Large scale projects…
… suck. Jacque and I are currently working on a project that involves over 20 different actors ranging in ages 1-70 and it’s complete madness! We’re working from the beginning of Ecclesiastes 3 (a time for love/hate, speak up/stay silent, laugh/cry, etc.). Each segment is only 10 seconds long but requires a TON of preproduction – planning, scheduling, storyboarding to the finest detail, et al. – and to make it all better… it’s due to 2.5 weeks! Well, not it’s due in less than a week, but… yeah.
Large scale projects. Man, are they a pain in the butt or what? I’d have a better time with all this if the due date weren’t so close – from the very beginning! If we can pull this off… oh man, if we can make this video awesome, I’ll be proud as a peach. The Lord has really been pulling through for us. We’ve had to think on our feet and drop things and change things and deal with things (and memorize every version of every storyboard we’ve conjured for this video) and it’s been such a stretch so far that I’m frightened to go into the editing room with the footage.
Oh, and I must never forget how important it is to have team members who don’t flake or whine or lollygag or make excuses or contribute nothing but headache. I must never forget that, because working with people who don’t do much but cause more stress is not worth it – I’d rather work with less people, because in the end we’re doing the same amount of work because this extra useless person wasn’t doing anything anyway! Ugh, frustration.
Let’s see if this “A Time for Everything” video comes together. We’ve been working our butts off, but the audience doesn’t care – the audience only sees what we show them in the end, no matter how long or hard we worked on it, no matter if someone gets shot or poisoned or ran over in the process, no matter how late we stayed up editing or how early we got up to shoot – the audience is ruthless, but if it wasn’t, this wouldn’t be a challenge, and if this wasn’t a challenge, then would it ever be fun?
Peace. It's going to be awesome :)
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Trust and No Waiting for Tomorrow
Trust is a funny thing. I trust my mom – I trust her with my life – but sometimes when she’s driving things get a little crazy. I grip the safety handle and grab my heart and say “WHAT are you DOING?” She looks at me and replies, “I’ve been driving longer than you’ve been alive. Relax!”
This is similar to my trust in God. I’m a willing passenger in the vehicle of my life and I’ve gladly let Him take the wheel, but every now and then crazy stuff starts to happen. I grab the dashboard and grip the seatbelt and say “WHAT are you DOING?” He looks at me and replies, “I’ve been God since the beginning. Can’t you trust my driving?”
So there you have it. I trust God – I trust Him with my entire life, this one and the next – but my trust in Him must be greater than my trust in my mother’s driving abilities. Every day my trust must grow tall like a tree, strong like an ox, deep like the sea. I cannot let my trust stay as such a dismal level. An infant has more trust in its soulless, inanimate pacifier than I have in our soulful, living God. Why!?
There is no waiting for tomorrow. This is not a diet plan I’ll pick up after the holidays. This is not a paper or email or task I’ll put off ‘til the afternoon. My trust in God is strengthened right now, and every moment preceding this will be all the more peaceful because of it. Amen.
This is similar to my trust in God. I’m a willing passenger in the vehicle of my life and I’ve gladly let Him take the wheel, but every now and then crazy stuff starts to happen. I grab the dashboard and grip the seatbelt and say “WHAT are you DOING?” He looks at me and replies, “I’ve been God since the beginning. Can’t you trust my driving?”
So there you have it. I trust God – I trust Him with my entire life, this one and the next – but my trust in Him must be greater than my trust in my mother’s driving abilities. Every day my trust must grow tall like a tree, strong like an ox, deep like the sea. I cannot let my trust stay as such a dismal level. An infant has more trust in its soulless, inanimate pacifier than I have in our soulful, living God. Why!?
There is no waiting for tomorrow. This is not a diet plan I’ll pick up after the holidays. This is not a paper or email or task I’ll put off ‘til the afternoon. My trust in God is strengthened right now, and every moment preceding this will be all the more peaceful because of it. Amen.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Cosmic Love Music Video Complete!
Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFNUtAuOzOA&list=UUz9k732aCId7074LurzEKpQ&index=1&feature=plcp
Man oh man did that take some work! Put in 11 hours of editing straight on Tuesday, plus however many more hours Jacque and i put in together before and after that long day. Oh but it was worth it :)
Have some screenshots!
At some moments we wanted the dancer and actors to be haunting and cool...
At other moments we wanted them warm, as if living in the setting sun. The color changes during the film happen at each climax, representing the sudden change and turbulence of their relationship - one day he's warm, the next day he's cold.
I'll get a better snapshot of this one ^ There's some banding right now i'm going to fix this evening.
Breathtaking grace.
Lindsay McGee went all out. We got intensity and numbness from her - great stuff.
More screenshots to come :)
Peace.
Man oh man did that take some work! Put in 11 hours of editing straight on Tuesday, plus however many more hours Jacque and i put in together before and after that long day. Oh but it was worth it :)
Have some screenshots!
At some moments we wanted the dancer and actors to be haunting and cool...
At other moments we wanted them warm, as if living in the setting sun. The color changes during the film happen at each climax, representing the sudden change and turbulence of their relationship - one day he's warm, the next day he's cold.
I'll get a better snapshot of this one ^ There's some banding right now i'm going to fix this evening.
Breathtaking grace.
Lindsay McGee went all out. We got intensity and numbness from her - great stuff.
More screenshots to come :)
Peace.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Filming in this World
Doing anything in this world can be difficult: telling the truth even if it hurts, paying taxes though you may not want to, getting up in the morning when your eyelids feel glued shut. In its current state, with its harshness and tendency to throw unpredictable curveballs, the world can feel like (and very much become) Hell.
That goes for filmmaking, too.
When facing Hell on Earth, what should a filmmaker do? What should anyone do? Well, in this case, seeing how tiny and frail and overall dimwitted I am compared to just about anything, let alone the cosmos, I threw my hands up to God. The One God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit God.
And He answered me.
It began like this. A week or two ago I had a lot of film projects pile up unexpectedly. So my film project due in class that week had to be pushed to next week (and my gracious professor gave me that permission). So I got all done with that business and took a deep breath the day I finally turned in my project. Then he said, “Don’t forget, your next video is due in one week.”
One week. One week? One week… By putting off the previous assignment, I’d cut my time for this next one in half. Last assignment, dialogue. Bleh. I like dialogue, but I’m no audio engineer, so that assignment was torture. This assignment? Dramatic lighting. Yeah! Something I will enjoy doing! But by this time I’d already ate a week so I had to get something done fast.
But wait! I’d decided last week to partner up with another young woman in my group! So we got together and tossed around ideas until finally settling on a music video to “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine.
And the race begins.
We thought of all the people who could play the part of the couple spoken of in the song. We wanted one male and one female. Footage of them having difficulty with one another would be juxtaposed against a male and female ballet/modern dancer pair. The dancers would represent the emotions of the couple in dance what the couple could never express on their own. It would be amazing. We emailed our actors and asked them if they could film that night, the next night or Sunday all day.
No reply.
Ah ha! A female actor replied with a yes to that evening and Sunday! Praise! Now we just needed a man. (Isn’t that how it always is? Waiting on the man to step up. This is where my mom would say, “Oh snap!” Feel free to chuckle.) Then, just minutes after I told the female actor not to worry about filming until Sunday, we got a guy to play the part that night.
So we rushed together and grab a bunch of stuff from the film studio, ran to the student center and hopped in the event rooms. The walls were torn down for the blood drive which gave us a big area to work in and lots of background to use as “the abyss.” The shoot that night went amazingly well. We cut the song and added the clips the next day. It looks amazing! But we only had 5% of the video done. A lot of work for little output, but we were used to that by now – we’re film majors!
Then the weekend from Heaven or from Hell (I’m not quite sure yet) came upon me.
I had to leave my partner at school and hurry to Cincinnati for an internship interview. I got the internship. Praise God! When I came back home, my niece and nephew were there. I had to both study for and take a math test online before 8:30 when they went to bed. Not so awesome, but it was doable. What wasn’t doable was checking my email to find that no male dancers I emailed could perform at the requested time (that Sunday afternoon). I rested on the thought that I’d already secured one female, and that might, MIGHT be enough. I contacted a friend and got some more names of dancers. I emailed more people. Something in me said to email female dancers as well, so I did. Better be safe than sorry.
