Blog 24 - Last Presentation Reflection

"Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the whole world." - Jean-Luc Godard

1) Positive Statement: What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

A: I feel overall, I am most proud of my content explanation of my first answer (aka my best answer). The answer, although simple on the surface, has a lot of jargon in relative to psychological terms and concepts. I felt as though complex, I was able to bring it down to a level of explanation for the typical layman to understand, resulting in the overall comprehension of my answer. In addition, I feel like as an overall senior project, I am most proud of my independent components. With these projects, I was able to fully express myself as a filmmaker and explore techniques I had never previously thought to do.

(2) Questions to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE P AP CR NC

A: I think for my final presentation I deserve an AE. Overall, I believe that I was able to hit all of my major content points and was as clear as possible in order to gain audience comprehension of answers. In addition, I filled my presentation with different demonstrations and examples across many different forms of media to convey a certain point or back up certain points. I feel as though these different examples that I was able to get across and make sense to the audience members. In addition, I feel as though I had good enunciation and speaking tone to the students.

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE P AP CR NC

A: I believe for my final assessment on my overall senior project that I deserve an AE as well. I feel as though I learned so much this year over the course of the project. I was able to gain so much from the project itself and learn new and interesting points about what it is about the psychological aspects of filmmaking. Over the project itself, my research has always been up to a high standard and to the utmost quality in relevance to usable sources for my final presentation and I-Search. My I-Search was completed with hard work and the maximized amount of effort I possibly could in order to release and produce such content. My interviews were some of the best resources I’ve ever received as well as some of the best advice I’d ever been given as a filmmaker.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

A: I think as a collective project, the senior project was a very good experience for me overall. Throughout the entire process, I was able to grow in knowledge and had new opportunities that I would have never been able to experience had it not been the ability to participate in this project. I really thoroughly enjoyed the production of my independent components and the journey of researching content I am genuinely interested in.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

A: Honestly, like I’ve already said, I enjoyed the project as a whole. There were a few moments where I did think certain things were tedious, but those were more in moments of procrastination and sleep deprivation. I wouldn’t do anything different for my project. I am proud of the way it turned out.

(5) Finding Value: How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

A: The senior project itself has allowed for so many new opportunities for me. It has allowed for personal growth and exploration into the film industry and research on a balance-able level. Through my project, I have made so many relations and began building my network of people for relationships in the field. Because of the project, I have been able to meet some of my biggest inspirations into my drive to be a filmmaker. It was a dream come true to gain advice and knowledge from such professionals that have shaped my career choice and aspirations.

Blog 23 - Exit Interview

"There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness." 

- Frank Capra

1.) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

A: My essential question is “How can a filmmaker maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience?” My three answers consist of the three main production aspects within filmmaking. They are:

• A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience by utilizing screenwriting elements to depict an engaging plot and colorful assembly of characters.

• A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience by utilizing screenwriting elements to depict an engaging plot and colorful assembly of characters.

• A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience's viewing experience by executing certain editing styles and applying appropriate music to heighten the emotions that are planned to be conveyed.

My best answer is my first answer which is that “A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience by utilizing screenwriting elements to depict an engaging plot and colorful assembly of characters.” I believe this to be my best answer due to the general nature of what a film is. Film has always been a storyteller medium. Our natural human nature drives us to look for stories and things we can relate to as people. When utilizing different types of characters, stories, and problems, you can truly maximize the emotional response during the audience’s viewing experience. Different people with different perspectives on the world can provide their own emotional input and personal experiences into the subjects portrayed on the screen.

2.) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

A: I was truly able to come to this conclusion right before the second lesson presentation. Three out of the four film industry experienced I was able to interview really advocated and voiced the fact stories and characters are the most important thing in a film that can draw audiences everywhere. Films can be flashy and aesthetic, but at the end of the day, an impactful film has heart and emotion that people can relate to and truly gain a deeper understanding of life with. With this answer, I went into my first independent component in order to explore the avenues of this answer and get first-hand experience with it.

3.) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

A: Over the course of my senior project, I think finding research was sometimes very difficult. When it comes to film, there’s a very surface level understanding that most beginning filmmakers know (editing techniques, angle styles, etc.) When it came to the research I was trying to conduct, I had to look into the base information in hopes to find something I could dig deeper into with psychology or emotional study. In addition, interviews were a bit difficult to arrange. Not knowing many individuals in the filmmaking field, I had to reach out to many very busy filmmakers. In order to land an interview, persistence and respect was key in finally landing not one, but two very big interviews with two of my biggest filmmaker inspirations.

