https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypMz9WVC24o

I really enjoyed Dimitri Villard’s visit to class. His insight into Hollywood filmmaking was particularly interesting. His stories about the troubles of shooting in Hollywood and how he was harassed on shoots by a contractor reminded me just how cutthroat this business can be. It was interesting that he recommended that people starting off should offer their services for free until they become indispensable. He said they could then tell the person they’re working for that they have an offer at a paying gig. It’s a clever strategy that I’m willing to try. Another thing that stood out to me is that he mentioned that he and his industry peers appreciated young people who were very aggressive.

Watching Hooligan Sparrow with Nanfu Wang and getting to speak with her was definitely a highlight of the semester for me. To see her emotion when watching the film and talking about her experience was inspirational. It was amazing to see someone take so much risk to tell a story. To tell this story, Nanfu had to make a decision that may ultimately prevent her from returning to China to see her family again. That’s passion. Her amazing camera work, even when the camera was hidden, brought forth compelling and often haunting images. Many times during the film Nanfu’s terror was captured by a camera aimed at nothing. Watching films like Hooligan Sparrow and meeting filmmakers like Nanfu Wang, really inspires me to pursue a documentary story that will affect change. To see people out in the world bringing light to injustices is powerful and moving. I realized after watching this film that many of my favorite documentaries have the documentary filmmaker in the film. This is certainly the case for interesting personalities such as Werner Herzog. It brings an added element to the piece. It may be that the filmmaker’s presence in the film grounds the material with a given perspective that is not merely implied by the images or interviews. One thing it does is draw your attention to the fact that you’re watching a film. This can give your story either more or less credibility. In the case of Hooligan Sparrow, I believe it gave it more credibility.

I’m currently editing these days. I somehow felt that I was stuck in the project after watching the footages hundreds of times. I think everyone has the same feeling. Literally losing judgement on the project. I took breaks and watched some films that might inspire me.

There is a intense running part in the end of my project, so I watched Run Lola Run, which includes a lot of running scenes. It also plays around with time as I am doing for my project. I learned some little techniques to make the end more intense and appealing from the running footage in Run Lola Run. So I would suggest that take breaks while editing and watch some films or videos that may relate to your projects to get some new ideas and inspirations.

I was also struggling with music. I was worried for not having music for some parts in my project, but after trying different ways, I think that for some parts, it is better to go without music. If you have to use music but couldn’t find the one you want, maybe try to use simple songs, rhythm, beats, or sound effects. I would say less is more in some cases of putting music since most of time we don’t have composers working specifically for our pieces.

Hey Everyone,

These are the 3 episode of my capstone. I’m hoping for some feedback about how people feel about the story and if each character is has their own voice. Also, I’d like to know if the story feel predicable or forced.

LIfe Episode 1

Life Episode 2

LIfe Episode 3

Hey guys, here is the latest version of my doc. I definitely need some feedback so if you have time, please let me know what you think!  Also, the current graphic to explain the structure is just a filler and is going to be replaced.

I’m specifically looking for two kinds of feedback (so I’d prefer if you pick one of these to think about instead of trying to do both at the same time):

1. Overall clarity and story:

• where are you confused?
• what part feel redundant/over-explained?
• is there a missing shot or visual that would help?
• any issues with the order of clips?

2. Color correction: I’ve started color correction but haven’t gotten very far. I’ve been looking at this too much so an objective set of eyes would be nice.

• what clips bother you the most? (please give me times)
• if a clip bothers you, can you explain what you don’t like about it? (exposure, color, etc.)

 

The Prince and the Spidres v2