Bolex 1 Minute Take

I had a blast on the Saturday shoot for the Bolex one minute take. It just reminded me how badly I want my own Bolex camera. Any opportunity I get to work with one is amazing. For my group's shoot, I was the Bolex operator. We had 2 of the guys from our group acting in front of the camera and the other member drove the car. The car acted as a dolly of sorts to allow for a smooth tracking shot. We did a few run throughs to avoid problems during the actual take. When we were filming, however, we still needed to improvise. The car was moving too fast and the actors were becoming too small in the frame. I made an executive decision to have Jen put the car in reverse. As we approached the actors again, the climax of our take happened. The guitar had smashed and Liam became the prominent character in the frame which added to the spooky atmosphere that his costume and unusual behavior supplied the audience with.

When we were developing the film I got to relive the dark room experience that I love. There is something unique and raw about being in a dark room and watching your image develop in front of your eyes. It makes you really appreciate the whole process! Overall, I had a blast with the Bolex project and I look forward to editing it and showing it to the rest of the class.

Bridgman Packer Response

My two experiences with Bridgman and Packer were both interesting and offered a new perspective into the evolution of the artistic world. On Monday's class I had little expectations for what we would be participating in with Bridgman and Packer. I certainly wasn't expecting to dance (I'm sure the rest of the class wasn't expecting this either). I found the workshop to be very insightful and interesting. However, I think that a lot of the 6x1 students were intimidated by the dancers who came to the workshop or feared inadequacy when it came to participation. As filmmakers, a majority of us have little background in dance, never mind the fluid, freestyle of dance that Bridgman Packer utilized. Luckily I do have some experience in dance and I appreciated the style that Bridgman and Packer flawlessly executed. During their performance on Friday, it was cool to see the different techniques that they used that we witnessed in the workshop. I found many sequences intriguing, especially when the two dancers began to lose their identity in the background as their silhouettes were projected multiple times on the screen. I also enjoyed the sequences where they played with gender norms and projected their bodies onto one another. Their overall performance felt like an art installation that might be seen at a prominent art gallery or dance studio. Bridgman and Packer were definitely interesting performers that grabbed your attention and they pushed the boundaries of any dance performance that I have ever witnessed.

Crowdsourcing

This week's readings were on Crowdsourcing. It pertains to the crowdsourcing assignment that we had for class with the frame factory marathon. I genuinely enjoyed this assignment because we had an interesting creative control with some guidance. Staying within the bounds and following the light gray animation made for some interesting designs but a more vibrant animation. I also have experience with crowdsourcing campaigns on sites like Indiegogo. These projects always prove to be very interesting and it let's you see what people all over the country and world are working on. With the invention of Wikipedia, a crowdsourcing website, anyone can add information to topics, pending approval from administrative workers for the site. The cloudfilmaking manifesto is also is another way to collaborate on projects with people from all over the world. These are all interesting ways to connect with universal filmmakers and collaborate on projects together!

Cymatics and Synesthesia

Learning about cymatics is very interesting since I had never quite heard about it before. I have, however, heard of people mixing corn starch and water and placing it on top of a speaker creates a flubber-like substance that appears to "dance".  Making sound visual is something that I never even would've thought to be possible. Watching some of the tutorials on the TED talk about how different patterns form on the metal plate based off of different frequencies that are created by a machine. The more intense the frequency, the more elaborate the patterns became.

In one of the TED Talks Daniel Tammet stated,"Different kinds of perceiving create different kinds of knowing and understanding." I found this so intriguing that no one mind might see something the same as I do or you do. The way in which he interprets numbers in fascinating and they are in all different colors and shapes. His synesthesia has given him an amazing ability to track how numbers and words have colors, shapes and different corresponding emotions. He also mentions a few famous people in history who had synesthesia which I had never known before.

Media Fast

I participated in the media fast from Thursday 12:00pm to Sunday 12:00pm. This was the first media fast that I have ever done and to be honest, I wasn't sure if I could do it. To my surprise, I actually lasted 72 hours without using technology socially. However, I would not suggest ever doing a media fast during the snow days of Wilmington, the weekend or when the internet is down and you can't do work for your other classes. I of course had to write a paper, watch films for class and attend meetings where I needed to use my laptop but I held myself accountable for not going on social media. One thing I noticed during my media fast was how attached the people around me were to their phones, laptops and televisions. I also noticed how much of a distraction my phone can be. I found myself tempted often to take a break from doing work and go on Twitter or Instagram. I will also admit that I am a shameless Candy Crush addict and was really quite sad when I couldn't play. Also, I noticed I had trouble falling asleep at nights. I am used to putting the TV on, setting a timer and falling asleep to the white noise. It was really hard to not use the TV, especially at night time. When I woke up this morning at 10:00am I was still in a state of drowsiness. I had opened up Instagram accidentally, and when I realized that it was opening, my phone flew out of my hand and across my room. Even though I only had 2 hours left of my media fast, I subconsciously thought "NO, don't do it!"I am glad to say that I survived the media fast...and so did my phone!

Cameraless Filmmaking--First Response

Introduction to 6x1: Variations of the 1 Minute Film

In class last Monday we watched a film that utilized cameraless filmmaking techniques. I thought it was really interesting how many different and creative ways there are to manipulate film, whether that be by scratching film, coloring, burning, bleaching etc. (Figure 1). I enjoyed how the score of the film was synchronized with the different types of animation that appeared on the screen. The use of color also stood out to me. There were periods of the film where the background was red and that coincided with the music being more intense. Another significant thing that the film highlighted was the use of black with the chord-like animations that matched perfectly with the piano notes. I found this film to be very entertaining. If the music wasn't synced with the animation, it might have been harder to witness and appreciate all of the visual aspects of the film. It is incredible to see all of the details in a single frame that Norman McLaren created for this film (Figure 2).

Figure 1.

Figure 2.