Final Project Film Idea

group members: Anthony Blasko, Alejandro Curiel, Ashley Rich, Gino Santoro
Log-line: a guy meets a girl by chance and they quickly cancel their plans to spend time with each other.
Treatment:

guy is sitting on a bench on a pier, with his morning coffee, laptop bag next to him.

a girl walks past him also with her morning coffee and settles in looking over the rail.

he sees her and thinks for a second. he then gets up and goes next to her.

she sizes him up really quickly. he takes out a pen and a piece of paper and writes something on it. he passes the note to her across the rail.

she sees it and looks at him briefly before opening the note. she then reaches into her bag and takes out a pen.

she writes something on the note and hands it back to him. he picks it up then reads it and smiles.

he writes something on it and when he looks to put it on the rail, he doesnt see her. she is gone

he quickly looks around and can’t seem to find her. he sits back down on the bench with his head held low.

short time lapse shows that he has finished his coffee. he gets up to throw it away and when he looks back at the spot where he met her, there is a note held down by a rock.

he looks around first to see if anyone is there. he places his coffee cup on top of the trash can and then he walks to the note and reads it.

he then quickly turns around to see her standing there, holding a notebook in her hand. she opens it up to show him a planner with a day completely crossed out. we understand that its today.

the guy goes over to his bad and takes out his day planner. she walks over to the trash can, drinking the last of her coffee. she also puts her cup on the trash can. we see him crosse someting out. we understand it to be his schedule for the day.

when he looks up again, she is gone. but this time he looks around and she is simply standing near the end of the pier, waiting for him.

he hurriedly places the planner back in his bag and runs to catch up with her.

we get a final shot of their two coffee cups as he catches up with her in the background. they are blurred out and the coffee cups are the last shot. the designs on the coffee cups form a heart between them.

Genre influences:

i dont exactly know what genre this is, but it definitely has the feel of a romantic playfulness scene. for this, the characters are going to be flirtatious and spontaneous.

the setting is also rather romantic because it is a pier where one might go on a date at night. but by setting it in the morning, there is less of the serious romance implied and it also gives the characters the opportunity to have the entire day for themselves once they decide to spend the day together.

the conflict here isn't a big one. trying to preserve the rather light hearted tone in the scene, the conflict is basically just him failing at picking a girl up. we could exaggerate the conflict by stressing somewhat on his disappointment and that he might take it a bit too hard that she disappeared.

Themes:

a theme that this film develops is definitely “some forms of happiness require spontaneity”

if he wouldn't have been spontaneous, he wouldn't have gotten the girl. if she wouldn't have been spontaneous, she wouldn't have the great time she is about to have.

influences:

one influence we found was the short film “Victim” by Christian Ramos on Vimeo. this film influenced the whole pier-date idea and how the two characters at one point were standing next to each other, but facing away from each other. "VICTIM" film

i also drew some inspiration from the music video of “our kind of love” by lady antebellum. this influenced me in wanting to keep the whole thing light hearted. the video never gets serious about the relationship and there is never drama. the whole thing is fun and spontaneous and flirty. they're just having a good time. i wanted this film to be like that as well.

Sound Unit Pre-production

Logline:A guy finds a picture of a girl holding up a peace sign.  He can't put the picture down and gets hit by a car. The picture now shows the girl holding up 3 fingers.

a guy is walking on the street. he sees a picture on the ground of a pretty girl. he picks it up and a eerie/romantic sound plays.

he keeps walking but can't stop looking at the picture. the sound plays again. he steps on a rake and hits himself in the forehead.

he rubs his face but keeps walking. he turns into his house and walks into the kitchen.

the sound plays again and he slips on the wet floor. he falls and brings dishes crashing down on him. he has a hard time getting up but is able to make it up to his room and fall down to his bed.

the scene fades out and back in with him sitting on his windowsill, looking at the picture. he is mesmerized by the picture. he begins to fall asleep.

he falls out the window and hits the ground. we see him bleed out from his head. the picture floats down to the ground. the girl is now holding up 3 fingers. the sound plays again. the camera slowly pans up from the picture to reveal another guy finding the picture. there will be parallels between how the first guy finds the picture and how the second guy finds the picture.

fade.


how the treatment meets the requirements:


Narrative:

Sound Design plays an important role in the development of character, setting and conflict.(Explain How)
the sound charcterizes the picture as enchanting. there will also be foley sounds and loud sounds to act as the jarring occurances where he gets hurt. most sound will be synchronous with some of it being added in as necessary. the nondiegetic sound that playts each time he gets injured develops  the conflict.


