Test Shoot Notes

Well i shot a lot of my footage Sat. and i changed a few things from the script. MAinly the part about having toilet paper being stolen. I shot my coffee table and keys disappearing off of it instead. this week i should animate the images with characters to steal the keys and run off. I got enough footage to test animation and then i also acquired some high quality sound of these scenes using the sound equipment from my sound class. simply opening the shades in my living room and turning on a side lamp gave enough lighting for the scene so i feel it all worked out all right.

ok part 2. the elf took Ben's t.p. and he goes after him pants down and all. just outside the bathroom, around the corner the elf is spotted again only this time Knuckles from Sonic 2 flies in right behind him. The elf runs into Knuckles and he laughs then punches the elf who then drops the toilet paper. Flashing a thumbs up, Knuckles then quickly speeds off. Ben walks outside towards his car and is nearly hit by Mario rushing by in his go-kart. Ben gets in his car and drives to schnucks. Upon walking in the store he warps to a world video game. In the store he must complete 3 different levels of 3 separate genres of games to reach the milk. Stage 1 will resemble a Bomberman game with pictures of random people found in a supermarket as enemies. Level 2 is a stage of Mortal Kombat II, and Level 3 will resemble a good ol' Mario game. THe milk will be after the final stage and Ben will be reanimated for each game accordingly. I also plan on using supermarkey aesthetics in the design of the the game levels. Once at the milk Ben, exhausted, grabs whole milk on accident. Ben's girlfriend notices immediately that the milk is whole and not skim.
Wendy: Oh Great. Whole Milk.
Once again three choices are displayed for Ben.
[1. What? Who put this in here? 2. Yeah! and you're gonna like it too! 3. (say nothing)]
Selection highlights choice 1.
Ben: What? who put this in here?
Wendy: Hah! Oh really? You expect me to believe that? I'll eat my cereal dry it's ok...

pause screen.. highlight selects "load checkpoint 2."

cuts back to last selection screen and it selects 2 this time.

Ben: Yep! and you're gonna like it too!
Wendy: (cocks head to side and raises eyebrow with slightly menacing look in eye) Oh really...

pause screen. highlight selects load checkpoint 1.

Cuts to Ben back at the supermarket.
He looks at the doors with an exasperated look. then takes a long sigh and walks to enter yet again.

The End

Wicked Pixies

I just came across a blog where they had ripped actual pixel's from old-school videogames. Just searching through these brought up a ton of ideas, which is awesome cause i have been at a loss for ideas on my script lately. Check out some of these "pixies".


i can incorporate these pixels into the movie to further promote my theme of life as a videogame. I want to make Mario pass by just as another car on the road. And other various characters will be stumbled upon by the main character.






I want to turn an average event of going to the grocery store into a videogame level where the main character must navigate a labyrinth of a store to get skim milk for his girlfriend. Upon reaching the dairy section he must defeat scorpion and in the midst of all the action he mistakenly picks up whole milk.














Opening credits appear as Ben wakes up from an afternoon nap to his girlfriend, Wendy, calling and asking him to stop by the store.
(Phone rings)
Ben picks up phone and looks at who is calling, then answers.
Ben: Hey Boo.
pause Ben: What do you need?
pause
(screen comes up showing 3 choices of remarks for Ben to say. An outline switches back and forth signalizing a selection being made. Option 1: OK fine i'll run by and pick it up for you.
Option 2: Umm... No.
Option 3: I really don't understand why you get that watered down crap.
(the selection highlights the choice of...)
Ben: I really don't understand why you get that watered down crap.
pause Ben: Whatever you look great.
Screen appears with text saying
"Do you accept Quest: Skim milk?" With options "sure. why not?" and "She can get it herself." as two options.
(Selection highlight moves over the options.)
Ben: Yeah i'll be over once i pick up the milk.
Ben gets up to go to the bathroom and sits down on the toilet as sound effects similar to when mario warps between levels through pipes. He looks around for the toilet paper as suddenly an elf from GoldenAxe appears in the door with the t.p. in grasp. The elf chuckles then runs off with the paper in his sack.

Focusing My Scope

I want to elaborate on one thesis from my manifesto and constrain it to the the spectrum of what i want accomplished in my next film. All beings are trapped inside a world expanded by the vastness of their own knowledge and experience. Humans, however, possess the intelligent capacity to imagine our own events from our life experiences. This is what i refer to when i say we can do whatever we want within the bounds of our own perception. What happens to us in our lives molds us into the people we are, yet our own choices also affect what happens to us, thus we are partly responsible for the people we become.

