My Rough Theatre

I would say the closest thing to a Rough Theatre besides what we experienced within this semester would be the transferring of hours upon hours of 16mm film to video with my family. The process took days maybe even over a week to covert the boxes of reels our family had. This was also my first experience with actual film over video. I was brought into a world of video since I was born and never knew there was even a difference between video and film until I got to this level in life. We had a white sheet on the wall with the projector and began to watch the childhood of my mother and her siblings. It was great for her because she hadn't see the footage in decades, my father may have seen some, and I had never seen any of the throwback film. She reminisced and I stared as i watched my first recognition of real film and not video. So my rough theatre seemed classic with a projector and small audience. This first experience of using film slipped my mind when I was younger because it wasn't really inuse for home video anymore. After being in college I now am really interested in a Super 8 camera for future filmming. I had never thought about it before but writing this has helped me realize about my experience with film early on. Fascinating.........

Yess Man

I was absent on this day, but am sad I missed it because what I've read about Yes Men has made me want to see it/

Saturday Shoot

I enjoyed the Saturday class mostly because it really wasn't class, more of a open-minded free production day. Helping the other group wasn't as bad as it was imagined to be with intensive labor, but more enjoyment from the process of filmmaking. I don't think it would of been as much fun without using the Bolex. The thought of actually shooting on film and only having the opportunity for one take made the production much more exciting. The small 8mm camera was pretty interesting to use too which I didn't know I would have the pleasure of using when I showed up. I never knew they made crank 8mm cameras that compact so it was cool to be able to use another camera that I never had before. Im always down to try something new especially in film. Our original idea which Tim had came up with ended up falling through when he couldn't show up for the Saturday Shoot. We ended up using my spur of the moment idea to film a rolly chair race. I thought we could use the advantage of having nobody in the building and the perfect hard granite floors to have some fun while filming. The building actually is in a M shape and worked for a great race track to film. The processing portion of the day was prettying interesting also, I had never dark room'd anything until this class. So the opportunity to watch film strips slowly reveal there images was cool experience, and I hope it isn't the last time. I look forward to doing post production with this footage, Royce and I have some really cool ideas.

48 hour video race IDEAS

I have never done a production such as this, but have always read about these contests in various papers and have always been interested. Stop animation with a high resolution SLR looks like the best way to create this production. I am a huge fan of stop animation and love the final product that comes out of the frame by frame production. I almost cant sleep thinking about what in the world the mystery prop could be as it will most likely influence my film greatly. Instead of just throwing the prop into an already formulated plot, I'd rather create the short about the mystery prop itself. So I am kinda waiting till that friday to figure everything out. I enjoy the idea and thoughts behind creativity in the mind, and believe that my best ideas happen on the spot of production. I am very excited about this project and can't wait till it comes time to do it.

2nd Scratch Film Junky

I had seen a few shorts from the Scratch Film Junkies along with "To the Beat" and they all have impressed me with there precision and quality. However, "St. Louise" overpowered all the previous films I had seen. I have a great respect for the cameraless filmmaking genre because it takes such a dedicated amount of time and with film so small, it calls for precise strokes and scratches. While the whole film may seem random the the untrained eye, every stroke, bleach, scratch, coloring, and alteration is thoroughly planned before production actually begins. Their seamless animations which each probably lasted no more that 10 seconds consisted of hundreds of frames that would take mass amounts of time to produce for such a short viewing time. Every time I watch a cameraless production, they grow and grow on me more. You also gain a better understanding after watching multiple times. The object transformations in "St. Louise" were really sick and its amazing how somebody can animate so well with such small frames. The cameraless project Royce and I did came out mostly how we expected, of course it went by a lot quicker than expected haha, but actually creating it yourself makes me as artist appreciate The Scratch film Junkies work a lot more.

Wells Reading Response

Wells' reading was pretty interesting along with his theories and ideas about animation. The whole orthodox vs non orthodox thing was a very new idea to me and probably something I never would have thought about if it wasn't for this reading. The elements that are applied to to experimental and orthodox animation is shocking. I have rarely found connections between say a Disney film and a Harry Smith adventure, but Well's created and pointed out the similarities quite well. They only subject that I had past knowledge of was the difference in production ideas between orthodox and non. The massive Hollywood companies insisted on hiding the talent of the major directors and animators and compiling them all under the Disney name and giving them all the credit. While other directors in live action films most of which who have a larger name for them selves, show their own creativity and are praised for it by the companies. A main fear of mine in working with films is that my creativity will be blanketed by a huge company. Idols of steering away from this bandwagon is Spike Lee and Tarantino. The reading gave a lil more indepth look into the what some would say the brain of animation production.

Cameraless Filmmaking

I am enjoying this cameraless filmmaking project so far as it is my first. Im excited about embarking on finishing my 100 frame animation and doing the rest of work in class on monday. The darkroom was exciting as this was my first time participating in a dark room exercise. I had a slight idea about the process of the dark room but had never done it hand on. It is a little hard to see in such dark room and it was hard to tell where to place items. You also only have the "one shot" in order to make a good strip. I found I did stuff I liked on the first strip but then couldn't recreate it on the second strip. But thats the excitement about experimental cameraless filmmaking, its a creative. The freedom while creating a cameraless film is amazing and endless. Im excited about having a full class period to work on my film strip. I've always enjoyed abstract art and looking at things from an alternative point of view. This class gives the artist that exact capability to do as he pleases from any artistic angle. Im excited to add the earth wind fire water aspect towards the scratching.

Scratch Film Junkies

I was impressed by the short To The Beat, by the Scratch Film Junkies. It was a slow intro but I could feel where the tempo was headed. It is called the introduction for for a reason, it slowly builds up to the main tempo for the overall film. I enjoy watching cameraless filmmaking because it is constantly different and the Scratch Film Junkies proved it. Their scratching techniques are very pleasant to watch and were executed with precision. The extreme colors of paint on top of people is beautiful and adds a unique touch to the almost always black and white films. The soundtrack was helpful with the tone that the film seemed to be going for. I would think it was constructed after the film and was thought to the enhance the overall tone. The visuals are intense and the patterns keep the viewer's attention. Having Shannon's experimental class under my belt helped me pay attention and have a greater appreciation for the film rather than a first time viewer. It made me anticipate working on our own film strips and the possibilities that are available to manipulate the strip. Overall it was an impressive short by the junkies and since I've watched a few more on youtube.

Synesthesia Reading

Synesthesia in art is pretty fascinating for that it describes what we feel when watching a visual pleasing peice of art. Synesthesia in the arts is defined as the simultaneous perception of two or more of ones stimuli as one great sensation. While neurological synesthesia is similar it is actually the elicitation of perceptual experiences in the absence of the normal sensory stimulation. The reading was actually quite confusing to me but I took from it what I could. Synesthesia seems to be what we feel and see during one of our artistic exerpiences and how we recreate that is our reflection of our own synesthesia. It was interesting that they mention Fantasia as one of the most famous synesthesia envoking works because this has been a favorite of mine ever since I was a child. This work does provoke a bunch of feelings and ideas throughout its preformance and rythem between visual and audio preformance.