Production Elements:

Foley Sound Effects incorporated in film either realistically or expressively.
foley sounds will include the bowls falling, the rake slapping him, door opening, him falling, etc... The foley sounds will be realistic because the film is going to be as realist as possible, with the exception of the ending.

Rhythmic match at some point in the film's edit
none

Sound Bridge as a scene transition
there will be a sound bridge when he goes to sleep and wakes up. probably birds or something

Sound Montage or Leitmotif tied to character
the eerie/romantic sound tied to the  picture and misfortune

The Hurt Locker Analysis

1. Opening Remarks
The Hurt Locker. An ambiguous title for an equally ambiguously interpretable film. The narrative centers around Bravo Company EOD division and their rotation in the Iraq War. We are taken along on their missions and with each new task, we are revealed more about their characters. each plot development brings us closer to what their realities are in the war and how each is dealing with the constant stress of battle.

2. Context
The film was made in 2009, 6 years after the start of the Iraq War. It comes out during a waning of public support for the war and growing resentment towards the political leaders who remain indecisive. It also competes with the year's top blockbuster, Avatar, for recognition, in fact beating out the blue-planet themed film for best picture. It capitalizes on the theme of moral depravity located in a morally sun-baked landscape. The powerful message hits home with many viewers because it evokes sympathy in the viewers for the men who face death on a daily basis for our liberties, seeing as we get a glimpse into the hell of their daily routine.

3. Setting, Acting, Costume
The setting, Iraq, is no surprise for a war film about the 21st century. It's hot, dry, and merciless.
The acting to accompany the setting is in my opinion executed really well. You get the feel for each soldier's character and they all give off a stunning performance. Costume as well was nicely handled. They were very realistic and believable utility uniforms. The whole of these three serves to create a feel of realism in the whole movie, which in turn delivers a greater punch on the metaphysical level.

4. Cinematography and Lighting
The cinematography was done in the expected documentary style. Hand held takes, long duration of shots, realistic and objective capturing of footage. Although it is a documentary style of film making, it is more Hollywood in its composition. They depend largely on natural light since most of the footage is outside in the hot Middle-eastern sun, and as such, most of the film has a yellowish hue to it. Yet because this is a documentary type film, many of the staging is natural. The false feel to the movie can easily be misinterpreted to make it not seem like a work of friction.

5. Editing
The editing is done much in the same way that a Hollywood film is edited. The only difference between the two is that the Hurt Locker capitalizes more on the reality of the situation. We do see however a strong manipulation of time in the documentary in a way that completely departs from its genre. There are some situations that are repeated several times simply for the emphasis. The pacing is also different from a traditional movie, with long takes be dropped in favor of shorter, intermediate takes.

6. Score
The score in this movie is powerful, consisting of a wide range of sources, it conveys exactly the mood we're supposed to feel at that moment in the film. This is another way that it strays form a traditional documentary. We are being spoon fed what to think instead of being allowed to make our own opinions about the topic. Also, sound effects of anything at all, very well accentuating what needs to be accentuated and all sounds are essentially used. In this sound design, it should be noted the mixing of the use of western and middle eastern audio tracks in the score.

7. Script
The narrative in mainly linear, with time lapses occurring between scenes. It seems to me as if the plot were more character driven because with each new mission they go on, we discover something new about the characters and their relationships with each other. Many of the humor also comes form the subtext, like when Beckham tries to sell him dvd's again. The movie also does a good job highlighting the issues involved in war and what it does to the men who fight in it.

