Midterm Project

Midterm Self-Crit

3/30/11

Everything went really well, I just wish I had more cut-away shots . . . it didn't turn out like I'd pictured it, I had gathered so much footage and sound bites so that I could have what I needed, but it was difficult to sort through all of it. I definitely learned a lot, I did much better at figuring out the lighting as I worked with it, which unfortunately means the things I filmed first don't look as good as what I filmed later, but it was a great learning experience. I had trouble with the sound because there was a lot of buzzing from the microphone, and my other mic picked up sound so well I really had to turn the volume down on everything! I also learned how to work the chroma key in final cut which was really helpfu. It was really a lot of fun though, and I can't wait to try out all that I learned on my next piece :P

3-Panel Artist's Lecture

Anita, Steve and Luva are all illustrators of different sorts, Steve works more with satire while Luva works more with posters and Anita with editorial illustrations or just her own personal work. Anita splits her time between teaching, illustrating, and creating fine art. Steve has been an illustrator for over 30 years. He makes mostly political cartoons and believes that the artist should have complete reign over their work, so most of his work is self-generated from his own ideas. Luva states that even though she does commissioned work, her work always comes from herself and that restrictions actually help, even deadlines. she also believes that drawing is very important to an artist if for nothing else than to get one's visual ideas out.

The first question had to do with authorship of their work. Steve responded by stating that authorship was like a narrative, and that it is the nature of human beings to want to create narratives because it helps us to understand. He advised that one should arrange elements to speak most clearly, because narratives are so important. Anita commented that the narrative voice should always be unique and it is very valuable to one's work. Luva stated that it was the humanism in narratives that was most important. The imagery is created even moreso through an element of surprise or through something provocative. To her, the most important thing is to always be honest and tell the truth. Steve sort of disagreed, stating that artists aren't always nice people, but what they make is the most important. What they leave behind has meaning and their truth is in what they made. I thought this comment was interesting but true. I still believe that it is the artist's responsibility to do the world some good, but I do agree that they can be a little crazy or just down-right insane as long as they are adding something to the world in some way. Steve also continued by saying that images are more intense than language because there is a deeper connection. He stressed that artists should never take the easy way out.

The next question was about responsibility. Luva began by saying that being clever isn't important, but being human is. Anita agreed that images can hit sore spots so there is a responsibility in one's work, but everyone seemed to agree that controversy is never a bad thing, an artist should take it and be proud of what they made regardless, or even proud of the fact that it caused controversy. Steve gave a pretty funny example of how he was berated for his art, but he claimed that he only depicted how people seem to be in public, not necessarily in reality, so in one sense it was true.

Regarding newer forms of media, such as Facebook, Luva was excited for it's potential and encouraged young artists to use these sources for their art. Anita agreed and claimed that change is exponential. Artists are not just artists but citizens of the world, so they should be informed and be better able to contribute to the worked by making one into an articulate artist.

The next question had to do with ideas and how they are formed. Luva responded by saying that ideas come from observations and that getting older has helped her come up with ideas faster because of her experience. Steve defined an idea as two or more things put together that surprise someone else. He also agreed that ideas come from awareness of one's surroundings. Anita believes that an idea is one's own personal story and what a person has to contribute.

I enjoyed this presentation and learned more than I thought from it. If nothing else, it encouraged me to keep sketching and to keep my eyes and mind open to everything around me. Also, it taught me to be happy with my own work and not focus on those who find it controversial.

storyboard of master shots

Shot List for Midterm

Girl - in her twenties, wearing a light jacket and sweatpants with hair pulled back.

EST. APARTMENT COMPLEX

INT. APARTMENT LIVING ROOM- EARLY MORNING

Shot 1: Master Shot - WS; A light comes on in the bedroom
Shot 2: MS; We see her packing and picking up her luggage
Shot 3: CU of luggage and girl lifting it up

CUT TO:

EXT. IN THE CAR - SUNRISE

Shot 4: MS; We see the girl driving and the changing scenery
Shot 5-7: WS; We see the scenery, first a city in the morning,a town in the afternoon, and country at sunset

FADE TO:

EXT. CITY - EARLY EVENING

Shot 8: MS; We see the sunset as she drives through the country

CUT TO:

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET

Shot 9: Master Shot, WS; her parents greeting the girl as she pulls up in her car

Shot 10: CU of her face in rearview mirror, MS tracking of her pulling up to the house

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET - FLASHBACK

Shot 11: MS; Home video/ handheld shot of girl getting out of the car with parents greeting her.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET - PRESENT DAY

Shot 12: WS, master shot; She gets out of the car alone
Shot 13: CU; she stands for a second, regarding the empty house.