More no’s. No, no, no. Crap.
At this time, my partner was trying to secure equipment that we needed for the shoot. It was all over campus with other people who were shooting – even though we had reserved half of it. As is life. Then, to my amazement and horror, I checked my email again to find that the dancer I thought I had secured had suddenly bailed on me. DISPAIR! Now there wasn’t even ONE female dancer to perform for us. What were we going to do?
That was around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. We packed the kids in the car (who stayed the night… I slept on the couch which was awful but I’d just gotten an internship so I was still pretty happy in spite of all the madness) and left for my niece’s 6th birthday party which my sister, mother and I were supervising. The party time? From 6 to 11 PM. The headcount? Seventeen 6-year-old girls. My mental status switched to crazy mode, which was fun for the children.
By the end of that exciting, loud and sugary evening I kissed my niece goodbye, hugged my sister and hopped in the car with my mom. On the way home I told her about my music video and about how little of it was finished. I told her about its great potential and about my dancer issue. She took my hand and we prayed.
Now, by this time I’d been praying the whole way, but not in a deliberate way. It was more of a ‘panic in the moment prayer’ like “Oh God, what am I going to do?” and “Lord, this totally sucks! Please help!” which are all fine and good and I’m sure He listens to those as well, especially when you’re actually calling out to Him and not just using His name as a prefix to your rhetorical question, but I’m glad my mother helped me pray purposefully.
We thanked God for everything so far; for a good shoot on Wednesday, for my acquired internship, for my niece’s birthday and for my safe trip home that weekend. We prayed that everything would go well for my partner and my video, and that God would get the glory for it. We prayed that we would see His hand in my life and in every detail of this music video. We prayed for dancers and if it be only one then only one it would be! And to top it all off, my mother prayed that I know that evening whether or not I would have a dancer for tomorrow.
I got home and meandered to the computer. There was a reply to a request. It said no. Another reply. It said yes.
Wait, what? Yes! It said yes! And not only did it say yes, but the girl sounded excited about it. I didn’t want to have to beg someone to do it, or get a friend to do me a huge favor. Not only would their annoyance and disappointment come out on film, but I’d be stressed out the whole time knowing that I was inconveniencing them.
This dancer was thrilled to help out, and I took a deep, thankful breath. Praise God!
The next day I got up, packed up and drove back to school. When I got there, I had to drive all over campus collecting the equipment my partner had located. I took apart a jib in someone’s basement and hauled it out to my car. (If you’ve ever worked with a jib, you’ll know that totally sucked, but by that time I was so ready for the shoot that God had provided that I huffed and I puffed and I lugged those 40 pound bags up those stairs like a boss. So ha, gravity; you cannot defeat me!)
Oh yeah! And when I finally got that stupid awesome but annoying jib to the student center, we had to carry it down two flights of stairs. Lucky for us, the Lord provided men. Yes, men. Two epic guys I know passed by us and asked if we needed help. They took the jib bags down for us and we carried the rest of the stuff. It was still tough but it was WAY better than doing all that again.
Oh there were so many details I’m leaving out in that one hour of the day, but it’s for the better. I don't want to whine. Let’s just say, the universe was pitted against us, but the Lord was on our side!
Two hours later, we were set up and ready to go. Our dancer arrived. We had some lighting issues (because someone took our light kit and we couldn’t track them down) but by the grace of God I’d grabbed my mother’s halogen floodlights she used for a cleaning job once and we managed to film the dancer just fine.
Lauren (the dancer) had a great attitude about the whole thing and did an amazing job at – get this – making up chorography on the spot! We were blown away by her portrayal of the emotion in the song. I got goosebumps watching the little camera screen and had to step away or I’d distract her with my excited facial expressions (I have very big facial expressions…).