8. Genre
The Genre is most obviously a documentary. But as mentioned before, it is more of a neo-documentary due to its departure from the overly extensive realistic shots. There is also some clear manipulation of the footage in the editing. Some sequences when something will explode five times just so that we are able to take it in from 5 different angles. It meets the Genre in that it does document the rotation of an EOD unit, but also subverts the genre with the simple fact that much of it is choreographed and planned to create a story. The director clearly has a story to tell and it is her story that we hear mainly, not the story of the soldiers.

9. Closing Remarks
So overall, The Hurt Locker is definitely one of the more artfully crafted documentaries, even though it does try to shake off some of the constraints imposed by the genre.

Documentary Pre-Production

Reyes

Purpose: To show the struggles of a man dedicated to a goal in the face of overwhelming odds.

Contacts: The subject, his recruiter, his friends, family, support in general

Interview Questions:
What was your initial situation?
What challenges did you or are you facing?
Explain what you do to overcome these challenges.
What is the motivating force behind what you do?
How has your life changed since you became dedicated?

General Flow:
The film is going to start with some b-roll of him working out. He will explain his situation to the audience and introduce the challenge he has.
In the middle, we will have him tell us about how is life is like now that he had to change. He will tell us about what he does to improve and how he will attain his goal.
The end will be an update on his situation, what is looks like in the present. Then he will end with an inspirational viewpoint on what he expects will happen and if he will succeed.

Scripts:
There is no script yet because there is no b-roll and no interviews yet. The entirety of the script will be created upon acquiring the interviews and the b-roll. The story will be created in the edit. For an idea of what the script will be like, look at the general flow.

Shot List-
- BS of interviewees
- CU of working out
- MS of him going about daily life
- WEV of workout
- Handheld shots following him ie. Documentary style
- Other creative shots once we get an interview


Intro: His name is John Reyes. He has two goals. Lose the weight, and become a Marine.

Closing: --no closer. Film will end on an inspirational note form the interview.--

Short Documentary Review: "Misssey"

1

The narrative of this documentary explains the tragic life of teenage prostitution. It details how Misssey was created and its mission. It consults the views of its members, former prostitutes, and organizers. All interviewees detail their experience with under-aged prostitution and how they ended up with Misssey. The film works well in its narrative because with each new interviewee, the story gets more and more personal, more and more detailed. We can literally visualize the tragedies of these girls being picked up off the street by pimps. At one point, we get detailed descriptions of the horrors these children suffer through because of their situation. It gets really horrible and we are left with a bitter taste of disgust in our mouths.

This is furthered by the general apathy of our society towards this topic and the trend of inaction that is shown through spectators, those aware of the situation, and those who will look at this documentary and do nothing. But again, the really punch in this documentary comes from the personal ties the interviewees have to the situation and the inspirational stories some of them share provoke a sense of hope in us, and in the kids who have the misfortune to fall into this situation and have the chance to see this documentary.

2

The camera work is pretty varied. The interviews all have the same, slightly skewed, bust shot framing, but the b-roll is definitely more varied. There are cropped frames, low viewpoints, tight close-ups, dolly shots from a car, and shaky shots used for stylistic effect. But it should be noted that most shots are simply of talking heads. The b-roll for this story is limited by the fact that you cannot get some of this footage because it is too dangerous, because of privacy constraints, etc… Yet the b-roll is not what makes this film. It’s the story. Although, to make the shots more powerful, I would have added a “crier.” It sounds crude, but with a sad topic like this, I would have added an interviewee who is prone to crying when telling her story near the middle to really accentuate the seriousness of this topic.

Just the shot of the emotion connected to the story would help convey the story so much better, because then it really lifts us up when we see the bright side of this organization’s work.

3

The editing is nothing special. It is simple cutting between talking heads and b-roll. The editing of the b-roll itself is not too special either. They really stayed with simple cuts in this project, occasionally throwing in a cross-dissolve.

