Next Semester

Well, It's the end of the semester (Almost). After attempting to register, to no avail, I'm in one class and on the wait list in 4. I will be contacting all the professors and trying real hard to get into all the classes. It's stressful that I have only have 2 more gen ed classes so those classes are my only option. We will see what happens.

Wild Card Crew Position

I am the DP! I'm so excited to be the DP for this final project. I plan to incorporate a lot of different techniques and styles for this project to give it the disjointed feeling created by the reflexive nature of the mocumentary. For the opening "Hollywoodish" scene I will be using my Canon 7D to shoot with a very flat profile image for post grading and will be cropping the image to a 2:35 aspect ratio. Then the rest of the project will be shot in a documentary/office style. For this I'm using the Sony Nex VG20 to get that real world documenting feel. We will also be incorporating interviews and oh yea, I'll be acting in it too.

Editing sound for 3b

Hillary and I had a blast editing. Even though our original title was stollen from us (*cough* *cough*) we still managed to put our heads together creatively and create a sound scape that embodied, Check Fit, Then Dent. It took us little time to figure out our idea then we went through all of the libraries and individually listened to each track over. We marked which ones we liked and then the madness insued. We created something better than we originally thought we could create.

Sound Recording

My group was extremely busy for our sound recording project. We couldn't find a time for all of us to collectively go out and record sound together. However, Hillary was amazing and coordinated for all of us to get the recording equipment and experiment individually. I feel like everyone in the group took something away from having to do the sound on their own. For me I learned that my closet i a great place to record screaming and weird noises.

Master Shot editing

The Master Shot group I got couldn't have been any better. I really enjoyed my group and I believe the final project shows. As for editing, I tried to give everyone a chance to edit. I cut together the piece and gave the sound and other editing to Jessica and Grace. I feel like they had just as much fun editing as I did and we had a lot of laughs doing it. It was in the back of my mind shooting that this was suppose to be the MASTER SHOT. But, like any film set, problems arise and when we came up with creative decisions the Master Shot Sequence was far from our minds. I think we salvaged it a little though by taking the title and putting it where the Master Shot sequence starts.

Pre visuals

Curve balls

  This week has been rather up in the air for my group. We did our vox pops last week and it was like slicing butter, quick and easy. We were in downtown Wilmington for maybe 30 minutes and had all the vox pops footage we needed. We had our interview scheduled and ready to go. Then this last Friday our interviewee told us she was sick and couldn't do the interview, so we rescheduled for Monday. Then, Monday, she told us she wasn't allowed to do an interview because of the company she worked for.
  Everything we had planned was in shambles and so were we. Scrambling we found a new interviewee and now we are ready to shoot our expert interview Friday. Hopefully it will be as smooth as our vox pops were.

Blog assignment 4

  Well our original topic for the documentary was comics and our expert interview situation didn't work out. We have changed our topic to what makes the best sandwich.

Expert: Dee Russell, Manager at Subway, Wrightsville Beach, NC

Shoot Location: Dee's house

Tone: Tongue-in-cheek 

Questions:

1. How long have you been creating sandwiches professionally?

2. In your opinion, what constitutes a superior quality sandwich?

3. What steps do you take personally to ensure that the customer gets the best sandwich possible?

4. Have you ever had a happy customer do any thing extraordinary because of how you made their sandwich? Explain.

5. Have you ever had an unhappy customer lash out because of their sandwich? Explain.

6. What is the strangest request you've ever had for a sandwich?

7. How specific do some customers get about their orders?

8. How non-specific do some customers get about their orders?

9. How confident do you feel in your sandwich making abilities?

10. What is YOUR perfect sandwich? Why?

Vox-Pop:

1. In your opinion, what makes the perfect sandwich?

2. Which component is most important?

3. Describe a sandwich that made you want to die and go to heaven.

Our production schedule is:

Monday the 11th

1pm Get equipment from Kenan
1:05pm Leave for location
1:30pm Arrive at location
1:35pm Begin Set up and prep
1:50pm Begin interview
2:20pm End interview and begin tear down
2:45pm Leave location

Overheads


Storyboard

The third assignment!

Our group is going to be doing our documentary about comic books. Our expert interviewee is John Hitchcock. He lives in Greensboro and that is also where we will be interviewing him. We are going for a nostalgic tone with this documentary and will be doing our vox pops in downtown Wilmington. 

Vox Pop Questions

 Do you read comics?

        - if yes : What do you like about them?

                     How did you get introduced to comics?

        - if no : Do you watch any films or tv shows based on comics?

                    What has led you to view these yet not the source material?