The rest of the evening went pretty well. We really missed our light kit, and I still wish we could have used it, but the Lord was still on our side. It is possible that we would have gotten the same shots we did last Wednesday and not had enough diversity in our shoot. It is also possible that someone really needed that light kit and they were blessed by having it. No matter the situation, my cohort and I did our very best and it looked awesome!
We had two helpers I wasn't expecting. The actors were extremely helpful and NOT prima donnas, like many actors are labeled. My partner bought us pizza. We had access to all this awesome equipment in the first place (there's no way people as young as us could have all this stuff at our disposal at another college or one our own). The list goes on and on.
There are many details missing from this post, and even more that I’m sure I didn’t see, but in the end all I could see was God’s hand in this work. He guided us and protected us, gave us strength when we felt so tired we could barely lift a camera bag. He gave us hope and directed our hands – without Him, we wouldn’t have an eye for photography in the first place! Creating short films, music videos and the like really help me understand my Father who created us like Himself. He is the Creator with a big C and we are creators with a little c. We are truly made in His image and I’m so thankful that I enjoy what I do. I’m thankful that I decided to major in something I love. I’m thankful that I have the strength and ability to shoot and lift and I’m not shy. I’m thankful for Jacque, my cohort and friend. We bonded over this project and worked so well as a team it was unthinkable. Two strong personalities shouldn't come together so well – we were partly expecting to rip each other’s head off! But that didn't happen because God was (is) on our side from the very beginning. He cares about our cares, He delights in our delight, He blesses what we set our hands and hearts to. Our God is the God Who is with us.
Praise God!
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 NIV
That goes for filmmaking, too.
When facing Hell on Earth, what should a filmmaker do? What should anyone do? Well, in this case, seeing how tiny and frail and overall dimwitted I am compared to just about anything, let alone the cosmos, I threw my hands up to God. The One God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit God.
And He answered me.
It began like this. A week or two ago I had a lot of film projects pile up unexpectedly. So my film project due in class that week had to be pushed to next week (and my gracious professor gave me that permission). So I got all done with that business and took a deep breath the day I finally turned in my project. Then he said, “Don’t forget, your next video is due in one week.”
One week. One week? One week… By putting off the previous assignment, I’d cut my time for this next one in half. Last assignment, dialogue. Bleh. I like dialogue, but I’m no audio engineer, so that assignment was torture. This assignment? Dramatic lighting. Yeah! Something I will enjoy doing! But by this time I’d already ate a week so I had to get something done fast.
But wait! I’d decided last week to partner up with another young woman in my group! So we got together and tossed around ideas until finally settling on a music video to “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine.
And the race begins.
We thought of all the people who could play the part of the couple spoken of in the song. We wanted one male and one female. Footage of them having difficulty with one another would be juxtaposed against a male and female ballet/modern dancer pair. The dancers would represent the emotions of the couple in dance what the couple could never express on their own. It would be amazing. We emailed our actors and asked them if they could film that night, the next night or Sunday all day.
No reply.
Ah ha! A female actor replied with a yes to that evening and Sunday! Praise! Now we just needed a man. (Isn’t that how it always is? Waiting on the man to step up. This is where my mom would say, “Oh snap!” Feel free to chuckle.) Then, just minutes after I told the female actor not to worry about filming until Sunday, we got a guy to play the part that night.
So we rushed together and grab a bunch of stuff from the film studio, ran to the student center and hopped in the event rooms. The walls were torn down for the blood drive which gave us a big area to work in and lots of background to use as “the abyss.” The shoot that night went amazingly well. We cut the song and added the clips the next day. It looks amazing! But we only had 5% of the video done. A lot of work for little output, but we were used to that by now – we’re film majors!
Then the weekend from Heaven or from Hell (I’m not quite sure yet) came upon me.
I had to leave my partner at school and hurry to Cincinnati for an internship interview. I got the internship. Praise God! When I came back home, my niece and nephew were there. I had to both study for and take a math test online before 8:30 when they went to bed. Not so awesome, but it was doable. What wasn’t doable was checking my email to find that no male dancers I emailed could perform at the requested time (that Sunday afternoon). I rested on the thought that I’d already secured one female, and that might, MIGHT be enough. I contacted a friend and got some more names of dancers. I emailed more people. Something in me said to email female dancers as well, so I did. Better be safe than sorry.