CUT TO:

INT. PARENT'S HOUSE - EVENING - FLASHBACK

Shot 14: Master shot, WS; she enters the house from the hallway and goes towards the kitchen

Shot 15: MS tracking; She goes into the kitchen from the hallway

FADE TO:

INT. KITCHEN - EVENING - PRESENT DAY

Shot 16: WS, Master Shot; We see her walking into the kitchen alone.
Shot 17: MS; She sets her bags down by the counter
Shot 18: MS; she turns a light on near the sink.
Shot 19: MS; She goes up to the fridge and sees a note.
Shot 20: CU; She picks up the note.

CUT TO NOTE:

Shot 21: CU of note -

Have all the food you want, don't forget to take the birds out.

Much love,

Mom and Dad

Shot 22: MS; She sets it on the counter and looks in the fridge.

Shot 23: CU; She pulls out a container of leftovers, smells it, sighs, then sets it back.

CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Shot 24: WS, master shot; We see her walking into the room.
Shot 25: MS; We see her walking towards the birds, then bending towards them.
Shot 26: Match on action; CU; She looks at the birds, unsure, and opens one of the cages.
Shot 27: CU of hand and bird; The bird bites her.
Shot 28: MS; She closes the cage quickly.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Shot 29: Master Shot, WS; She looks around the room, holding her luggage.
Shot 30: MS; She sets her luggage down and sits on the bed.
Shot 31: MS; She sits with her arms and legs tight together, looking around the room.
Shot 32: CU; We see her eyes shifting in thought.

FADE TO:

INT. CHURCH - DAY

GIRL- Now wearing off-white dress

Shot 33: Master shot, WS; girl sits in the pew, her parents are beside her

Shot 34: CU; We see the girl sitting alone in a pew in the same position as on her bed in the previous scene.

CUT TO MS:

INT. CHURCH - DAY - FLASHBACK

Parents and girl in church attire

Shot 35: MS; We see her parents sitting in a white pew in the church.

CUT TO:

INT. CHURCH - DAY - PRESENT DAY

Shot 36: Master Shot, WS; We see her walking along a hallway in the church

Shot 37: WS, tracking; We see her wandering through the church looking at the stained glass windows.
Shot 38: CU; She stares at an imposing image of Jesus in one of the windows, then backs up.
Shot 39: MS, match-on-action; She backs up a little then turns to the door.
Shot 40: WS; She opens the front doors of the church to bright sunlight.

FADE TO:

EXT. BEACH - DAY

Shot 41: WS, Master Shot; We see the girl walking along the beach and her parents walking in front of her. She watches the seagulls and looks at the sand

Shot 42: MS, tracking; We see her walking along the beach
Shot 43: CU; We see her watching the seagulls
Shot 44: MS; seagulls fighting and playing
Shot 45: Bust Shot; She folds her arms and looks at the sand
Shot 46: MS; she looks at the sand as she walks.

CUT TO:

EXT. BEACH - DAY - FLASHBACK

Shot 47: master shot, WS; We see her parents walking along the sand and out of view.

Shot 48: WS, home video; We see her parents walking ahead of her.
Shot 49: MS-CU, tracking, handheld; We see a shaky camera shot running up the the parents. They smile into the camera and continue walking.

CUT TO:

EXT. BEACH - DAY - PRESENT DAY

Shot 50: WS, master shot; We see her walking alone again.
Shot 51: MS; She sits on the sand watching the waves.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

GIRL- in casual attire

Shot 52: Master shot, WS; She walks into the living room
Shot 53: MS; sits on the burgundy couch.
Shot 54: CU; She sits upright, then leans a little forward with arms folded on her knees while looking into the sunroom.

