Spring Semester Goals

Look back at the goals that you set in the fall, did you achieve them? Why or why not? How can you take steps or make corrections to achieve these goals? Where will you need to look to gather help or resources?

    Looking back at the goals that I set in the beginning of the year, I feel that I have achieved a basic level for the goals. The goals I set were very general as I had no idea what I was getting into, so there is always room to grow regarding them. I have met my first and third goal at a foundational level as I have developed my knowledge, analysis, and skills but have not reached the level of proficiency that I know is possible nor the level that I hope to be at the end of the year. Regarding the second goal, I have done this a little bit for the projects but I know that I need so much more practice to have actually achieved it. My idea when it came to my second goal was for me to be able to create an original story that I had thought up and developed and not one for a project or assignment.

    In order to achieve these goals to the point that I wish, I need to go beyond what we've learned in the first semester by practicing the skills that I've learned and striving to learn even more. The biggest thing that I need and hope to do is practice; practice as much as I can so that I can be confident in my abilities, so that I can effectively identify and analyze the choices and the art of the films I view, and so that I can create my own stories.

    In order for me to get the resources and help that I need, I should look to Mr. Furtado, the notes, the resources that are provided in places like the blog and assignments, my peers, and from credible sources such as experts in the industry.

Chase Film Reflection

Think back to when you pitched your chase film.  How close is your final product to what you envisioned? Write an in-depth reflection on what went well and what challenges you had while making it.  Dig deep!  How did you perform on the project?

    When my group initially pitched the sequence, our idea was a little bit bigger than what we ended up doing as a few of the beats had issues with them. The biggest changes we made during pre production was removing the party scene entirely and changing the twist from the box being empty to it having been a confetti prank. A few smaller changes we made before we started shooting was following the suggestion to add a person carrying a ton of boxes for one of our characters to run into and adding an end scene of the thief driving home dejected. During production, Liia came up with the idea to make a cowboy scene and we decided against having her throw her shoe at the park. Ultimately, my teammates' cuts of the film are much closer to what we envisioned and, besides those pivots, we followed closely to our original plan and pitch. Some things that went pretty well was the entire first shooting day that was on Sunday as everyone got there on time, the shooting process went smoothly, and no major issues came up. On the otherhand, the biggest challenge we faced was scheduling as for the subsequent shoots, we had to fight the clock to all get to location which was problematic as both Nicole and I had school that was 20+ minute drive without traffic, and on Monday was over an hour for me. This gave us very little time to shoot before the sun went too far down and the lighting got too dark. During the project, everyone did a pretty good amount of work. I was the primary camera operator and, whenever the others had the chance, they would shoot for whatever scene they weren't in.

How a TV Show Gets Made

What are three ways that television production is different than feature film production?  What did you find interesting about this process?

    Three ways that television production differs from the production process of a feature film are the amount of directors working on the show, the scale of the production, and the timing. It is very common for there to be multiple directors working on different episode of a tv show because it can allow for the production of both to occur simultaneously. This is something that is rarely seen in the production process of a film--the closest thing to this are secondary units during big productions, but the difference is that these are often for less important scenes rather than for full on episodes. Another difference I noticed is the scale. As each episode can vary in length from 20-45 minutes, maybe even the length of an entire movie, and there can be a lot of episodes to a show. The example given in the video said that the entire script was 600 pages long, which, is 10 hours long. For comparison, a feature film is two hours long on average. Another difference is the timing for both the production. As said before, episodes are often shot simultaneously in order to be able to get them out sooner rather than months apart.

Set Chain of Command

What are 3 key pieces of advice this presenter gives about the chain of command?  Why is it so important?

    Three pieces of advice that this presenter gives about the chain of command are having the DP and the head audio engineer in conversation, the DP with any crew members that they need, and the Director with the producer and Scripty. It's important for these roles to be in conversation with each other in order to spot, report, and solve any issues and keep communication efficient without having chaos on set. The DP and audio engineer can identify issues and report them, the DP may need different crew members to do specific things for the visuals, and having the producer and scripty in conversation with the director ensures that they know that the correct notes are being taken and for them to report problems to the director.

    

Director of Photography

Why is the director of photography role so important in a film?  What are some of their responsibilities on a film?

    The role of the director of photography is so important in a film because the DoP (or cinematographer) is responsible for the images and visual look of the film. Some of their responsibilities on a film are managing the lighting setups, the camera, and what can be seen on the cameras. As the DoP is the person in charge of creating the look of the film, this is primarily done via lighting. The DoP needs to research what is needed, i.e., their kit and crew, in order to achieve a desired look with their lighting. They also oversee the setup, telling the gaffer and grip about lighting requirements for the setup. The next thing that the director of photography is responsible for is the camera. They figure out what camera movements might be desired for the film and are in charge of the camera department. They discuss and work with the camera operator and focus puller in order to get the shot that they're aiming for. The DoP is also responsible for what can be seen by the cameras. This includes the framing and the blocking of actors. Additionally, on smaller productions, the DoP may also work as the camera operator.

Producer

Why is the producer's role so important in a film?  What are some of their responsibilities on the movie crew?

    The producer's role is so important in a film because they're often the first involved and are the driving force throughout production. Some of their responsibilities on the movie crew include managing the budget and finances, the creative aspects, locations, problem solving, and hiring the crew. One of the most important part of the film is the budget and the producer is the one who decides it, approves costs, and secure money from investors. The creative aspects of a film start with the producer, who either hires a writer for their idea or secures the rights to a script (optioning a script). The producer is also in charge of finding locations to shoot and predicting, identifying, and solving problems that may arise during production. The producer hires the crew for the production and is legally responsible for the health and safety of everybody on set.

Who's Who on a Film Crew

Why are there so many different jobs on a movie crew?  What is one job that you learned about in this video that you'd never heard of.  Why might it seem interesting?

    There are so many different jobs on a movie crew because there are so many different things that need to be done that require vastly different skillsets in order to run smoothly. For instance, the director is handling all the creative decisions on set whilst the assistant director handles the logistics on set. Although one can possibly do both, it is a tremendous amount of work, which is why roles like the assistant director exists. These jobs focus in one area so that each person on the crew isn't going to be doing more than they can handle and can actually do their jobs efficiently. One job that I learned about in this video is the gaffer. A gaffer creates the lighting designs and oversees its setup which I knew was a role but never knew the title. It seems interesting as I haven't learned that much about lighting and I hope to learn more.