The audio is melancholic at times, made up of a simple score. Occasionally the music takes over in times of silence and sometimes there is no audio at all. The audio is composed mostly of the interviews, which I think, is perfectly fine because we focus on the story and not the sounds. There is a lot of information to take in and if the score were any louder or more diverse, it would be overpowering and we would lose the focus of the film.

Baraka Film Review

Overall, watching Baraka was like no other film I have ever experienced. The non-verbal aspect to it definitely threw me off. I was so taken aback that I did not know what to think. I just watched the monkeys chilling in the hot spring. The whole movie conveyed a sense of peacefulness and inner balance that I think many of us lack in our lives. It gave insights into other cultures and different areas many of us will never get to see in real life. It captured the natural beauty of the world. It captured the natural beauty of people. Watching the movie, I experienced a mixture of boredom at some points, amazement at others, serenity, curiosity, perplexity, amusement, and awe. At no point was I left emotionless. At the time, watching the movie, I didn’t know what to think. But in retrospect, the power of this movie truly is obvious and its message of inner peace is clear.

1
This movie is titled Baraka because it evokes the feeling of taking in a deep breath and exhaling it. This has a calming effect and I think it’s analogous to the meaning the film is trying to convey. “Take a breath, breathe, calm down, and find your inner peace.” The shots transport us to areas of the world far removed from our daily lives and show us ways to live that might not be our first choice. The music adds to the feel that this movie does not only consist of an amazing slideshow, but there are certain emotions we need to be feeling associated with some of these images. Also, if you look at it from the “essence” perspective, you can see how the entire world, broken down to its essence, is one being. Different peoples are the same, different cultures are similar in many ways. All our souls are part of the same essence.

2

There are many shots in this film that show wide, aerial shots of our planet. These shots that showcase the beauty of nature lead us to become analytical in a sense of our own culture. When shots are juxtaposed to show contrast between the pristine beauty of the Wetlands of South America with the slums of Brazil, we begin to think rather critically of our own societies. We no longer have a simplistic, doleful view of our societies and to a degree, we become envious of other cultures that get to experience the beauty of nature up close and personal. This also leads to us criticize our societies socially. We often view ourselves as more developed, and thus possessing a higher standard of living. But seeing these indigenous cultures perform their rituals, we get a sense that they are more alive than we are; that they have found happiness in its essence.

3
The main message, or theme, in this movie is that if we do not change our ways, we will end up living in a dystopia much like the garbage dumps in India where the people had to scavenge for food. Although making reference to a crude movie seems tasteless, this scene reminds us of the huge garbage piles from Idiocracy. We let ourselves fall into ruin and destroyed the beauty of nature we had. This is also a critique of our habits concerning the environment. If we do not change, we will lose the environment that harbors all the locations and all the cultures we see in this film.

4
Without a voice or text, we do not attribute a culture to the story. We understand it to be a global voice, the voice of the essence of the world’s people. So the lack of voice or text, and therefore language and bias, achieves the director’s goal of making this a global film.

5

The city usually has clips that are either sped up drastically, or static. Either everything is changing too fast to appreciate the world around us, or nothing is changing, no problems are being fixed, we are sitting in our own rot. It seems that the only escape, the only way to save ourselves would be to escape back to nature, back to the pure essence of the world, become one culture again and let the freedom of the world transport us to true happiness.

6

This monk could be the lone spiritual lighthouse in a sea of busy, materialistic people. He is there to show them that there is no need for our “modern” ways to be happy. Contentment and indeed happiness for some, comes in the form of divine connections. He could also be there questioning the morality of making those workers work in cigarette factories under the conditions they work in. Those who devote themselves to a religion are often symbols for morality and the simple cutting linking the monk to the cigarette factory might question the morality involved in that situation. But the film’s main blow with this juxtaposition is that it advocates religious endeavors, or spirituality. It is argued that only through the peaceful side of religion can we find our own inner peace.