CUT TO:

INT. SUNROOM - DAY - FLASHBACK

Shot 55: master shot, WS; we see her parents in the sunroom, the dad playing and the mom relaxing in a chair by the window.

Shot 56: MS, handheld; Her dad plays with the dog on the floor
Shot 57: CU, handheld; Her mom sits calmly by a window flooded with light.
Shot 58: CU, handheld; The dog tries to play with the camera.

CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM - EVENING

Shot 59: master shot, WS; She enters the dining room and looks at the birds.
Shot 60: MS; She opens the cage hesitantly.
Shot 61: CU; The bird comes out calmly.
Shot 62: MS; the bird flies away.
Shot 63: MS; She watches the doorway where the bird flew
Shot 64: MS, The bird flies through the doorway and lands on top of it's cage, watching her.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Shot 65: WS, master shot; She walks towards the bed slowly, looking around the room at her old things.
Shot 66: MS; She goes up to the mirror instead.
Shot 67: CU, tracking; As she moves closer, we see her eyes shift, almost in fright.
Shot 68: POV; We see in the mirror a reflection of herself holding a videocamera.
Shot 69: OTS, handheld; We see both her and her reflection

Cut to black.

Logistics and Breakdown of Script

3 actors required: girl, mother and father

Girl: 17 scenes; about 8.5 minutes
Mom and dad: 5 scenes; about 3 minutes

about 5 locations: house (exterior, kitchen, bedroom, living room, sunroom, dining room), apartment, beach, church, car (city and country both shot from car)

special effects: green screen for mirror scene

"special costumes": church attire, casual attire, beach attire

props: mirror, luggage, birds, dog

Location: photos posted below of church and house. I do not have a map of the church, but below is posted the map of the house as well as it's lighting sources. The beach and car scenes will be sunlit.

Days of shoot: approx. 5 (not including pickups)

Saturday 3/12: apartment, car/ driving sequence, and kitchen; early morning, afternoon, sunset, and night - Actor: girl
Sunday 3/13: parent's house - kitchen and sunroom flashback scenes; afternoon, kitchen sound effect of mother's voice during dinnertime; Actors: Mom and Dad
Monday 3/14: living room, dining room (if birds need to be reshot), bedroom; afternoon and night; Actor: girl
Tuesday 3/15: beach; early morning; Actors: girl, Mom and Dad
Wednesday 3/16: church; afternoon (2-3 pm); Actors: Mom, Dad, and girl
Thursday 3/17: pickups in house, or reshoots; all day; Actors: Mom, Dad and girl
Saturday 3/19: pickups in car and apartment or reshoots; all day; Actor: girl

Contact:
Church: 843-884-4612

Breakdown of Script:

Apartment scene: establishes the main character, her habits and where she lives, and that she is going on a trip
Car scene: establishes how far she is going and a change in mood from a crowded city to more open spaces and a more historic community

Parent's house scene: contrasts her apartment with lots of open spaces and emptiness as well as the past with the present. Her parents are not there to greet her like they did before, and she is on her own

Kitchen scene: shows how she must take care of herself now, and how the "warmth" of her parent's presence is gone. She feels out of place coming home now.

Dining room scene: she finds the birds that are her responsibility and the reason she came to take care of the house. Like the birds, she was trapped in her apartment and must reconcile with these open, empty spaces that are no longer like her home.

Bedroom scene: she is still a traveler with her bags, and her childhood bedroom is no longer a place of comfort but more like a place to look at neatly placed relics. Sitting on the bed, which used to be comfortable, draws her back to the church.

Church scene: again she returns to a place she used to frequent in the past with her parents. She remembers them there through a home video and how she used to belong. She is alone there now and it is just an old empty space, but she has to figure out what has changed since it was the same as she remembered it. She goes through the front doors like one does in a dream, opening to a bright light and appearing into a new scene.

Beach scene: another place that she would frequent with her parents, the beach is a place to enjoy, but now it has become a place for her to contemplate. She sees her parents again in a home video memory, this time walking ahead of her. There is a sense of distance now. She sits alone and thinks.