More no’s. No, no, no. Crap.
At this time, my partner was trying to secure equipment that we needed for the shoot. It was all over campus with other people who were shooting – even though we had reserved half of it. As is life. Then, to my amazement and horror, I checked my email again to find that the dancer I thought I had secured had suddenly bailed on me. DISPAIR! Now there wasn’t even ONE female dancer to perform for us. What were we going to do?
That was around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. We packed the kids in the car (who stayed the night… I slept on the couch which was awful but I’d just gotten an internship so I was still pretty happy in spite of all the madness) and left for my niece’s 6th birthday party which my sister, mother and I were supervising. The party time? From 6 to 11 PM. The headcount? Seventeen 6-year-old girls. My mental status switched to crazy mode, which was fun for the children.
By the end of that exciting, loud and sugary evening I kissed my niece goodbye, hugged my sister and hopped in the car with my mom. On the way home I told her about my music video and about how little of it was finished. I told her about its great potential and about my dancer issue. She took my hand and we prayed.
Now, by this time I’d been praying the whole way, but not in a deliberate way. It was more of a ‘panic in the moment prayer’ like “Oh God, what am I going to do?” and “Lord, this totally sucks! Please help!” which are all fine and good and I’m sure He listens to those as well, especially when you’re actually calling out to Him and not just using His name as a prefix to your rhetorical question, but I’m glad my mother helped me pray purposefully.
We thanked God for everything so far; for a good shoot on Wednesday, for my acquired internship, for my niece’s birthday and for my safe trip home that weekend. We prayed that everything would go well for my partner and my video, and that God would get the glory for it. We prayed that we would see His hand in my life and in every detail of this music video. We prayed for dancers and if it be only one then only one it would be! And to top it all off, my mother prayed that I know that evening whether or not I would have a dancer for tomorrow.
I got home and meandered to the computer. There was a reply to a request. It said no. Another reply. It said yes.
Wait, what? Yes! It said yes! And not only did it say yes, but the girl sounded excited about it. I didn’t want to have to beg someone to do it, or get a friend to do me a huge favor. Not only would their annoyance and disappointment come out on film, but I’d be stressed out the whole time knowing that I was inconveniencing them.
This dancer was thrilled to help out, and I took a deep, thankful breath. Praise God!
The next day I got up, packed up and drove back to school. When I got there, I had to drive all over campus collecting the equipment my partner had located. I took apart a jib in someone’s basement and hauled it out to my car. (If you’ve ever worked with a jib, you’ll know that totally sucked, but by that time I was so ready for the shoot that God had provided that I huffed and I puffed and I lugged those 40 pound bags up those stairs like a boss. So ha, gravity; you cannot defeat me!)
Oh yeah! And when I finally got that stupid awesome but annoying jib to the student center, we had to carry it down two flights of stairs. Lucky for us, the Lord provided men. Yes, men. Two epic guys I know passed by us and asked if we needed help. They took the jib bags down for us and we carried the rest of the stuff. It was still tough but it was WAY better than doing all that again.
Oh there were so many details I’m leaving out in that one hour of the day, but it’s for the better. I don't want to whine. Let’s just say, the universe was pitted against us, but the Lord was on our side!
Two hours later, we were set up and ready to go. Our dancer arrived. We had some lighting issues (because someone took our light kit and we couldn’t track them down) but by the grace of God I’d grabbed my mother’s halogen floodlights she used for a cleaning job once and we managed to film the dancer just fine.
Lauren (the dancer) had a great attitude about the whole thing and did an amazing job at – get this – making up chorography on the spot! We were blown away by her portrayal of the emotion in the song. I got goosebumps watching the little camera screen and had to step away or I’d distract her with my excited facial expressions (I have very big facial expressions…).
The rest of the evening went pretty well. We really missed our light kit, and I still wish we could have used it, but the Lord was still on our side. It is possible that we would have gotten the same shots we did last Wednesday and not had enough diversity in our shoot. It is also possible that someone really needed that light kit and they were blessed by having it. No matter the situation, my cohort and I did our very best and it looked awesome!