My film is going to be a normal everyday account of how we can tap into our experiences to play out in our heads the consequences of our actions. A boy and his girlfriend hold a seemingly simple conversation. The viewer will get a chance to see the thought behind the dialogue by combining the scene with the style of conversations in role playing video games. Possible responses are laid out in multiple choice and played out, if an unwanted result is achieved another approach is attempted. Good actors are able to consider the subtext and what the character is thinking along with what the lines are. The subtext tells everything, as no one truly says exactly what they feel all the time. I intend to breakdown our thought processes and show why all our past memories directly affect how we react.

Response to Feedback on Manifesto

Talking to the class wasn't bad. I generally write as if i'm speaking to an imaginary person. I didn't feel too energetic today so i didn't give it my all but other than that i think i did ok. Feedback varied from critiques on whether there could actually be film made for animals and not only humans, to whether movies are just for entertainment and how aware we are of the ideas that are embedded in all sorts of media. J Wiss. was particularly interested in the fact that i saw actors as a majority of the blame for bad movies. Which i still hold as true. Acting could truly make or break a film if editors or directors aren't skilled enough to cover it up. the audience could easilly be pulled away from a film because of it. After feedback i also found that i should clarify conflicts in my manifesto and elaborate further on what i want my movies to show. To clear up contradictions, i take back the idea of movies only being for pure entertainment. Every movie inevitably brings with it the personality of the director and the world he has perceived will hold many similarities to his own ideals and standards in life. It is just apparent that the time, thought, and personality that go into a movie show once it is released. This being said we make movies for people to help people, whether it be by making the audience laugh or even cause them to understand themselves better if only by watching how others interact. We are all subject to the world we live in whether we like it or not; it molds us. Understanding how others have coped with their own realities is the best way to find inspiration for dealing with our own. Movies entertain because they cause us to think.

Manifesto

This is extremely hard for me as there are very few things about movies that i dislike. Let's face it, movies are entertainment and as long as something is interesting and semi-professional, it's hard to go wrong. I still laugh and awful horror movies just because they are so cheesy i and unrealistic i can't even allow myself suspension of disbelief. What i hate watching however is bad acting. I know it's hard to find good acting sometimes but it is an obvious show or low amount of funding (or poor budget management) for a movie if the actors aren't believable. I understand if they are youtube videos and student films however cause there is virtually no funding. THere isn't one concrete attribute that makes great movies nor is there a bad trick that never works on any film. If a movie is done creative, orginal, or just interesting to me i'll watch it and most likely enjoy it. I'm not interested in movies to create breakthrough artistic achievments. Let's just use movies for what they're great at, promoting ideas and understanding for the human condition. Which is that we can do whatever we want within the bounds of our own perception.

Memory Essay

My memory is of a dream. A dream is after all our mind subjectively organizing our memories. My dream starts out at night. MY friends Stephen, Austin, and I just pulled up next to this dimly lit street where we have information of a couple of thieves that had just skipped town in a hurry. Circular stepping stones lead the way up to the dark and hollow shell of a house. OUr lights search the interior of the house inquisitively. The interior is barren save for a brand new bike laying in the middle of the living room. Light glistens off the stainless steel cylinders of the frame. CRASH! Stephen is already inside the house lurking through the shadows. He approaches the bike, a narrow hallway falls behind him. Slowly light leaks through the door at the end of the hall. The light grows brighter as the door cracks open. A silhouette falls in front of the light and moves ever closer to stephen. Austin and I move to Stephen to make sure he sees this figure. We don't move. The figure still glides ever closer, yet we don't move since we are too curious and the figure does not appear menacing. The figure of a girl is revealed. Her head bowed down, still moving closer she appears to glow a faint white. Slowly her head raises to show a fair complexion, yet her eyes remain closed. Suddenly her eyes shoot open to a blackness completely void of any light; a glimpse into the abyss. We bolt. Our feet soaring over the grassy lawn we reach the truck. Stephen takes advantage of the truck bed as Austin and I jump in the cab. Upon takeoff I remember that we left the front door wide open, and as my gaze reaches the horizon in front of us, two black eyes are seared into the windshield.