7

With the refuse heap, Baraka criticizes the viewers on our complacency. It questions how we can sit idly by and watch others scavenge for food in dumpsters alongside livestock and wild dogs. How can we continue to throw out food we do not like when others are forced to get whatever they can just to survive? The film does a great job in throwing these questions of morality into our faces, potentially provoking some to action in the process.

8

The music is very diverse, made up of mostly the indigenous music from each area. The one that stands out to me is the one from the Kecak scene. Not only is the entire audio made up of them screaming, but it also has a certain melody to it that is achieved through their “primitive” musical instruments. The auditory beauty of the scene is also accentuated by the way it ends. It ends on one lone drum beat and cuts immediately to shots of a volcano, highlighting the power of the volcano and drawing a comparison to the power of the tribe’s ritual.

9
I think we watched Baraka because we needed to se that we are not the center of the universe. We are not the pristine example that everyone should follow. Sometimes, we need to take the backseat and follow in others’ wakes if we want to achieve the utopia every society strives for. This view could have arisen if we were presented with similar images not in a movie, but not spontaneously. If we are secluded form the world, and do not contribute to its essence the same way other cultures do, then we cannot hope to be able to come to these conclusions on our own. We need the exposure to be let into the light. And with this exposure comes the desire to travel. The movie shows us all this natural beauty and it would be a shame to waste our lives contenting ourselves with slideshows and audio tracks. We need to experience these instances in nature first hand if we want to be able to “breathe.”

"Hungry Love" Critique

Basically, this film is about a guy who is desperately in need of food and resorts to going through a series of acts to try to impress a girl and win her lunch box from her. I felt that I wasn’t having much success in my other films because the drama was too hard to imbue within those films. So when we started our Amélie Unit, I saw this as an opportunity to take myself in another direction. I based my whole concept on the premise that it had to be an awkward encounter between a man and a woman where there would be romantic tension, yet the whole thing would be very comedic. I think it does stay true to the romantic comedy genre of Amélie and that it did not turn out horrible, like my other films.
Overall:
First, I’ll begin with what I was tasked with. I was pretty much the director of the film and editor in my version. As director, I had to block my actors and pretty much detail all the facial expressions, movements, subtleties, and general actions they needed to be performing. I also had to make sure lighting was correct, sound quality was good, and the shots looked decent. As the editor, I just had to pull everything together. Because this film required a different edit to be handed in for each group member, I also had to work on the score and color correction for the shots that seemed out of place.
The main problem I had was that Devan, my guy actor, would not cooperate with some of the things I wanted to have him do. I think this took away from some of the comedic qualities of the film had I been able to get certain shots. But I gave in to his reservations and just tried to keep the whole production rolling. In editing, my only problem was really the lighting. The camera’s focus was not working properly so some shots looked too washed out and I had to color correct to smooth that out.
This time around, the whole production of the film went relatively smoothly. The only problems we had were scheduling conflicts, availability, and lighting issues. With scheduling, we would have miscommunications and as such, lost valuable shooting time. Also, many of us had very tight schedules. I had practice every day of the week and Katryna was needed for the school play. Tyler had work on one of the shooting days and the whole availability issue was one of the biggest problems we faced. But I think THE biggest problem was that the lighting was off. The first time we went to go shoot, Devan was late and we lost the period of time before the sun would be changing position quickly. So, some of our shots turned out dark. The second time we went to shoot, the light was changing even quicker and we lost an entire weekend because it had begun to rain. In the end, we managed to work out the schedule by prioritizing this project over our other commitments and the lighting could be fixed in the edit.
Critical Evaluation:
Story: The story begins by setting up Devan as a guy who is suddenly really hungry. Ten he goes through a whole bunch of ways to try to impress this girl who has food, and in the end he ends up not only with her food, but with her as well. I wasn’t really trying to highlight any issue or create a theme. I just wanted to make a funny little story about a guy who would do anything for food. I tried to portray Devan as this suave guy who knows how to impress women, and Katryna as a girl who is nice and proper, but not immune to the charm of a guy. I think I kept consistent with their characters and showed a nice evolution for Katryna as someone shut off, to someone who is totally open, but while staying true to both of their characters. I think I pulled off the climax nicely through reverse dramatic irony. Katryna sees what is on the card before we do and so we are itching to find out what it was. When we finally see it, we see that there is a cute message that wins her over because in the next shot, they are walking away hand in hand. So we know that Devan succeeds and we are left with a feeling of closure.