We had two helpers I wasn't expecting. The actors were extremely helpful and NOT prima donnas, like many actors are labeled. My partner bought us pizza. We had access to all this awesome equipment in the first place (there's no way people as young as us could have all this stuff at our disposal at another college or one our own). The list goes on and on.
There are many details missing from this post, and even more that I’m sure I didn’t see, but in the end all I could see was God’s hand in this work. He guided us and protected us, gave us strength when we felt so tired we could barely lift a camera bag. He gave us hope and directed our hands – without Him, we wouldn’t have an eye for photography in the first place! Creating short films, music videos and the like really help me understand my Father who created us like Himself. He is the Creator with a big C and we are creators with a little c. We are truly made in His image and I’m so thankful that I enjoy what I do. I’m thankful that I decided to major in something I love. I’m thankful that I have the strength and ability to shoot and lift and I’m not shy. I’m thankful for Jacque, my cohort and friend. We bonded over this project and worked so well as a team it was unthinkable. Two strong personalities shouldn't come together so well – we were partly expecting to rip each other’s head off! But that didn't happen because God was (is) on our side from the very beginning. He cares about our cares, He delights in our delight, He blesses what we set our hands and hearts to. Our God is the God Who is with us.
Praise God!
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 NIV
Monday, January 23, 2012
Update on "Idea 3"
In response to Axis' presentations in chapel last week, i've edited the ending of "Idea 3" from my last blog entry. I'd like very much to show a more hopeful and pro-active view in response to evil. WE ARE NOT ALONE in this this battle. That is a fact, therefore i will state that fact by including a third major character - a common hero.
This common hero will notice the chase scene as others look at the floor or ignore it completely. She (not he) will literally drop what she's doing to go help the victim being chased down. The victim will be caught by the kidnapper and struggle, but she is not strong enough alone to defeat him. Good thing the common hero comes from behind and pwns the kidnapper in the face with a good-sized branch (or something of the like).
This is the general idea. I'll work out the details as i continue to storyboard and write.
In addition, i would like the victim and common hero to part ways in the end. They separate as human beings on each other's side, not as instant best friends. I'll slip a shot in there of the common hero dialing 911 and then walking away, but the main focus of the end will be the two women's eye contact. I want their look to display these thoughts: thank you and your welcome.
That's all so far. Ideas, comments, questions, concerns? Leave me a message :) Thanks.
Peace.
- T
This common hero will notice the chase scene as others look at the floor or ignore it completely. She (not he) will literally drop what she's doing to go help the victim being chased down. The victim will be caught by the kidnapper and struggle, but she is not strong enough alone to defeat him. Good thing the common hero comes from behind and pwns the kidnapper in the face with a good-sized branch (or something of the like).
This is the general idea. I'll work out the details as i continue to storyboard and write.
In addition, i would like the victim and common hero to part ways in the end. They separate as human beings on each other's side, not as instant best friends. I'll slip a shot in there of the common hero dialing 911 and then walking away, but the main focus of the end will be the two women's eye contact. I want their look to display these thoughts: thank you and your welcome.
That's all so far. Ideas, comments, questions, concerns? Leave me a message :) Thanks.
Peace.
- T
Thursday, January 19, 2012
First Brainstorm of 2012…
And the winds are raging! I’m in two production classes that have the potential to kick my butt by themselves – plus two stinkin’ general education classes that I suck at. (If I wanted to learn more math, I’d be a math major! But I did come here knowing it’s a liberal arts college… So, I guess I can’t complain… Yes I can.) Besides that, i've got even more class and part-time work, but I really shouldn't complain because others have it harder than me. Moving on!
Here’s the deal – for most of my productions this semester, I’ll have to brainstorm with other people. But for my Film Practicum, it’s all me baby! So here have been my first couple ideas:
(Note: I love creating stories with music. Be it a regular music video or something like Lady Killer, music is usually the basis for my creativity and generally brings my ideas to life. My ideas are like podlings and the soil is my brain. Music is the water and God is the sun. All together and woooo pa! A tree of [what I think is] epicness sprouts out of the ground! So, in short, all these ideas are based on/around music I love.)
