Inspirational Techniques

When I start to think ahead to our film project due later on in the semester, I am going to be completely honest, I feel quite overwhelmed. I feel as though my knowledge of the world of film making and my level of creativity are quite inadequate to take on such a project. Even with this short film editing assignment due Thursday, I still am not totally pleased with my finished product (and probably never will be.) I don't know whether I am simply doomed as a film maker or just need to learn more and become more confident and not be so afraid of messing up. Well, whatever the reason, I am still looking forward to working with my team in trying to create an interesting short film using a variety of techniques with inspirations from many places.

I, personally, was very impressed with the movie Sunset Boulevard and the way in which they used lighting to add to the mood and drama of scenes. I feel as though, depending on which genre of film, my group decides to make, lighting will play a large part in the feel of the film and the individual shots and scenes. Also, in watching Citizen Kane, I remember the shots of the person with his face half-lit and half in the shadow, fading into a flashback sequence. I think the use of flashback sequences can be very effective in drawing the viewer in and creating a more complex and interesting storyline. One movie that I think epitomizes the use of flashback sequences to tell a story, is the movie Memento.

ONe thing that I think will pose a challenge to our team, is knowing when it is better to zoom in versus "dolly" in (I realize we will not actually have a dolly, but move in essentially.) When Eric was showing us the documentary on film making, there was one scene that was particularly fascinating. The shot started out on kids playing outside, then it zoomed out until you could see that it was the view from out of the window, then it continued to move out until you could see both the scene outside of the children playing, but also the scene inside of the people in the house. I think that this technique, although it could prove to be quite difficult to master for us amateurs could be quite a dynamic and effective transition if utilized properly.

I am very excited about the team I am to be working with because I believe we all have different strengths and ideas to contribute to the project, and I think we will collaborate well. I know we will be able to learn a lot not only from the workshops and films in class, but also from each other, and I look forward to diving right into this project ahead.