Casting/Acting:
I think we cast the movie really well. Devan, although you would expect him to want to eat all the time because he’s a pretty big guy, also takes you off guard when his cheesy wooing techniques work. Katryna also played her part really well. Her only criterion really was that she had to be a girl, but her acting was really good too. They were both really believable and you could easily distinguish who was who. Their personalities also provided a nice contrast and helped keep the story alive.
When it comes to their acting, as I’ve said before, terrific. You really believe that this is who they are, and we form ties with them as we would with our friends, and not simply as we would with characters. We didn’t really use any makeup or worry about their wardrobe. We only cared that it remained consistent from shooting day to day. There was also no dialogue, so the acting was better because we did not have to worry about making the dialogue believable too. Both actors do maintain a consistency in the way that they stay in character and a consistency in how they characterize their character.

Music and Effects/Lighting:
The music design in this piece was very simple. Aside from a few foley sounds to provide audio cues, there was only one score that was looped to create the romantic, French accordion café music that so effectively helped create the romantic mood in the film.
With lighting, we depended on natural light, shooting just before magic hour to get that nice rich, yellow and warm feel. Unfortunately, the changing light caused several consistency errors from shot to shot, and some shots were to dark, so we had to reshoot some of them. In the end, we still had to redo a couple shots by color correcting them. I needed to spend more time to make the color correction more precise, but I did not have enough time.



Titles and Credits/Camera Operation:
The only titles I used were in the beginning and for the credits. Both times, they were unobtrusive and only communicated information that we could not get visually. This was mainly due to the generic falling leaves of autumn, and the black background in each.
The framing in each shot is also pretty good I think. Many of the shots are static because I still have some uncertainty in my abilities to create dynamic moving shots, although I did try a few times. Whenever there is a zoom though, I felt that it appropriately fits and serves to create intimacy between us and the characters. Some shots that could be improved are the ones that have some awkward framing or that could have been tighter. With the shots, I also think that I could have used more variety in them. Possibly a few reverse shots would have been a nice stylistic characterization for my film. At the point where they are walking, I would have liked a nice aerial shot, but no one would let us use their roof.

Sound/Editing:
We did not record any on location audio because we knew that it was going to be a silent film. We did record a few foley sounds with the camera, but even then it was not on location.
When it comes to editing, I think the cuts came out relatively well and the pacing is appropriate. Each shot as the appropriate duration for a certain effect and they maintain continuity throughout the film. When changing from scene to scene, I thought about ways I could make it so that it isn’t an awkward or abrupt change. This time, I did not resort to fade to blacks or dissolves. I used the score to transition from the house, to the street, to the park, all the while maintaining the walking motion to create a link. Each shot is followed in my opinion by the appropriate reaction shot, POV shot, axis match, etc… a few areas I could have improved were the guitar opening scene. I would have preferred to use a close up of Katryna and show the guitar in the next shot that way, but due to the shot being too washed out, I opted to cut to black very quickly because I had no better method. Yet I think that each scene is appropriately trimmed and that the shot order is logical and fluent. The editing is almost transparent and except for a few moments like the guitar scene, the color correction near the end, and the ending with the heart, the editing is hardly noticeable to the commoner’s eye.



Objective evaluation
Reviewing my film, completely ignoring what went into making it, I would say that the film is pretty good. The key moments designed to make you laugh all accomplish this and the story is not lost in the shots. As a viewer though, I would have preferred that Devan be shown taking out the guitar and that the lighting/color correction be fixed at the end. I was also wondering if there should have been some cue for Devan to walk up to the window. It seemed weird for him to just get up and look outside. But overall, it works and the film itself was rather enjoyable.