Living room scene: she sits on the burgundy couch "looking into her past" so to speak as she imagines another home video while staring into the sunroom (facing the living room where she is sitting).

Sunroom: a home video of her parents, her father playing and the loud dog contrasting with her mother's quiet demeanor. This is how she remembers each of them. It is brightly lit, but shot like a home video so it is both real and dream-like.

Dining room: she feels now she is able to confront these birds after reconciling that it is actually herself that has become different. She tests the bird, it comes out and flies away like she did by moving away, but then returns to it's cage by instinct.

Bedroom: she now comes into the bedroom, but unable to sleep in the cleanly made bed, she approaches the mirror and truly confronts herself. It becomes a kind of out-of-body experience where she is truly able to see herself from the outside, but she also finds that she has been in control this whole time, both actor and observer. With this realization, change becomes possible.

Her parent's serve not only as a memory but also childhood comfort.

the church!

Finally I was able to find a church willing to let me film in there! It's almost exactly how I pictured it!

edited script

This is what I've changed so far. If anyone happens to read this before Wednesday, please give me an opinion! I'm going to keep working on it, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!


Girl - in her twenties, wearing a light jacket and sweatpants with hair pulled back.

INT. APARTMENT LIVING ROOM- EARLY MORNING
A light comes on in the bedroom
We see her packing and picking up her luggage

CUT TO:

EXT. IN THE CAR - SUNRISE
We see the girl driving and the changing scenery
She travels from city to country, from tight to more open space

FADE TO:

EXT. CITY - EARLY EVENING
We see the sunset as she drives through the town, historic and spacious

CUT TO:

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET
She pulls up to her parent's large, white house

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET - FLASHBACK
Her parent's greet her.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET - PRESENT DAY
She gets out of the car alone and stands for a second, regarding the empty house.

CUT TO:

INT. PARENT'S HOUSE - EVENING - FLASHBACK
She goes into the kitchen, hearing her mother's voice indistinctly

FADE TO:

INT. KITCHEN - EVENING - PRESENT DAY
We see her walking into the kitchen alone. She sets her bags down and turns some lights on. She goes up to the fridge and sees a note. She picks it up:
CUT TO CU OF NOTE:
Have all the food you want, don't forget to take the birds out.
Much love,
Mom and Dad

CUT TO MS:

She sets it on the counter and looks in the fridge. She pulls out a container of leftovers, smells it, sighs, then sets it back.

CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT
We see her walking into the room and hear birds chirping. Cut to her regarding the birds. She looks at the birds and opens one of the cages. The bird bites her. She closes it quickly.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
She looks around the room, holding her luggage. She sets her luggage down and sits on the bed. She sits with her arms and legs tight together, looking around the room. CU: We see her eyes shifting in thought.

FADE TO:

INT. CHURCH - DAY
GIRL- Now wearing off-white dress
We hear her parents talking indistinctly while watching her sitting calmly.

CUT TO MS:

INT. CHURCH - DAY - FLASHBACK
Parents and girl in church attire
We see her parents sitting in a white pew in the church, we hear the girl laughing softly as her parents talk quietly.

CUT TO:

INT. CHURCH - DAY - PRESENT DAY
We see her wandering through the church looking at the stained glass windows. She stares at an imposing image of Jesus in one of the windows, then backs up. She opens the front doors of the church to bright sunlight.

FADE TO:

EXT. BEACH - DAY
We see her walking along the beach, watching the seagulls, she folds her arms and looks at the sand as she walks.

CUT TO:

EXT. BEACH - DAY - FLASHBACK
We see her parents walking ahead of her talking indistinctly. We see a shaky camera shot running up the the parents. They smile into the camera and continue walking.

CUT TO:

EXT. BEACH - DAY - PRESENT DAY
We see her walking alone again. She sits on the sand watching the waves.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
GIRL- in casual attire
She walks into the living room and sits on the burgundy couch. She sits upright, then leans a little forward with arms folded on her knees while looking into the sunroom.

CUT TO:

INT. SUNROOM - DAY - FLASHBACK
Her dad plays with the dog on the floor, laughing while her mom sits calmly by a window flooded with light. The dog tries to play with the camera and we hear the girl laugh.

CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM - EVENING
She enters the dining room and looks at the birds. She opens the cage hesitantly. The bird comes out calmly, then flies away. She watches, unsure, then the bird comes and lands on top of it's cage, watching her.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
She walks towards the mirror slowly, looking around the room at her old things. She goes up to the mirror slowly. As she moves closer, we see her eyes shift, almost in fright. We see in the mirror a reflection of herself holding a videocamera. Cut to black.

beach pictures

Here's the beach I hope to use for my midterm project, it's called Folly Beach. I'm hoping to get there early so there won't be a lot of people around, mostly to avoid legal issues if I get someone random in the shot. Since there's the time change, I'll try and get there by 6 or 7, I'll have to see what time the sun rises, but I do want it to be bright enough, so maybe just after sunrise.

Crit-on-crit

Midterm project

I unfortunately didn't get as much feedback as I'd hoped because we were short on time, but I really appreciated Jill's advice. There were a lot of things that I was unclear about and I also felt like my story would be flat since there isn't any real conversation or conflict, except an internal one which doesn't really become clear until the end. If I can shoot this right, hopefully I can evoke some type of feel into the viewer, since this whole piece is like a self-reflection. If I can get my old video camera to work, I could definitely have two obviously different styles with the flashbacks/ home videos and the "reality" or present-day. Either way, my dad also has a video camera I could use to get two different feels. I really hope that I'll be able to use one of the old-school churches where my parents live, but if not then I can always try and fake it by filming my parents in a pew then using my friend's church out here in Memphis for all of my scenes. Jill's right that it'll be hard to film myself, but I've been doing this for past projects as well as the ones for this class, and my dad is also good with video cameras, so I'm sure with his help this will turn out well.
I'm looking forward to it!

timeline

wasn't exactly sure how to work this, there doesn't seem to be a real climax until the end

Script

Girl
INT. APARTMENT LIVING ROOM- EARLY MORNING
A light comes on in the bedroom
We see her packing and picking up her luggage

EXT. IN THE CAR - SUNRISE
We see the girl driving and the changing scenery
She travels from city to country

EXT. CITY - EARLY EVENING
We see the sunset as she drives through the city

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET - FLASHBACK
She pulls up to her parents house and her parents greet her

EXT. PARENT'S HOUSE - SUNSET - PRESENT DAY
She gets out of the car alone

INT. PARENT'S HOUSE - EVENING
She goes into the kitchen, hearing her mother's voice indistinctly

INT. KITCHEN - EVENING
We see her in the kitchen alone. She goes up to the fridge and sees a note. She picks it up:
Have all the food you want, don't forget to take the birds out.
Much love,
Mom and Dad

INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT
She looks at the birds and opens the cage. The bird bites her. She closes it quickly.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
She sets her luggage down and sits on the bed. We see her eyes shifting in thought.

INT. CHURCH - DAY - FLASHBACK
We hear her parents talking indistinctly while watching her sitting calmly. We then see her sitting with her parents in the church

INT. CHURCH - DAY - PRESENT DAY
We see her wandering through the church looking at the stained glass windows. She opens the front doors of the church to bright sunlight

EXT. BEACH - DAY - FLASHBACK
We see her walking along the beach, watching the seagulls, her parents walking ahead of her talking indistinctly. We see her walking alone again. She sits on the sand watching the waves.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
She walks into the living room and sits on the burgundy couch looking into the sunroom.

INT. SUNROOM - DAY - FLASHBACK
Her dad plays with the dog on the floor, laughing while her mom sits calmly by a window flooded with light.

INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
She enters the dining room and looks at the birds. She opens the cage hesitantly. The bird comes out calmly, then flies away. She watches, unsure, then the bird comes and lands on top of it's cage, watching her.

INT. BEDROOM - DAY
She walks towards the mirror slowly, looking around the room at her old things. She goes up to the mirror. As she moves closer, we see her eyes shift, almost in fright. We see in the mirror a reflection of herself holding a videocamera. The sound of the camera rolling grows louder, then cuts to black.