Idea 1:
Working title: The 8 Stages of Love and Decay
Two main characters (man and woman) go through the stages of love through decay. 1) attraction/magnetism, 2) affection/butterflies, 3) ecstasy/cloud eleven, 4) monotony/routine maintenance, 5) resentment/ill will, 6) suspicion/foul avowal, 7) anger/malice and 8) betrayal/the Judas kiss
Each segment would have a song to back up the emotion. Each segment would be representative of that emotion (so it would be very much like mini-music videos rather than a ‘boy meets girl’ story set in our usual world). This would require a lot of motion graphics and green screen work, but if I could storyboard it to the last detail, it could be done.
Someone told me this was cliché. That’s what I was afraid of. So, onto my second idea.
Idea 2:
Inspired in part by Noblesse (artist: Son Jae Ho), this idea is about a man dressed in 18th century clothes who wakes up in a forest. An MP3 player (probably my Zune) is hanging from a tree before him. He figures out how it works and his stoic face is suddenly struck with surprise as music enters his ears.
He would walk around town meeting people who would add music to the player/search for songs they like. As he shares the music, he learns about the different people who live here. I’ve got some songs and people in mind for this already, but not enough for a full story. I’m wondering if this could be interesting enough and actually hold a story, but though I have the beginning I have no middle conflict or end. I’m all about story, so this one is on hold.
Idea 3:
I’m leaning toward this one.
A kidnapper (and assumed murder) has a kidnapping victim tied up. He flips on the radio/music and “Contigo” begins to play (and upbeat, smooth Spanish song). As he’s preparing his murder weapons and flipping through his notebooks of plans, his captive is struggling against the restrains. He points to her with his knife like a father scolding a child and she stops wiggling. It looks as though she’s run out of energy anyway.
His phone rings and he turns off the music. He nods and says “okay, be there soon” and out the door he goes. Suddenly “do you call my name” by Ra comes on and the captive breaks free. She goes on a rampage, burning the kidnapper’s murderous plans and trashing his HQ. Then she escapes to the song “DANCE.”
In the same shot of her leaving the building, the kidnapper comes back. By now the captive is smaller in the background but we still see her. He opens the door to his HQ and a short clip of “evil (a chorus of resistance)” comes on as if to express that his HQ is trashed.
Then there’s a chase scene to flux pavilion’s “stinkfinger” and a subsequent fight scene to “scared” by 3 days grace. I’ll have to cut that song a lot, but I think it’ll work (either that song or “walkin on a dream” by empire of the sun. haha, that’d be awesome.).
In the end, she wins. She walks away to the beginning of “miss murder” and then the credits roll.
Overall I don’t want it to be long (definitely under 10 minutes; maybe under five) but I want it to be fun. I want the music to play a powerful role in the plot and I want there to be some humor in a completely serious situation. Like in Lady Killer, nervous laughter is what I’m after. Hey, I made a rhyme.
And that’s about it so far. NO ONE STEAL THESE IDEAS! They may come to fruition later on and I don’t wanna see these somewhere else – that’s one of my biggest fears of putting my unfulfilled plans on the internet. But then again, I’m sure to get zero feedback if I never put my seedlings out there…
Peace.
- TMN
Here’s the deal – for most of my productions this semester, I’ll have to brainstorm with other people. But for my Film Practicum, it’s all me baby! So here have been my first couple ideas:
(Note: I love creating stories with music. Be it a regular music video or something like Lady Killer, music is usually the basis for my creativity and generally brings my ideas to life. My ideas are like podlings and the soil is my brain. Music is the water and God is the sun. All together and woooo pa! A tree of [what I think is] epicness sprouts out of the ground! So, in short, all these ideas are based on/around music I love.)