4.) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

A: The two most significant sources that that I used in order to answer my essential question has to be my mentorship with Marc Estrada as well as an interview I conducted with Jason Lee from the Jubilee Project. Mr. Estrada really provided me with a kindness and understanding for a drive in an aspiring filmmaker like myself. He really helped me improve not only with my research, but as a filmmaker in general. He was able to provide me with so much personal experience and great information as far as what an emotional film needs. In addition, Jason Lee gave me a new perspective on film as a whole coming from a storyteller perspective. In addition, he gave me a lot to digest through thoughts with the ideas of psychologically affecting films through characters and plot.

Blog 22 - Independent Component 2

"The most honest form of filmmaking, is making a film for yourself." - Peter Jackson

1.) I, Isaiah Kai Maylad, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 71 hours of work.

2.) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

A:

Rocket Jump Film School. "Editing: Creating the "OH F**K" Moment. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IvhlF2wobo>.

Melanson, Julian. "The Psychology of Film Editing | Creative Post Production Techniques." Online VIdeo Clip. YouTube. 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinhQb3jiAs>.

Hockrow, Ross. "Pacing for Video and Cinema Editors: Timing and Types of Cuts." PeachPit. Pearson Education, 22 Jul. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2233986>.

Moura, Gabe. "COMPOSITION: Filling the Frame." TheElementsofCinema. The Elements of Cinema, 3 June. 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.elementsofcinema.com/cinematography/composition-and-framing/>.

The Slanted Lens. "Camera Movement Tutorial: How to Create Emotion." Online Video Clip. YouTube. 9 May. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P3oxjnFr0c>.

RocketJump Film School. "Cinematography 101: What is Cinematography?" YouTube. 26 May. 2015. Online Video Clip. 30 Mar. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXAr2yiYCV4>.

3.)  Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link)

A: Done

4.) Explain what you completed.

A: Over the course of my 71 hours of Independent Component 2 work, I wanted to try different shooting styles and editing techniques across different genres in order to get different elicitation of emotion. I filmed a short film that spanned over 3 different shooting styles and emotional elicitation in order to see if editing and cinematography can change the way a person perceives a film. The short itself had a very basic concept and simple story in order to focus more on the cinematography and visual aspects portrayed on screen. In addition, I filmed in a documentary style in order to film a series which monitored the progression of the senior Powderpuff team of 2016. It was to show the hard work over the course of the weeks leading up to the game itself. I also filmed a smaller scale dance concept video with Yuji Karuhaka in order to go back and practice and solidify the cinematography and techniques needed to create a successfully cinematic looking dance piece.

5.)  Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.

A: The work I’ve completed helped me solidify research and better understand on a first hand basis my first and second answer which had to do with cinematography and editing aspects. I wanted to explore different avenues of cinematography and see if by using different shooting and editing styles that an audience could be affected by it in an emotional way. I also wanted to compare the different moods and feels between each of the 3 projects and show to prove how each style has a different emotional impact based on camera composition and cutting styles.

Production stills from the short film

Over the course of the component, I completed a short film that was seen all the way through pre-production/planning stage all the way to the edits. We planned out from the very beginning the concept we wanted, the genres portrayed, and the emotional impact we hope to leave. We strategically set up our film so that we could potentially get as much out of the audience’s response as possible. Jacob Smith and I have worked countless hours laboring in the burning heat in order to perfect certain shots and go out to remote locations in order to get the general tone we wanted to set. In addition, a couple of our days were almost jeopardized by authorities due to the lack of film permits on certain locations.

Driving back from Day 1 location from a remote area toward a lookout point in La Verne. We were stopped due to the sunset.

Setting the scene for the next shot lined-up. Mapping out the safety precautions for the choreographed fight scene while racing the sun for light before the day is over.

We shot the entire production in a guerrilla style, which was a challenge on its own. In addition, we explored new cinematic techniques in order to get new types of shots with new types of scenarios, such as choreographed action fight scenes and moving car chases.

Filming a fight scene at a safe enough distance with blunt objects in order to practice set safety.

