woman staring into the distance. Much like the technique we discussed in class where directors will transition scenes based on where the character in the previous scene is looking. The film then cuts and follows the woman walking through the woods while cutting to a scene of a leaf flowing in water. These scenes could be depicting the woman flowing through her emotions and finding some form of acceptance through nature. Once again, here are some screenshots of said scenes.
Camera rotates the shot of the water, cuts back to woman.
Shot of the lake blurs and distorts, almost a radial blur.
Shot drastically changes into something jagged and sharp.
.
A shot of a tree slowly blurs and appears somewhat human-like as it cuts to the woman closing her eyes.
A simple shot of a dock as the camera blurs cutting back to the woman opening her eyes.
The last few scenes of the woman walking down a river and a leaf flowing down a river. A comparison shot of the two.
Overall, Autumn Mists tells a melancholy story through the thoughts of the main character and very intricate film editing.
Thanks for reading,
-Caleb
Day in 30 Sec (58 sec…..) – Jackson Lester
Hey Everyone, Here is my day in 30-seconds video. Although it’s actually just under a minute, I noticed that it could be between 30-60 sec so I hope this is okay.
I think I should have spent a little more time getting a sort of story and not so much random shots. I think it worked out okay however
Day in 30 Sec – Jackson Lester
Thank you, let me know what I could do to improve
-Jackson
One Day in 30 Seconds
Hey everyone,
Here is my video on YouTube.
I made my first 30 second video in DTC 354 and feel this one was better in some areas, but could be improved in others.
Thanks,
-Caleb
Week 1 Blog Post
Looping With Lola
Run Lola Run is one of the most fascinating films I’ve seen to date. From the cinematic imagery to camera positions, describing this film to someone who’s not seen it before may throw them for a loop. Describing the narrative momentum of Run Lola Run is the focus of this post however, so let’s dive into it.
How does this film manage to keep the attention of the audience? There’s certainly a lot going on even before the time loop aspect is introduced. There are a handful of factors that retain the film’s momentum, the first being attention to detail.
The first loop introduces most of the films characters that in sequential loops have their lives changed by Lola’s actions. We see this through the pictorial montage after Lola interacts with people. As the audience, it’s interesting to us to see how the lives of the characters change with each time loop. It may entice the audience to think how the next loop will affect these characters, maintaining their interest and giving the film more room to explore this narrative.
Not only do we see repeated characters through each time loop, but objects as well. Clocks are the “golden object” if you will, or the object controlling the flow of the film for the audience. The clock displays where Lola is in the narrative, especially in the following time loops. A clever plot device that helps push along the story while keeping the audience engaged with Lola’s journey.
Similar to the clock, locations in the film are repeated to clearly inform the audience that a time shift is taking place. These locations also help to pinpoint Lola’s location in the narrative, such as the train crossing over the bridge that Lola runs under.
Lastly, Run Lola Run maintains the narrative flow using incredible cinematography and a tight-nit story. There are a few questions left unanswered in the film such as why Lola has super-human screams, how the time loops are happening, and other similar vein of questions. These questions don’t need answering however as I believe the story would become too convoluted for the audience if they were.
To coincide with this point, the films’ identity in the form of cinematography has no real definition since the story has no real answers. The film diverts the audience’s attention with animation, various camera shots, and overall flow to allow the audience to focus on other aspects of the film and ignore the rising questions.
I will be recommending this film to everyone I know.
Take care,
-Caleb