Week Fourteen: One Minute Film Concepts

So many projects and one minute film concepts have been covered in class so far that it is difficult to think up other projects that could be done. One suggestion I have is to just draw out other projects.

For instance, the found footage projects that we did for our last project could be broken down into two separate projects. One could be a culture jamming piece, either with specific subjects or subjects that the students have to come up with, and the other could be a recontextualization of having to pull two or more different things together to make a commentary on something else, sort of like myself and others did with cutting old movies/cartoons to old public service announcements. I think breaking it up into two separate projects would not only allow for more emphasis on found footage films and provide more time to look at said films, but I think it could also explain the ideas and differences between the two types more clearly than they were explained in our semester of class.

Another idea could be to have a random product/business/something of the sort be the subject of a one minute commercial. Many commercials on television today are really thirty second to one minute long stories about something going on that ends up involving the product in some way, shape, or form. You could come up with the story for the product to follow, or you could have students come up with the idea after you assign them the products, but I think it would be really interesting to see what students come up with, since so many of the commercials today are pretty “out there” ideas.

Even though animation was touched on in the first project of the semester, I think more emphasis on it would make the course a little more interesting. The only drawing on film that we did was for the first project, and the only animation we did was for one hundred frames within that project, so I think it would be interesting to maybe animate an entire one minute film over the course of the semester and have them air at the final screenings, kind of an accumulation of feelings, ideas, or something of the sort over the span of the entire course.

One idea that I think would be really interesting would be to have some sort of stock script, kind of like 201 used to have the stock storyline with the pie stealing. This could either be one minute of action, one minute of dialogue, or just a page description of something and they have to act it out within a minute, either within a one shot, continuous take like we did with the Bolex cameras, or they have to edit down what they have to one minute to make a coherent story within a one minute time period. Obviously, the story would have to be fairly concise, or each group could be given a page of a four to five page script, depending on how large the class is, and they have to film one minute of the film, and then all of the parts can be added together on screening day, and they can see how their entire five minute film turned out. That could be a really interesting way to make a 6x1 short film.

Overall, I think a lot of the projects that we have done this semester are kind of crucial to the idea of the class as a whole. We really touched all of the experimental film bases, in a way, with brief glimpses into all of the different categories that each project dealt with, and our range was so extensive that I am not really sure what else could be done.

Week Thirteen: Making Films Without a Video Camera

Making a film without the use of a film or video camera seems like one of those tasks that can be filed under the category of things that cannot be done. However, upon further inspection and with more creative thought and ingenuity, one can come up with many ways to make a film that do not require the use of a film camera.

One way could be by using a digital still camera. Not only do they have the ability to take still images, but most have a video setting. Secondly, a cell phone camera could be used much like a digital still camera could be, but the quality between the two would be slightly different. Third, a web cam could be used. Another way to make a film without the use of a camera would be to scan images with a scanner and edit the images into a film timeline with a computer and editing software, much like a still image film would be. One could even draw animations by hand or with the help of a computer and create an animated film that would not require a camera at all. Printing on film with the use of a computer printer is another way to go about filmmaking. A film could even be made by pulling pieces of other films together and editing them in such a way to tell a narrative story or to make a statement, such as culture jamming or doing found footage films like our next project will be.

Using different mediums would clearly result in different results:

· A digital still camera would be useful if a low visual quality would help the film creatively and the ability of the film to communicate the intended story. The video taken on a digital still camera would be short segments, or at least it is on my digital camera, so it would not allow for long takes. Therefore, the cuts would be very abrupt and jarring, depending on how they were edited together and that could allow for effective use in action movies or low quality horror movies where quick shifts in narrative would be helpful. Using the digital still feature of the camera would create a dreamlike world, almost fantasy like, and could create a world of a drug addict as seen through his/her eyes while under the effects of drugs, with all of the choppy movements and whatnot.

· Cellular phone image quality, both still and video, can vary drastically depending on the quality of the cell phone itself and what the phone was meant to do. Some phones are meant to be media phones while others are intended to just be used for calls and maybe for checking e-mails. However, most cell phones with digital cameras built in have video cameras and onboard microphones built in as well. I think a cell phone would be very effective in filming some kind of mockumentary/scripted documentary such as Cloverfield or something similar where a character or group of characters must go on a journey and are left to use what resources they have for communication.