Idea 1:
Working title: The 8 Stages of Love and Decay
Two main characters (man and woman) go through the stages of love through decay. 1) attraction/magnetism, 2) affection/butterflies, 3) ecstasy/cloud eleven, 4) monotony/routine maintenance, 5) resentment/ill will, 6) suspicion/foul avowal, 7) anger/malice and 8) betrayal/the Judas kiss
Each segment would have a song to back up the emotion. Each segment would be representative of that emotion (so it would be very much like mini-music videos rather than a ‘boy meets girl’ story set in our usual world). This would require a lot of motion graphics and green screen work, but if I could storyboard it to the last detail, it could be done.
Someone told me this was cliché. That’s what I was afraid of. So, onto my second idea.
Idea 2:
Inspired in part by Noblesse (artist: Son Jae Ho), this idea is about a man dressed in 18th century clothes who wakes up in a forest. An MP3 player (probably my Zune) is hanging from a tree before him. He figures out how it works and his stoic face is suddenly struck with surprise as music enters his ears.
He would walk around town meeting people who would add music to the player/search for songs they like. As he shares the music, he learns about the different people who live here. I’ve got some songs and people in mind for this already, but not enough for a full story. I’m wondering if this could be interesting enough and actually hold a story, but though I have the beginning I have no middle conflict or end. I’m all about story, so this one is on hold.
Idea 3:
I’m leaning toward this one.
A kidnapper (and assumed murder) has a kidnapping victim tied up. He flips on the radio/music and “Contigo” begins to play (and upbeat, smooth Spanish song). As he’s preparing his murder weapons and flipping through his notebooks of plans, his captive is struggling against the restrains. He points to her with his knife like a father scolding a child and she stops wiggling. It looks as though she’s run out of energy anyway.
His phone rings and he turns off the music. He nods and says “okay, be there soon” and out the door he goes. Suddenly “do you call my name” by Ra comes on and the captive breaks free. She goes on a rampage, burning the kidnapper’s murderous plans and trashing his HQ. Then she escapes to the song “DANCE.”
In the same shot of her leaving the building, the kidnapper comes back. By now the captive is smaller in the background but we still see her. He opens the door to his HQ and a short clip of “evil (a chorus of resistance)” comes on as if to express that his HQ is trashed.
Then there’s a chase scene to flux pavilion’s “stinkfinger” and a subsequent fight scene to “scared” by 3 days grace. I’ll have to cut that song a lot, but I think it’ll work (either that song or “walkin on a dream” by empire of the sun. haha, that’d be awesome.).
In the end, she wins. She walks away to the beginning of “miss murder” and then the credits roll.
Overall I don’t want it to be long (definitely under 10 minutes; maybe under five) but I want it to be fun. I want the music to play a powerful role in the plot and I want there to be some humor in a completely serious situation. Like in Lady Killer, nervous laughter is what I’m after. Hey, I made a rhyme.
And that’s about it so far. NO ONE STEAL THESE IDEAS! They may come to fruition later on and I don’t wanna see these somewhere else – that’s one of my biggest fears of putting my unfulfilled plans on the internet. But then again, I’m sure to get zero feedback if I never put my seedlings out there…
Peace.
- TMN
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Lady Killer - Today is the Day!
Here it is... THE LINK to Lady Killer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTMWy-rHF5o&list=UUz9k732aCId7074LurzEKpQ&feature=plcp
Enjoy. Honestly, enjoy. I was going for a double dose of cognitive dissonance. Let me know how you like it :)
This is just the beginning. I will continue to direct and produce films. Lady Killer really pushed me to be the best at directing and editing - a big challenge, but worth it! So, so worth it. Ah, i'm in amazement; i should stop typing.
I digress. Thank you for your support! Please watch the video and comment :) If i'll be anything, i'll be original! I hope to bring a special flavor to video and film. Yeah.
Enjoy. Honestly, enjoy. I was going for a double dose of cognitive dissonance. Let me know how you like it :)
This is just the beginning. I will continue to direct and produce films. Lady Killer really pushed me to be the best at directing and editing - a big challenge, but worth it! So, so worth it. Ah, i'm in amazement; i should stop typing.
I digress. Thank you for your support! Please watch the video and comment :) If i'll be anything, i'll be original! I hope to bring a special flavor to video and film. Yeah.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)