                     Did the films spark an interest in the comics?

10 Questions:

1) What first drew you to comics?

2) What inspired you to pursue a career in comics rather than as just a hobby?

3) Has your passion for comics ever wavered?

4) Which comic inspired you the most?

5) Which comic would you recommend to a beginner.

6) In your lifetime how has the comic book industry developed?

7) Do you feel that the comic book films of recent have influenced the comic book community?

8) Where do you see comics in the next ten years?

9) In your opinion what has been the golden age of comics?

10) How do you feel that you have contributed to the comic book community?

Casting light Part: 2 (two days before)

   Man it is way to early for a saturday. We sit in the car half asleep waiting for our other group member to show up; she's not late, it's just to early without coffee for me to focus on the assignment that needs to be completed today. I take in the scenery surrounding the location of where we are doing the assignment. The Battleship sits across the river, cold, tranquil, and strong. It strikes me, the sharp textures that make this beautiful ship. The metal outer structure that holds her together makes for interesting shadows on the opposite side of the ship. The sharp features naturally cast dark and rigid shadows.
   It was so elegant, the way the shape of all the protruding features on the ship intermingled with the shadows that blended with them. Like a dark and deceiving dance between the architecture and light.
The early morning sun was the director and the ship the cinematographer playing with the position of the light and the effect it wanted to create.
   Then, it gave me a very disturbing feeling. As beautiful this game of shadows and objects was, it was almost reminiscent of the lost lives and terrible things this ship has seen. Even though it was lucky to now be retired, the shadows almost emitted the dark memories that haunted that ship.
   I'm sure that boat would have stories to tell. The light just exposed that there are dark and hidden memories of war and death. It made me think of my sick grandfather, how he always told the most interesting stories of war. He always painted an amazing scenery with his words, it's one of the things that inspired me to be a film maker. But like this ship, in his sickness came the darker stories. Sometimes they were the best and most interesting. Like the sickness casted a light on the old memories like the sun does on this ship I see before me.

Casting light Part: 1

   As I sit here in the Charlotte airport waiting on my flight to Nashville, I sit thinking about the flight from Wilmington to here. The morning started off somber and quiet. It wasn't until I was boarding the plane that I noticed the days first light barely touching the horizon. I took my seat and closed my eyes waiting to take off. Just after we took off the plane took a sharp left turn and I opened my eyes. The sun had officially risen over the landscape and the orange glow of light radiated through the windows casted a very calm and intimate light on the adjacent side of the cabin. I smiled, who knew a light could brighten the mood at the beginning of a long day of traveling.
   As I observed the light in that single instance, I turned my head to see the sun still slightly dipped below the horizon of the earth. The cinematographer in me examined it and questions began scattering through my head. If I was filming this, would my white balance be 4600K? What would my light meter read on the wall of the cabin? Geez, am I that much of a nerd that I think of these things outside of sets or class?
   I turned my head back to the light, it was peaceful. The orange glowing light made me calm. In that moment it wasn't about my inner cinematographer or the death of my grandfather, but how the single beauty of a ray of the sun could put a smile on my face.

Storyboarding a vision

My group luckily stumbled upon this beauty of a scene downtown.                                                                                   

Medium Shot

            

Establishing Shot

Filmmakers Statement

     Hello, my name is Ryne Seals. I have been making short films and videos since I was 16. In the spring of 2011 I did my first documentary for a friend of mine diagnosed with ALS. To this day over 350 copies have been made and distributed via the family. I really began getting into narrative short film in the summer of 2011. I started an unincorperated production company with some friends of mine called, Lonely House Films. Out of the 9 films we did, I was only apart of 6 and was primarily the Director of Photography. One of those films, that I was the Director of Photography and Co Director, was nominated for best acting in the Guerilla 48 hour Film Competition. 

     I want to learn as much as I can from this course to make myself a better filmmaker and story teller. I also hope to get a deeper appreciation for all the aspects of filmmaking and meet other creatives who enjoy doing what I do. 

     In 10 years, I hope to be working professionally in the film industry. I'd also like to see myself working as a Director of Photography in interesting and compelling features in the independent and Hollywood fields. I would also like to be a screenwriter and Director as well. 

     I absolutely love music. I play the guitar and drums. I like all kinds of music except bluegrass and country music and I prefer pop punk or metal music most of the time. I've been a vocalist for a few local bands in my hometown of Troutman, NC. I've also played guitar and drums for a few bands as well. Along with music I absolutely love photography, especially nature photography. When I go places I usually bring my camera along as my sidekick. I love capturing nature and all the beauty that is within it.