What a Shell of a Guy and a Shell of a Time!

It's been long, but it's been good... at least from my side of the screen.
This class has been an enjoyable and educational experience. I'm very glad that I had a chance to experiment with cinematography. I would love to explore my artistic side more in this way. Like others mentioned in class today, I may consider taking a cinematography or editing class at a junior college in the future to learn some more of the fundamentals. Somehow I would like to incorporate cinematography into my future work... whatever that might be :)

As for the film festival, it was really fun! Everyone seemed to love our film. The consistent feedback was that it was really good. As others have mentioned, it was exciting to see our work up on the big screen. Personally, I was very proud when I saw the things I filmed on the big screen, as well as the things Donia filmed. But to be like "oh I filmed that!" made me happy. The way Jessica edited was like magic. She really is the strand the brought this all together :)

The other great part about this whole experience has been our wonderful "star" Louis Sheldon. He was so willing and patient as we filmed and interviewed him. I'm so glad that he likes the final product (not that we ever doubted that). He plans to show the film to the Pacific Choncological Society in November. Steven wants to attend that meeting and maybe I will too. I would be very interested to hear the reactions of the other shell club members.

Our whole group wants to enter our film into festivals and see where it might go. The first might be the Feel Good Film Festival this summer as well as some environmental film festivals. We'll see what happens. It has been a great learning experience for all of us! We are so very thankful for all the help we have received!

And remember... be kind to your shell covered friends... for they might be someone's mother...... or someone's dinner ;-)

(PS they actually taste pretty good :P)

Afterthoughts...two

Ok, well I just wrote a huge blog about my thoughts about the class and my thoughts about the festival, and it got erased. So, I'll keep it short.

It was a huge time consuming headache.

It was difficult going from no film, to a film we didn't like, to a film we were more or less happy with.

We got a lot of good feedback from the film, and even we asked to show the film in a Literature and Medicine class.

The class was tough and stressful, but it was a good experience. For a while I was considering not doing film after this, but after completing everything and having a finished product I think that I will continue and make more films.

I'll stop before this gets as long as the last one. Thanks to you all for your assistance, ideas, and critiques. It was a pleasure working with all of you!

Cheers,

r

Other anthropology departments must be GREEN with envy...

Okay so the above title is my one attempt at some sort of pun/title with word play. I apologize. But really, I think we all did an amazing jobs on our films! I know everyone put in a lot (A LOT) of hard work and effort and it all paid off because there was not a single unhappy person in the theater on Saturday. Everyone seemed pleased (surprised?) with the films we all produced. I know I can't speak for everyone, but it was amazing seeing the films on such a big screen. Like Steven had said, there really is nothing like it.

For me, the best part of the evening was really seeing the smiles on the faces of our participants, knowing that they not only approved of what we had created, but had enjoyed being a part of our film from start to finish. I know my group and I all really did have a lot of fun making this film, and like Steven said on the first day of class, that by the end of all of this our group would feel like a family. It's a little sad that we won't be making another Lauren, Mike, & Nikki Observational Production. Or will we?

The time has come...

We're at the finish line. Tin is making some final changes to the end of the film to show in class today, and I'll hopefully be in the lab learning how to use DVD Studio and making a menu. We're still trying to get the energy of the film to stay a little more upbeat and consistent post surgery. Tin wants to show me in class so I'll have fresh eyes. So, I'll be seeing it with you guys for the first time. Its kinda crazy that this whole project is coming to an end!! Now its just a lot of finishing touches and the project will be complete. Well, except for closed captioning, dvd case design, and other things that I can't think of but I know will have to be done.

See you all in the lab!!!

Facebook Event Invite

I created an event invitation on Facebook for our screening. The post needs more photos and more guests invited. If you are on facebook use this link and add photos, videos, and "invite people to come" via facebook so we can get the word out.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=83461435613&ref=nf

Do a general "share" function to post the event to your profile so that all your stalkers will know where to find you that night. ;)

-Jessica

Vimeo and the Picture Lock

Our group has been using the video sharing website "Vimeo" to post rough cuts of our film using password protection so that each of us can view our project and also get feedback from other hand selected people.

David Quon has begun writing and recording music for the film and we should be on track to send off a good draft to the AAA on Thursday.

We have continued to shorten our film. Right now, it's less than fourteen and a half minutes long. I don't even remember the three minutes I've cut out. This is a good thing, as I've heard that if you can cut something and you don't miss it, then it's a good thing it is gone.

The End is Nigh...

As I'm sure all of you are about your own films, we're getting excited about ours. As you've seen in class, its coming together nicely. But, this weekend I did something that I'm not looking forward to doing again. Subtitles. It was only a 25 minute interview, but it took FOREVER!! Our friend Barney took great care in translating the interview. I took it and put it to the timeline, then he came and helped me sync everything up just right. It took 12+ hours just to get it on the timeline. I have no idea how long it took Barney to translate it, but he was our saviour. The interview with Maria is vital to our film. You should be seeing it in class today. It was a good experience though. Between that, collecting some B-roll footage, and Tin's stellar editing...I think we had a pretty productive weekend.

See you all in class!!

r

Another venue for us..

SCAAN
Anthropology in Action Film Festival
Saturday Evening May 23

Open to students, faculty, professionals and amateurs!

The event will take place at the home (garden) of Leanna Wolfe
in the hills overlooking Cal State LA.

If you have a film you would like to screen, please contact Leanna at LAWolfe@aol.com

Collaborative Editing

Thank you to the class for your constant input on the various stages of our film. I am indebted to your fresh perspectives as you have been able to share your opinions and reactions to our film.



This week is exciting as we will be meeting with our film music composer. Our film will be strongly enhanced by it's score.

I hope to get a really good version done by next week for our last chance to get class feedback before we have our public screening.

Coming Along...

The film is coming along. Tin has been confining himself to his house and spending countless hours in the editing of our film (interrupted by the occasional bike ride of course). It appears to be taking shape, though it hasn't been easy. As Tin so eloquently put it, "Its like putting together a massive puzzle without a picture for reference." I've been working in FCP as well in the spare time that I have to try and gather footage for Tin's editing endeavor. Its looking like we're going to have something by May 9th after all.

In the mean time, here are a couple video clips for your enjoyment, or not.