Lining up the shots in the remote location

In addition, to the short film, I spent my days after school keeping up the documentation of the senior class of 2016’s Powderpuff Journey to the endgame. I was able to document and edit together 3 episode of a series that would document the total process of Powderpuff from both the players’ perspective as well as the cheer team’s perspective.

Opening title sequence for A Journey through Powderpuff

Production stills from filming days

To view the Powderpuff Documentary Series, Click the link below:

A Journey through Powderpuff - A Documentary Series

Blog 21 - Interview 4 Reflection

"Film has formulas and there are set standards and rules that people tend to follow. However, when you're a filmmaker, once you understand those rules, go out and break them." - Tommy Trinh

To listen to my interview with Tommy Trinh. please click the link below:

Interview 4 - Tommy Trinh

1.) What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

A.) The most important thing I learned from my interview with Tommy Trinh was that filmmaking is a medium for the filmmaker itself. Looking at film in a grand scale, the audience is what is there to observe the film, however film is a compilation of everything the filmmaker has experienced. In order to be the best filmmaker you possibly can, one most need to go out there and be able to try new things. A filmmaker needs to be able to take a step back and look at the whole picture and see the world in different perspectives.

2.)  How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

A.) Overall, what I learned from Tommy has backed up a lot of my research and given me new avenues of resources to help solidify my answer 2 and 3 and provide more insight to what those two answers can teach to my class when I present my final information. Tommy gave me a lot of background knowledge and resources about the editing and cinematography styles of filmmaking and helped show me that there is more to film than simply the technical aspect.

Blog 20 - Fourth Interview Questions

"I think audiences get too comfortable and familiar in today's movies. They believe everything they're hearing and seeing. I like to shake that up." - Christopher Nolan 

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

A: Currently I have emailed a plethora of LA-based production groups that I believe have made great pieces of work that has affected audiences in many different ways. My highest hopes for an interview is with a cinematographer named Tommy Trinh who is in charge of his own production group called Formula Arts. He is also a key member of another production group called JK Films. With my past interviews I tried to explore the ideas of story and characters as an essential in affecting audiences emotionally. What I hope to focus on this time is the cinematography and editorial aspects of film in order to convey an emotional response.

2.  Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

A:

• As a whole, how can the editing of a film provide a visceral connection and emotional response to any given audience?

• How is it that a group of unlikely individuals and people of many different life experiences can come together and emotionally react at the same time when prompted to?

• Personally, what do you feel is the most important when experiencing a film for the first time?

• What do you feel is the most important aspect to note when determining what is visually portrayed for the audience to experience?

• In what ways does music heighten the movie-going experience?

• When conveying the film, which aspect is the most valuable when relaying information to the audience: cinematography, story, or editing?

• Suspending the disbelief of the audience is one of the key aspects of the viewing experience when watching any form of film. What filmmaking techniques are most important when building this believability?

• When laying out a shot list and/or storyboard, how do you ensure the most cinematic and informational shot possible?

• As a filmmaker, why do you believe audiences react the way they do when watching a film, whether it be crying, laughing, etc?

• Being that cinematography is so broad, what key elements of it are the most important when composing an emotionally empowering shot?

• What is the most noticeable mistake that can break an audience’s focus when viewing a film?

• Using cinematography and editing techniques, how can you hook an audience to buy and invest into the story in the first couple of shots of a film?

• What is the relationship like between a director, cinematographer, and editor?

• In what ways does color affect the mood of an audience member in a scene?

• Which aspects of the filmmaking experience have the most room for emotional investment?

• How did your past film projects better you as a filmmaker and shape your styles and techniques that you execute today?

• What genres have you personally worked with over the course of your career and based on those, which would you say would be the most difficult and intricate to convey a specific emotion to the audience?

• What do you feel is the most important aspect when trying to induce emotion into a general audience?

• How were you inspired to become a cinematographer?

• How can a filmmaker maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience?

Blog 19 - Answer 3

"Every film is a puzzle really, from an editorial point of view." - Walter Murch

1.  What is your EQ?

A: How can a filmmaker maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience?

2.  What is your third answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

A: A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience's viewing experience by executing certain editing styles and applying appropriate music to heighten the emotions that are planned to be conveyed.

