Final Project and Reel

I'm not sure what to say about these last few videos. I had a great experience making this final project, and it was easily the smoothest shoot I've ever had, but I think I goofed up with the selection of different angles. Pretty sure I wound up crossing the line several times here, which could've been prevented in the storyboarding phase, so I kinda regret that. I also would've liked to fix the audio, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. I never really know what to do when I get to the mixing phase, unfortunately. The actors were a breeze to work with, and rehearsing with them really paid off. I just wish the whole were as strong as the parts.

Last Week

Master With Coverage

Scene: Master: Shooting this was probably one of the best experiences I've had on set, thanks to my professional crew and cast. I had the scene meticulously storyboarded before filming, but the cast and crew brought their own suggestions that I think make the final piece more interesting. Like most of my work, this scene is sort of a mixture of comedy and drama, and I liked the way it pulls a sort of tragic slapstick out of one man's misery. Were I to do it again, I think there are just a couple shots where I'd like to pull out a little more, but I'm overall pretty satisfied with it. I'm really learning the benefits of preparing with the cast beforehand and making sure I've done everything I can before the camera starts rolling.

Last Week

All of these pictures were taken last week, but for whatever reason, I couldn't motivate myself to upload them. Anyways, these mostly play with light and line. The first one is by far my favorite.

One Shot Sound Scene- A Serious Man

This scene comes from the film A Serious Man, by Joel and Ethan Coen. I felt that a relatively simple scene of a phone conversation would be good subject matter for a one-shot, and would provide an interesting stage for subtle but meaningful camera movement. The location we shot in had a few quirks that actually wound up being perfect for the oppressive office location, such as the post that provides a third wall as he sits down at the desk, as well as the drab filing cabinets that line the wall. I still sort of wish I'd had a longer dolly track, as I think it would've made the slow dolly backwards more impactful, but I still feel that the movement as-is remains effective. We had fun arranging the staging of this scene and getting Steve to hit his different marks for the close-ups, and I'm satisfied with the results. I feel that the subtle camera movement by Drew and Steve's movements within the frame work well together to capture the shifts in tone throughout the scene.

11/13/15

One last foggy picture, I spend a lot of time at this intersection and I like how this one turned out.

11/12/15

Fall seems to be the shortest season, usually usurped by Winter, but it has a special beauty that I tried to capture here. Unfortunately, I don't think I was too successful, but I felt it was worth sharing all the same.

11/11/15

I'd somehow never noticed this pattern on the side of the Fieldhouse. I like the sharp geometric edges and the way it contrasted with the clear blue sky and the soft clouds.

11/10/15

I enjoy these blown-out foggy images, since they have a way of reducing images to their basest elements of light and color. I like how it reduces what is otherwise a reasonably complex image into a few general shapes.

11/9/15

I spotted this image on campus and I found it pretty interesting. I like the blend of natural leaves and the harsh metal and concrete, as well as the decidedly mechanical shapes.

11/6/15

Open shutter fun.

11/5/15

I spotted these unusual mushrooms outside the JKB, and I thought they contrasted nicely with the colorful plant next to them. The contrast in shape is also interesting.

11/4/15

Every winter, I have to put up with the small nuisance of my glasses fogging up when I try to cover my mouth and nose with my scarf. It's not all bad though, since it gives me this interesting view of lights and colors. For this image, I tried to replicate how the world looks to me with fogged glasses, and while my phone's camera is understandably too crappy to render it completely accurately, I think the idea is still there.

11/3/15

This one was a little tricky to get, and if I took it again, I'd leave more negative space on the left hand side. Of course, if I were taking it with a proper camera and not with my phone, I probably would've gone for a shallower depth of field with the cup in focus and the background less distinct. But hey, these are spontaneous pictures, and I was trying to capture a sense of urban decay here.

11/2/15

I caught this one on my way home, I really liked how the early sunset contrasted with the buildings and trees. Such bright light opens up a number of unusual colors on the spectrum, and I like how it washes out the rest of its immediate surroundings.

