This past week in class we had a workshop on how to plan for our film. We learned about different techniques that can easily and cheaply take our movies to the next level, from using a green scream to making a fake courpse, Eric showed it all. He also stressed the importance of planning. Planning out your shots, planning ahead for as many things that could possibly go wrong, getting permission to be filming on the property you are on, and dealing with your crew and actors are all intergral parts of the film making process if you want to do it successfully and legally. After we talked about all of these things and several other topics, we were able to break into our teams to discuss our films.

My team made a lot of ground this week. We were able to talk through all of the storyboards and get on the same page as far as the sequence of events and the shots that we needed to protray our story effectively and creatively. We wrote out our script for the few portions of our film that include speaking parts. We discussed casting for the longest, talking about what we envisioned for our main character. We decided that he needed to be a very steriotypical college student. Who is slighly athletic and quite the slacker. Basically, he needs to be the typical dude. We each scrolled through our phone books and facebooks searching for someone who could not only fit the look, but also be willing to take time out of thier schedule to film, and could have some acting talent. This was a much more daunting task than it seemed. Finally we came up with several options, all of whom will be wonderful action heroes.

We also discussed some of the more experimental shots that we wanted to incorporate into our film.. One shot that we talked about was inspired by the movie we watched last week, Blow Out. At the beginning of our story, the action hero is frantically scrambling around his room getting ready and getting his things together after oversleeping and being late for his class. The shot will scan around the room around and around, showing his hysteria and the wreck his room and life are. I think it will be a very interesting shot to really grab the attention of the audience at the very beginning of our film. There are several other eye-grabbing shots in store for this film. I am looking forward to filming soon and have very high hopes for this movie. We have a lot of very good ideas and are taking care to plan it well, and I am hopeful that it will translate to film the way we hope.

This past week in class we watched the 1981 thriller "Blow Out", starring John Travolta and directed by Brian De Palma. It is about a sound operator who works in Hollywood on low budget horror films who inadvertently witnesses a murder. He investigates the murder and uncovers a conspiracy that goes much deeper than he could have ever imagined. While this movie was full of suspense, action-packed, and had a plethora of innovative camera techniques; it reminded me of why I absolutely hate 80's movies. I abhor 80's movies. I don't know whether it is the horrible jazz saxophone music that seems to be a staple of classic 80's movies, or the predictable, cheesy plots, or the dark, dreary colors in which these movies are set. Whatever it is, it makes for a downright depressing film.

I am much more drawn to the bright colors of Technicolor and upbeat musical numbers of the 1950'a. Even present day films that may be a little bit more serious and a tad dreary are more appealing to me then 80s movies. All of the Batman films are quite dark, both in color and in content, yet I enjoy those movies. Country for Old Men has no music whatsoever, yet I still like that movie as well. It is obviously not simply the dark feeling and horrid music of 80s movies that I dislike. I would say it is the phoniness of them, but early musicals caked on the cheesiness yet I still love them. I felt as though there was no real connection to the characters, no character development. I did not care out the characters, and there was never an reason for me to care about them.

One thing that both bothered and impressed me about Blow Out was the fact that I never forgot that it was indeed a movie. It always felt as though I was watching a movie, and at times it almost seemed as though the actors were aware that they had an audience. All of the showy camera techniques were impressive in themselves, however I feel as though they almost distracted from the story. Maybe, this is simply because I know that I am helping to plan our movie that we will be shooting very soon, that I was more aware of these elements. The cheesy and predictable slow motion running sequence was especially bothersome to me. De Palma has a nack for taking a story, turning it into a film, and the film into art. I can appreicate the art of this film, maybe just not the story.... or the horible saxaphone music.