· Webcam video quality has come a long way from when it first began. Some webcams have such great quality that they look like inexpensive video camera quality, as far as visuals go. Using a webcam would be most effective in a setting where the story allows for the use of cameras. Maybe a kidnapping where the two parties involved, the kidnappers and the cops/family waiting to pay ransom/etc. communicate through computers. Either that, or it could be a situation where a film is done as a serial type of deal where segments are posted online and eventually the full story is revealed, much like old stories used to be when they were printed in newspapers or told on radios.

· Scanning images onto a computer and editing them together to make a movie would really only be effective if the filmmaker is trying to create some kind of fantasy world or is just trying to make an experimental film that does not necessarily require a clear narrative storyline, simply because the variations in how the images look, whether distorted or out of focus or completely clear, when scanned into the computer could vary so greatly.

· Making an animated film by drawing on paper and scanning the images in or just drawing in a computer program that allows for it would probably only be the most effective for a story that could be told in the manner of a cartoon, either adult or childlike. Some kind of fantasy world or just a story where the characters did not need to resemble perfect human beings but could allow for a stretch of the imagination.

· Printing on film would really only be a technique used in an experimental film setting because so much is left to chance as the film runs through the printer that it would be difficult to try to control the dots of ink enough to actual create a real story.

· Lastly, a found footage film would be best for communicating some kind of commentary on some aspect of society, whether it be a positive or a negative commentary. The quality would probably be better than most other methods, depending on where the footage is captured or taken from, but it would limit the type of story that could be told based on the availability of clips and film segments.

So, clearly, it is not impossible to make a film without a film or video camera, but it really is only effective depending on the type of film being made.

Week Twelve: Rough Filmmaking, the "Rough Theater" of the Next Generation

Though I had already read, analyzed, and commented on Brooks’ article about the “rough theater,” I had not actually applied it to the class as a whole. This class, 6x1, has been experimental in many ways, just as “rough theater” would be. When I first read the article, I did not connect it to the class, but after the discussion in class on Monday, it clearly does apply to the class in very important ways. For one, just like “rough theater” would insert jokes depending on the audience or the location where the play is being performed, films made on campus at UNCW would have inside jokes that only students at UNCW or in Wilmington in general would understand. In 6x1, doing one minute films can sometimes limit the narrative ability of a film to tell a story, but the idea behind the class is that the experience of making the film creates the story, and like the rough theater, it is more of a personal connection to the film and being able to laugh at things that happened behind the scenes rather than what is actually taking place on screen. It is more of an interactive experience with the film.

In the same way that shows deemed “rough theater” shows would use flour to whiten faces to show emotions such as fear, we have to use the props that we have available to us, as well. Not many of us can afford to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on props, so we use what we have on hand. For instance, in the one shot that my group did, we bought books from our apartments/homes to choose from, we used a cell phone that we had, a portable radio/mp3 player that we had, and just wore street clothes. Not only did it save us money and time, but it allowed us to establish the characters in the one minute films by what they were doing instead of creating distinguishable looks for them. In the forty eight hour movie race, we are going to have to create a one minute film without using a standard video camera while still having to incorporate a mystery prop that we will not find out the identity of until right before the race begins.

Though it may be deemed “rough” filmmaking, it is no less worthy of being called filmmaking than a Hollywood production would be. It is simply a way of being creative and using the medium in an almost more organic way. It is simply more gritty and hands on, not less worthy of being called a film. At the same time, it is getting back to the basics of film before there were big budgets and super high tech equipment, which is similar to how “rough theater” got back to the basics of theater by simply engaging the audience and adapting the story to fit wherever they might be performing instead of making the performance all about spectacle. It is just truer to the art form.

At the same time, people sometimes forget that films do not have to be created for a general audience. Really, they do not have to be created for any audience at all. Films can be created simply for the entertainment of the filmmakers involved with the film or simply for the entertainment of filmmakers in general. Films made during one’s childhood with a simple camera and little to know editing might not be entertaining to anyone outside of the family, but that does not take away the fact that it is a form of movie making.

It really goes back to the simple saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Filmmaking, or appreciating film, is really left up to the eyes that are viewing a film. There does not always have to be a set audience, the film does not always have to be pretty, polished, and completely professional looking to be appreciated, and it is not always about “getting it right.” Sometimes experimenting and just having fun with the medium can bring about the best results, just as “rough theater,” as it was adapted for individual audiences, brought about the best results in a given venue.