Shot by Shot

For my shot by shot analysis, I recreated a scene from Bottle Rocket, one of my all-time favorite films. I'm a fan of the film partly because it was made at the beginning of Wes Anderson's career, before his visual style became completely defined, but still retaining the base elements of what makes his movies pleasing to look at. This scene in particular has always stood out to me, specifically for the image of Dignan laying on his back in the field with Anthony standing over him. This was a very interesting project for me, and I really began to understand it as I did the analysis of each image. I began to realize how purposeful each directorial decision was, and while I attempted to replicate much of it in my own version, I made lots of mistakes to learn from. In particular, I think I need to stop relying on handheld photography and start using a dolly, since there was lots of subtle movement that became way too pronounced in the final version. I also made the mistake of focusing too much on the scenes and performances in front of me and not looking at what it actually looked like on the camera-- I know this would've saved me some trouble later, but hey, lesson learned. Overall, I'd say this was by far the most valuable project we've done yet, and I'm eager to improve on my technique from here.

10/30/15

Cloudy day, and I liked how the familiar lamps and satellites on top of the buildings and fields looked against the sky. This is perhaps a more traditional composition, but I like how the dark, almost silhouetted lamp looks in the middle of the frame, isolated from its typical surroundings. It almost feels like something from a dream.

10/29/15

Another night photo, this one was just too eerie for me to pass up. I took a number of these pictures, but I liked this one best because of the lights in the background. The red light gives off a warning sign, and the converging street lamps create a sense of depth, making the darkness feel even more forbidding.

10/28/15

There's something compelling about night photography for me, probably because familiar locations transform into something almost entirely unfamiliar. I was walking home from the grocery store when I saw this image, and it was too eerie for me to pass up. I like how puddles can almost feel like a portal to another world, an inverse universe if you will.

10/27/15

I like taking these images of familiar subjects and finding the abstractions in color, light and shape. I think it's fun to experiment with film, since it is capable of more than merely literally depicting subjects.

10/26/15

I always like the way the moon looks in the sky while it's still light outside, probably because we naturally associate the moon with the night, so it looks somewhat out of place. This image looked darker on my screen, so it seemed like a silhouetted scene with just the moon illuminated in the sky. I think I'll try to get another one that better communicates that feeling.

10/23/15

More spooky night photos, and I attempted to catch a balance between the brightly lit doors and the dark, mysterious otherness. My first photos of this space were more evenly framed, with the doors square in the middle, but it wasn't a very interesting composition. I feel that this one does a better job of minimizing the security of the doorway, as one must pass through the darkness to reach them. I hope the darkness does a good job of throwing the small light into contrast and making it feel more insignificant.

10/22/15

I was going for an interesting symmetrical image with this one, and I wound up surprisingly pleased with the high contrast lighting. I didn't actually notice the person walking through the frame as I took it, but I think it makes it more interesting because it breaks up the symmetry and makes the scene a little spookier.

10/21/15

This photo was taken as part of my final project for a photography class, and I was particularly please with how this one turned out. The foreground has Strong Sad reading a book, and I was frustrated because the wind kept blowing the pages up. In this instance, however, I was pleasantly surprised by how it created a sort of frame for Strong Bad and the Cheat. All of these pictures have a shallow depth of field as well, which is an effect that I generally like.

10/20/15

I took this photo while shopping at thrift stores for costumes the other day. I find it extra creepy how some stores will display these naked Barbie dolls in plastic bags hanging from hooks. It looks like something from a serial killer's basement. I got a few shots closer up, but I liked this one because it showed more of the space and the inherent horror.

10/19/15

I took this photo on my way back home, and I was pleased by how differently it turned out from what I'd expected. The loss of detail on the closer object created a sort of silhouette that actually evoked the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio de Janeiro for me. Of course, there I go reading into a silly photo of a sprinkler.

Just Another Bug Hunt

I had a number of different ideas for my short documentary piece, but this one sprang about fairly spontaneously, and I wound up satisfied enough with it to stick with it. My roommate is a biology major and he has to collect bugs for one of his classes, so sometimes I accompany him to take photographs. With this piece, I tried to capture what the experience is like. It's sometimes slow, sometimes boring, and sometimes a little frustrating when you almost catch a bug but it gets away. When you do wind up catching a bug, there's a certain sense of sadness to it, as they have to be killed in order to mount them later. I tried to capture that aspect by getting close-ups of the bug and the jar, which was pretty difficult given how spontaneous the whole process was. I'm not completely satisfied with this piece, especially with the erratic camera movement and focus pulls, which is sort of due to the unpredictable nature of these bug hunts. In a way, though, perhaps they make the experience more authentic, as it's closer to what you'd experience if you were to go on one of these trips.

