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 14 - Third Interview Preparation

"We believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things; and that doing good is contagious." - Jubilee Project

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

A: I plan on interviewing Jason Lee from a LA based production company called the Jubilee Project. The group has made several short films and public service announcements that bring positive messages and raise awareness for certain issues currently affecting people. Mr. Lee is one of the faces of the production company and has helped produce, direct, and write many of their works.

Here is a link to view their work:

The Jubilee Project

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview?

A: I have made contact with Jason through email and have actually scheduled one on Thursday, January 14th, 2016, at 5 PM.

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

A: As a knowledgeable filmmaker that’s worked on many projects that elicits a range of different emotions, did you have any resources that really helped you learn the craft? (Books, documentaries, articles, etc.)

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

A: (Introduce essential question) Is there anything you can think of that I could possibly do to help discover more about this direction of effective emotional delivery and filmmaking techniques? (other people I could interview in the future, projects I could complete, etc.)

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.

A:

• Why do you think we feel emotions when watching a film?

• Being a filmmaker, what would you say is the most important aspect when trying to deliver emotion: the cinematography, editing/music, or the story/screenplay?

Addition Questions:

• How do you deliver a message at the same time it is harmonized with a creative concept?

• By giving a lesson to an audience and tethering it with an emotional attachment, how do you feel it will affect them after viewing it?

• My essential question is: How can a filmmaker maximize the affective domain of the audience’s viewing experience? Before I give my three potential answers, how can you answer this question with your knowledge as a emotionally impactful filmmaker?

• Did you go to film school? If so, how did it help you become the storyteller you are today?

• 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?

• How do you establish a message and hook in audience in the first couple seconds of a film?

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

This is a profile  picture of Toby Wilkins that is currently on display on his IMDb page.

1.) Who is your mentor and where do they work? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

A: My mentor's name is Toby Wilkins. He is a British film director that has, in the past few years, made his large American debut. Currently, I am unaware of his current standings regarding occupational whereabouts since I have not yet been informed if he has signed on with any particular studios for any specific film projects. However, in the past, he has worked for studios like Sony Pictures, Crackle, and MTV on numerous amounts of “big-name” productions such as Teen Wolf, The Grudge 3, and Chosen. In addition, Mr. Wilkins has participated in a numerous amounts of independent film festivals, such as the Sundance Festival. Toby has also received a plethora of recognition for his outstanding achievements in the world of cinema, being commended with many awards, specifically for his horror films. Splinter, a film released back in 2008, was the horror movie that made a large impact for Mr. Wilkins’ career and helped boost his popularity, helping him land the other large titles I previously mentioned.

To visit his IMDb page, please visit the link below:
Toby Wilkins (IMDb Profile)

This is the film that Mr. Wilkins was highly commended on for his skills in horror filmmaking.

2.) What five questions will you ask them about their background?

A:

• What aspect of being a filmmaker do you enjoy the most when working on a project?

• Did you intentionally chose to follow the filmmaker career path you took, or did you ever want to pursue another field of work?

• How did the success of Splinter help better you as a filmmaker and shape your style and technique that you execute today?

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

• Over the course of your career, which film project have you worked on where you felt you learned the most?  What did you take away (learn) from that experience?

Additional Questions:

• Ever since your beginnings of filmmaking, which aspect of film do you feel you’ve improved the most on? (Ex: screenwriting, directing, acting, cinematography, editing, etc.)

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

• Being a horror director, what do you feel is the most effective way to build tension?

• To you, what’s more important in a good film: cinematography, story, acting, or editing?

• Having worked in both the realms of mainstream Hollywood and independent film work, what are the differences you’ve noticed the most when creating a cinema piece of the two different styles?