3.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

A:

Certain cuts and edits can relay proper information at the correct times in order to get a well-timed response. Pacing is everything in the story and need to be in sync with what the audience is feeling emotionally. If the pacing is off, the audience won’t buy into a film and will lose interest very quickly.

Colors and grading can elicit subtle psychological feelings regarding to warmth and coolness of a shot temperature as well as a distinguishing factor as a storytelling device. Colors play a key aspect when telling a story. One of the prime examples of this is The Wizard of Oz. When Dorthy is back in Kansas, the film is shown strictly in gray scale colors and black and white to represent the dullness of the real world. However, when she is transported to the Land of Oz through the tornado, the film turns into a colorful masterpiece in order to convey the true nature of curiosity and wonder that is the setting.

Music adds to a idea called the supra-reality, a state of psychological absorption that audience members experience when watching a film. Without music, the whole perspective is thrown off, leaving out a missing emotional aspect in a film. The opening scene to Jaws, contains one of the most iconic emotional music scores that make audiences feel on edge and linger onto the suspense that it brings.

4.  What printed source best supports your answer?

A:

Mills, Robert. "Colour and Storytelling in Films." Robert Mills. Chris Alwood, 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 3 Sept. 2015. < http://www.robertmills.me/colour-and-storytelling-in-films/>.

Fischoff, Stuart. "The Evolution of Music in Film and its Psychological Impact on Audiences." Calstatela. Cal State LA, 24 June. 2005. Web. 10 Sept. 2015. <http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/abloom/tvf454/5filmmusic.pdf>.

Hockrow, Ross. "Pacing for Video and Cinema Editors: Timing and Types of Cuts." PeachPit. Pearson Education, 22 Jul. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2233986>.

Rocket Jump Film School. "Editing: Creating the "OH F**K" Moment. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IvhlF2wobo>.

5.  Tie this together with a concluding thought.

A: Editing is one of the most essential key aspects in a film. Editors are the ones that ultimately stitch together the random clips into the sequence of the story, letting moving images evolve into an epic.

Blog 18 - Answer 2

"Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities... much more so than music or language." 

- Conrad Hall

1.  What is your EQ?

A: How can a filmmaker maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

A: A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience by utilizing screenwriting elements to depict an engaging plot and colorful assembly of characters.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

A: A filmmaker can maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience by applying proper cinematography techniques to provide an aesthetic and visceral connection to the images portrayed on the screen.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

A:

a.) Angles alone can provide a sense of emotion in the way something is portrayed on camera. In the real-world certain things are depicted to be grandeur or minuscule to our eyes making us feel the ways we do when we see them. For instance, when we see a towering skyscraper closer to the foot of the building itself, we can truly see the breathtaking marvel that stands before us. However if you were to look at the same skyscraper 10 miles away on a hill, you wouldn’t have the same stunning reaction.

b.) Lighting can make a shot more interesting and appealing. In the real world, shadows and light sources are everywhere. However, in film, light tends to be more dramatized in order to get darker shadows to provide information to the audience in terms of visuals. With lighting, a filmmaker can chose what they want to show an audience and how they want to.

c.) Composition is a big deal and get us to feel uneasy in certain ways when viewing a film. Film usually has a list of normal guidelines and standards that are typically followed, like leading lines and the rule of thirds. However, filmmakers can sometimes deliberately break these rules in order to make an audience on edge about what’s about to be viewed on screen. It’s a very strategic technique, but usually works if executed properly.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

A: One of my best sources so far with my research that supports this answer is a book called The Five C’s of Cinematography by Joseph V. Mascelli. The book itself explores many of the techniques that need to be understood in order to properly convey visuals on a screen. These are concepts like continuity, composition, etc.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

A: Some of the other sources that highly support my answer are the notes I took from a college film class I took at Cal Poly Pomona regarding certain angles and the emotions that are conveyed with them. In addition, I found a filmmaker’s handbook to composition that really helped me grasp the concept of certain aspects such as lighting from teacherweb.com.

7.  Tie this together with a concluding thought.

A: Filmmaking itself is a very diverse field of study with many different aspects affecting the way an audience views and ultimately reacts to it in the end. Cinematography is one of the most essential and crucial elements in a film that can make an audience experience certain emotions. In the end, a cinematographer chooses what to show an and what type of information to provide them so the story can progress.