10/16/16

I really like the architecture of the library, as it has a nice retro-modernist feel. This style can be seen pretty clearly in some of the ceiling structures, which have a nice mixture of curves and squares. I tried to capture the shapes on the ceiling without making them too flat or predictable. I hope I was able to show their dimensionality in a somewhat interesting way.

10/15/15

I was grabbed by the shadows cast onto these stairs, as the contours of the steps gave them an unnatural zigzag shape. I find these sorts of shapes interesting as they are not found in nature. There's a certain industrial beauty to the perfect lines to be found in man-made structures.

10/14/15

I spotted these rows of juice bottles in the grocery store, and I found their arrangement to be surprisingly interesting. In this case, I tried to capture less the obvious details of juice bottles and more the abstract elements of color, line and shape. I also like how the advertisement of the top creates a sort of frame for the rest of the image.

10/13/15

I took this shot inside a sushi restaurant I like to go to, and I liked the way the glow of the NuSkin building looked when contrasted with the paper lanterns and the reflection of the paper ball in the window. I tried a few different framings for this one, including a few with the ball in the center, but I like this composition best. I think the somewhat asymmetrical nature makes it more interesting overall.

10/12/15

I can't remember where I spotted this drain, but I was intrigued by the sharp line running through it and the way the frame wound up divided into a series of lines. If I were to take this again, I think I'd leave a bit more negative space on the right hand side, as I think it would balance out the composition a bit more.

10/9/15

This is an image that reduces well, but I'm unsatisfied with it while looking at the full-sized version. I was attempting to capture the reflection of the tree in the puddle, since I usually try to capture what lies beneath the water, but I thought this made for a much more interesting image in this case. I think it would've turned out better with a higher shutter speed, and there are a few things I'd like to improve on when revisiting this theme in the future.

10/8/15

My roommate is a biology major, so he frequently has to go outside and capture various insects for one of his classes. I like to tag along on these little excursions, since they're usually a great opportunity to capture interesting images I wouldn't otherwise be exposed to, such as this tragic image of a praying mantis trapped in a poisonous jar. I tried to balance the image out with the natural surroundings to provide a contrast between his typical environment and the fate he has found himself doomed to, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's a tragic sort of beauty.

10/7/15

Not sure how many times I've seen this drain on campus, but it really stuck out to me recently and I decided to take some pictures. I liked the jarring blend of concrete and metal in with the grass, and I tried to get the drain in something of a diamond shape. Since the grassy area is actually pretty narrow, it was hard to capture the top without seeing the sidewalk in sky, hence why it's a little lopsided. I still think it's a pretty cool image, though.

10/6/15

I've been seeing this small hole in the pavement on my way to class, and it couldn't help but catch my attention, especially with the orange traffic cones surrounding it. It was actually a lot harder to capture in an interesting composition than I'd anticipated, and I had to shuffle the cones around to try to make it more compelling. Looking back at it now, I definitely should've balanced the cones more to give the image more harmony, but I already felt like I was encroaching on territory that wasn't mine to begin with.

10/5/15

This was shot with a longer lens, since I like the shallow depth of field you get with a longer focal length. I think it has the effect of making the space look more vast and intimidating, and creating a sort of sad sense of uncertainty regarding one's location.

Chase Sequence

The concept for this piece was birthed when I passed through the Tanner Building garage a few weeks back. I was immediately struck by how perfect it would be for a short film, and for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, parking garages are kind of inherently spooky places, especially when they're underground. Since they're full of shadows, they evoke the childhood fear of the dark in us, which is, frankly, a fear that I have never completely shaken. While the shadows proved to be a bit of a challenge as far as lighting the scene goes, I also knew they would be good dramatically. I don't pretend this piece has some sort of great complicated subtext, although it does play on some of my own small personal fears of the unknown. Rather, it was primarily intended as a stylistic exercise, and in that sense, I feel it was mostly successful. As an experiment in one-take moviemaking, it was a challenge to nail, but it was still a lot of fun to make. I tried to incorporate different concepts of staging and composition, particularly with dynamic close-ups and movement within the frame. As for how successful it is, well, I suppose you guys will be the judges of that.

