Making a Narrative Film

In film class my second film was a narrative which is different than a documentary. A narrative film is fictional and follows the beginning, middle, end of traditional linear films. My groups film was entitled Nickels and Mimes which is about a mime who gets his tip jar stolen by a couple of bullies, but ultimately the bullies get beaten up by two big "bouncer" mimes. Once filming was done we faced, once again, the mountain that is post-production. We added music cut and shortened different shots, added titles screens and credits, and ultimately had a rough cut. During our rough cut critique we were slammed for it being too short (it was 6 minutes and was supposed to be between 9 and 12 minutes). My group and I had to go back and film more shots and get more b-roll footage (filler) and go back and re-edit. When we were finally finished with post-production for our final cut we barely scraped 9 minutes. We presented our film for final cut critique and it was received very well and my group and I were incredibly pleased. It was a complete turnaround from rough cut critique. We waited anxiously for a week until Dr. Glaros our grade back and we were ecstatic to find out that she had awarded us an A- on the project and we were very relieved.

Making a Documentary Film

In  my film class we had three projects, one of which was making a documentary film. My partners and I brainstormed many options and at the end we came up with two really solid options: The Robinson Film Center, or an MMA fighter. We ultimately chose an MMA fighter named Mohammed Shihadeh or Mo for short. Mo is Muslim, about 6 foot 3 and incredibly nice, he always has a smile on his face, (they call that a paradox). We set up and filmed him training, filmed interviews with him, and his family, and of course filmed his climactic fight, which he won I might add, and got to work editing. Now while most people think that the actual production of the film (filming) would be the most difficult I shall enlighten you. Filming is small pebbles compared to the Mount Everest that is post-production (editing). All told my partners and I spent nearly 24 hours editing, 15 of those hours were without so much as a bathroom break. Editing takes so much time because of all the little details such as jump shots, and time codes. we have to add music and voice overs which are very precise arts. Overall we ended up getting an A on the film and it felt so great to have worked so hard on something and to have that hard work rewarded. 

Meeting Jeffrey Goodman

In film class I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Goodman director of the upcoming movie The Last Lullaby. This movie is stars Tom Sizemore and Sasha Alexander, Sizemore plays a hit man who is retired but is forced to come out of retirement. Goodman let our class know what it is like to be an up and coming director and the trials he has faced. Goodman told us about convincing people to donate money, and how it was filmed in such a short time-span. Goodman said that he realizes that his film may very well flop, but he also noted that it has received outstanding praise from many festivals. Goodman says that if the film does do good he will be able to make more films that are not independent and he will be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a big time director. Goodman is a very down to earth guy and has no delusions about how being famous might affect him or his fiancee. He is also very young (early 30's) and this is a huge break for someone that young, and he also does not take that lightly. As of now he is very nervous about his film and stated that he does not believe he will get much sleep until May 1st when the film is premiered at the Shreveport Boardwalk. I plan on going to see this film and I hope that it will do as good as it merits.  

On Fairy Tales

As we are reading fairy tales in class I got to thinking more about the uses of fairy tales in a more contemporary world (i.e. today). As I mentioned in class I believe parents tell fairy tales to their children because fairy tales are a way for children to understand to big, mean, and complicated for them to understand. Freud stated that fairy tales are all about subconscious insecurities, such as Jack and the Beanstalk being about castration anxiety and other such nonsense. To put my opinion bluntly Freud did enough cocaine to kill a horse (not only comedic, but actually factual), I believe we should just let fairy tales be fairy tales, I believe we do not have to overanalyze them anymore than they already have been. Fairy tales need to be left innocent to do the good for the world, and to help the children understand the world in which they live until they become old enough to comprehend it.

Talk with Muldoon

A group of about 7 of us sat around a table on the 3rd floor of Jackson Hall waiting to pick Paul Muldoon's brain about anything that we decided to talk about. We talked about all sorts of subjects ranging from (of course) his poetry, other literature, music, and movies. We talked about Nirvana (the band, not the Buddhist belief), and covers of All Along The Watchtower originally by Bob Dylan. We talked of novels that had been adapted into screenplays, such as The Shining, and The Godfather, and we talked about the pros and cons of such actions. Throughout the entire session Muldoon seemed completely at ease about everything, fielding every question, and piping into every conversation with incredible ease. about halfway through the session I realized that this man knows more about everything than I could ever hope to know about any one thing. I left the session nearly dazed thinking about everything that we discussed trying to recall how we even got onto those subjects. It was really interesting to just sit and have a normal everyday chat with an internationally renowned poet.  

Muldoon

As I sat and watched Muldoon read his poetry two things about the man caught my attention: one is that he is a very witty man and inserts breaks in his poetry that he uses to speak about the lines. The second is that although he may be witty his poetry is from the heart. Muldoon's actions and his past inflect the poems to where the listener (and certainly me) felt as if the poems were my past. I felt so penetrated with this man's life that I could not help but listen with rapt attention. After listening to Muldoon I left the Whited Room and wandered around campus for a while just asking myself what this man had in his life that I didn't besides more experience. Why can't I write poetry as witty yet at the same time as serious as this cheerful Irishman? After awhile I gave it up and walked back to my room but felt as if listening to him speak his poetry had changed my life and altered it forever.