First Semester Finals Blog Post

This Semester
This semester I only worked on two in-class projects, both in the beginning of the school year. Besides that, I have worked on a couple of client projects, one of which I am currently still in the process of finishing. By myself, I mainly worked on solo music, honing in my production skills and preparing for work on a music video I want to create for eMagine.

PSA Video

This project was at the very beginning of the year where we had to create a short public service announcement pertaining to problems commonly found in high school, such as peer pressure, which was the topic we chose. The project took approximately two weeks, with one week for concept planning, casting, scheduling, and filming, and the other week being for editing. Our main challenge was the tight scheduling, as we didn't have enough to fit everyone to what roles we prescribed, but we were able to make it work. This project was a nice refresher to start the year, and helped me remember the process of creating and working with others. I can't remember any feedback given, but I feel we did a decent job with this PSA, as it all came together with a good general concept. I think my one wish was more cohesion and to be able to have a greater hand in the process of its creation, but for the most part I am happy with the results.

Short Film

This project was to advance our skills and prepare us for our production on our feature film. If I recall correctly, we made this entire short film in less than two weeks, due to an already predetermined short schedule that was made even shorted when we had to scratch our original concept. We eventually settled on a short story detailing two teens struggling with social anxiety with the compounding factor of college looming over. Our largest struggle, as I stated earlier, was the incredibly short schedule that we had to work with. It was particularly straining for me, as it meant I couldn't show up to the filming days due to an out-of-town college visit and night classes. That, combined with the fact that I was never really offered any other production role, meant that there wasn't a whole lot that I did on this film beside provide feedback and help planning. Even when I offered to take on editing, I wasn't given any opportunity to help on the process, which really upset me. Overall, I wasn't satisfied with the production or result of this project, and I wish that we could have been given more time and that I could have been given a larger role so that I would've had more involvement. One positive thing I could say was that we at least finish the project on time, so our project management skills were there. All that I mainly learned was how important the team process is in creating film, and how much it sucks to not be able to contribute anything. The only feedback I remember getting was some minor errors in sound and camera imaging.

Time In Class

I felt that time in class was only halfway utilized productively, in multiple ways than one. There were somedays that I wasn't completely productive, and for that I take fault in. But there were also many days with required projects and assignments that I feel did not really advance me in anyway or felt like a good use of my time. When I could I worked on music or developing concepts for music videos, but very often the time that could've helped me work on these creative outlets was restraining to work on blog posts or to learn things that I already knew. This only increased my frustration and unproductiveness. I tried to counteract this anger by working on client projects outside of class, but it still felt annoying that I wasn't given much in-class time to edit these projects. Studio time was even more limited, especially compared to last year when I was able to work on music every other day. I expected this limitation when working on our feature film, but not when we had barely started production on it. Now all of my music production is outside of class, which upsets me because sound and music production were the only reasons why I didn't dropout of eComm after sophomore year. I only ask for the time to do what I love to do.

Strengths

I believe that my greatest area of strength is my technical skills in audio, sound, and music production. Being the only student specialized in these aspects gives me an extra edge and usability in the class. I can operate the Zoom and have studied the best settings that would maximize our use of it. I am also very flexible in my technical skills, as I have shown this semester in utilizing my editing skills and even picking up cameras for my client projects, which I honestly have not done since sophomore year but I was able to grasp quickly. I was able to quickly grab on to the idea of ISO and focus with the help of friends. I transitioned quite easily from audio editing to video editing in Premiere Pro. I am able to equally collaborate very easily, and  in my experience have been able to equally distribute the work on the projects that I have led. My communication with others also assists this ability to collaborate, as I speak my mind while making sure that others are heard and seriously considered. The combination of these traits help me as a team player, and I wish to put these aspects to their best use in the production of our feature film and my role of sound supervisor.

Areas of Improvement

My greatest area of improvement is probably project management. Even though every project I have done so far this school year was completed on time, I was often stretched for time and it would have helped the quality of my production is the time was used more effectively. One way I could do this is to fully write out a schedule for myself that I would require myself to follow by, which would likely increase my productivity on certain days and decrease my workload on others. My leadership wasn't bad this year, but it could definitely be better, as I wasn't too assertive or commanding. While I don't want to be overbearing, I do want to take more control in my projects as well as ensure the quality of what we are working on. Settling on my vision and narrowing down precisely what I want to accomplish would certainly help me in this regard, as well as fully understanding the people I am working with.

Guest Speakers

I very much enjoyed the two guest speakers this year, as they did provide some neat background on their experiences in the film and how they applied their passion for film into a career opportunity. Our first speaker talked about how after his time in the military he decided to go into the video business and handle the equipment at a career college. He shared some very interesting tips on how to be prepared for filming and how to make the most use of our time, fast yet with quality. He gave insight on how to better our feature film process, such as starting earlier, organizing everything from our film days to all of our files. The second guest speaker was Mrs. Smith's son, who talked about his early experience of filming and video producing from when he was around our age, and how he used his Journalism degree to help produced videos for an ad agency based in Kansas City. I particularly enjoyed his presentation, as he was very nice and directly showed us his progress from when he was first starting out to where he was today. He gave us some advice on persistence and hard work, to keep pushing for what we want to do and do what you can to make it happen. It really made want to continue making things like music and see where I can go with that, and this mentality can definitely help us when we go on crunch time during production on our film. 