10/2/15

One last paper boat photo, since I really liked how this one turned out. I don't think I intended this one to be so dark, but the shadows really heighten the drama of this image. I love how the boat looks under the sharp water (this was shot with a high shutter speed). Taking into account what we've recently read about contrast, I think I might like to play up this motif in future projects, since I feel that the bright boat contrasts nicely with the shadowy bushes and water.

10/1/15

This one was taken right outside the HFAC. Since I take a lot of these pictures on my phone, my goal is often less to take a beautiful photo and more to find an interesting composition in the everyday. In this case, I was again intrigued by the contrast between the natural and the man-made. I thought the clash between the metal bars and the green shrubbery created an interesting image, and to be honest, it was pretty hard to fit it all in frame. It's not a great picture, but I still find the image intriguing.

9/30/15

I revisited the paper boat theme for a photography class I'm taking, and I couldn't resist sharing at least one of the photos from this set. While I had a bit of a struggle with this photo on a technical level, I'm at least happy with the composition. Again, the story turned out somewhat tragic, with the majority of the boats eventually filling up with water and sinking, and I felt this photo captured a sort of melancholy beauty, especially with the sort of voyeuristic perspective through the grass. This series taught me that it's better to compromise in other aspects first rather than boost the ISO, as I feel the image's quality suffered as a result. Lesson learned!

9/29/15

I spotted these recycling bins on my way to campus, and I was intrigued by the line they formed. This is the sort of thing I perhaps didn't think about as much before we talked about it in class, but I found the curve they formed to be very interesting, so I tried to capture it as well as I could in this photo, emphasizing the gradation in size from front to back.

9/28/15

More funning around with exposure, but since I took this one on my phone, it was less a matter of adjusting the shutter speed and more a matter of waggling the phone around to get an impressionistic look. I actually liked these photos more than I'd expected, and it might be partly due to the low resolution. I think it took on a nice watercolor-esque look.

9/25/15

Bonus today, I'm sharing the two of these because I like the contrast between focus. It's been fun for me and very eye-opening to learn to master my camera and realize just how much control I really have over the final image. After a whole lifetime of point-and-shoot, I assumed the results I got depended largely on the subject, but it's been fascinating to see how much a change in aperture can alter the image. In this case, I mainly toggled the aperture and focus, and despite the positioning of the camera remaining the same, the results are drastically different. I couldn't choose a just one of them to share, since I feel they have to be seen together in order to tell their little story.

9/24/15

I saw these deer while driving to the FSSS, and I was amazed by how close I was able to get to them. I actually got a few more photos closer up, but there was nothing really special about them. On a whim, I thought it might be interesting to frame the rear-view mirror in the photo, and it opened up the image to more interesting ideas. I like the contrast it provides between nature and technology. What exactly is it that the deer fear? Are they justified?

9/23/15

 
In contrast to yesterday's high shutter speed photo, this one was taken with a very low shutter speed. I found it interesting because it creates an equally ambiguous image, but this time it more closely resembles an impressionistic painting than stained glass.  These photos are always tricky to take because they can become a blurry mess if you don't keep your hands steady, but I'm relatively pleased with the results. There are still some objects in focus that give hints to the subject, but I still feel the image holds an element of mystery, creating an ambiguous space that one must read into in order to understand.

9/22/15

I've been playing around with shutter speed lately, and I think it's an interesting way of capturing everyday images in a new light. In this case, I set the camera to a very high shutter speed and photographed a busy little brook, and I was very pleased with the results. It creates an almost abstract result, taking on a sort of stained glass appearance. I know we're trying to capture flat space this week, but I thought this one was an interesting example of ambiguous space, since it's not immediately clear what we're looking at or how to interpret it spatially.