MX4D Experience

I found the MX4D experience to be interesting in terms of wondering how to increase theater attendance in a era where everyone can easily stream the latest release at their homes. However, I feel that this technology still has a ways to go to become a definite reason to see movies in theaters. One thing that definitely stunted it for me was that I was expecting the film to be in 3D as well, in that we would have glasses and that would be one of the dimensions. If that was added it would definitely make the experience more well-rounded. I also feel that VR could possibly be an exciting outlet for this kind of technology too, further immersing the audience into a complete universe. The only problem with this is that it would help the case for action movies or movies with heavy CGI set in a completely different world. For dramas or other movies based in the real world the concept of VR doesn't sound nearly as exciting. However, I learned that immersion is a key concept in getting the audience to enjoy a film, and I am sure we will keep this in mind when working on our feature length film.

Summary

Overall, I was just a little disappointed in how this semester turned out, as I really wished I could have done more music-wise as well as just creatively. This year is probably a lot less chaotic than last year, and I have been doing more this year in terms of involving myself in other projects, which are very good positives. I only wish I was able to really work on my own personal projects that I want to do, such as produce my own album, create music videos, and whatever other fun ideas I come up with such as filming a documentary of Wes and I learning how to skateboard (which we also want to submit to eMagine :O). My main goal for next semester is complete my music video for eMagine, complete Wes and I's documentary, and try to finish creating a solid album or at the very least a solid EP. My main takeaway that I can apply to myself this semester is to simply increase my drive, as I will definitely need to in order to accomplish all this as well as my role as sound supervisor in our feature film.

My Work

I would upload music but Blogger doesn't allow me to do that :(

Week of November 27th - December 1st

My time was limited during this week, mostly due to the field trip to the MX4D theatre for the viewing of Justice League, and all of the in class assignments that followed that. When I wasn't working on those assignments and activities, I wanted to work on my music. There are several projects I am working on through out the rest of the year, such as a documentary with Wes, two music videos (one of which with original music that I want to submit to eMagine), and an album/EP. 

This week I wanted to work on my album, specifically the style that I wanted to approach. I pictured in my mind soundscapes sculpted by synthesizers and field recordings. I want my songs on this album to create an living environment of sound that demands and rewards attention. However, at the same time, I wanted the actual structure and melody of the song to be simple enough to be replicated with simply one's vocals and acoustic guitar/piano. The song must be able to be stripped down, but have the environment of synths add to the music instead of take away from it.

This was my first attempt at this concept. I created my own synth patch with a strong LFO that controls a low-pass filter with high resonance, so it has a certain growling sound. Building off of this, I added a basic echoing melody, consisting of a simple descending chord. I also added a growing pad to give it more depth. I threw in an occasional bass line to make the progression of the song more interesting. The last thing I added was a preset arpeggio that combined pretty chords with water sounds. Overall, I thought that the end result was alright but not what I originally intended. I feel that the sounds that I created were not provoking enough to capture one's attention or imagination. The basic song structure was also very lacking, although it did follow a simple structure and was pretty. I will use this as a learning experience in going further into interesting soundscapes, and try to replicate ones from favorite artists as well as research interesting ways to change up one's sound.

MX4D Experience

MX4D is new film technology that tries to immerse a viewer even further into the movie by adding many different effects that give the illusion that the audience experiences what happens on screen. The seats move with every action: dipping during drone dives, shaking with explosions and gunshots. If a characters dives into the ocean, water sprays from the seat; in a murky environment fog is emitted from the room; if there is a blizzard snow will drop from the ceiling.

My impression before experiencing MX4D was that it would be a very interesting experience. I wasn't entirely sure if it would enhance my immersion and that it would mostly be a gimmick, but it would be a fun time. Actually experiencing it, I really liked the movement of the seats; it didn't always completely match up to the screen, but I did feel it helped me get into the action. Some of the other effects were more gimmicky, such as the fog, snow, and water spray, which seemed to be more distracting than engaging. Beforehand I thought that the movie would be in 3D as well, and come with 3D glasses as well. I was surprised to learn that visually the movie was still in 2D. I feel like the 4D elements would have been less distract if there was a 3D screen instead of 2D. The seats were probably my favorite part of the experience, as it felt like a rollercoaster ride; it reminded me of the rides you would find at Disney World or Universal. My least favorite element was the fog, mostly because I was sitting at the very front so it went directly into my face and had a distinct smell.

I hadn't seen Justice League prior to the MX4D showing, and I wasn't initially planning on seeing it. I feel that it only partially enhanced the movie, as the seat drew me in but the other elements drew me out. I feel that it particularly works for superhero movies, or for movies that have a lot of action. In terms of Justice League it did well in that aspect. The actual film was alright, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't great either. The main issues of the film could not have been fixed with added effects, but mainly with a better script with more character depth and plot emphasis.

MX4D would be very cool to utilize with action movies or popcorn flicks, as in those contexts they can truly add to the film's spectacle. Other than that, I feel that the technology wouldn't really add much else, as it can often be distracting. It would be particularly inappropriate in movies where the plot or character development are exceptionally important, as it might reroute the audience away from what's important in the film and leave viewers confused. Since I mostly enjoy movies for these factors, I would prefer seeing the movie in 2D rather than 3D or MX4D, simply to avoid any possible determents of my focus.

As far as encourage movie watchers to return to the cinemas, I believe that the best answer is to provide a customizable and comfortable experience. The main reason people are skipping the theaters is not due to laziness, but that most people prefer to watch something alone or with close friends, opting for comfort instead of being with public crowds. I feel that Alamo Drafthouse is the best in dealing with this, as not only do they have strict guidelines for audiences to promote an optimal viewing experience for everyone, but they often hold events to make seeing a movie more memorable (such as an IT showing where everyone dresses as a clown). Drawing on social events and creating a more traditional, cultural environment is a promising path for cinemas today.