It's Such a Beautiful Day

I've always appreciated animated films that are as impactful, if not more impactful than big budget, live action films. Animation literally transforms nothing into something and there are no restrictions on what you can do and as long as you can imagine it, you can animate it. That being said, It's Such a Beautiful Day offers a very deep, meaningful story told through simple animation and narration.

It's Such a Beautiful Day tells the story of Bill, a seemingly average man who has seemingly average thoughts and feelings. Throughout the course of the film however, the audience learns about Bill's serious health condition and his questions about love, life, death, and what it is all about. He is worried about things that everyone is worried about and the film does a very good job of making Bill seem relatable and real. Strange and sometimes graphic images are used to illustrate how Bill starts to see the world through his illness and they are the most powerful scenes throughout the film in my opinion.

The film is an hour long and is actually a compilation of three twenty minute short films, all directed, produced, written, and narrated by Don Hertzfeldt, an American film maker. The movie is split up into three chapters but it flows very smoothly and keeps the attention of the audience throughout the entire picture. I often compare this movie to Daniel Keyes' short story, Flowers for Algernon, as they both illustrate the progression and regression of characters dealing with severe illnesses without skipping out on the turmoils that the characters live through. I love both of these pieces of work because the reader/audience can experience the character through their emotional spectrums. How they act and feel when they are happy, angry, scared, or just confused is really interesting to me and it makes the character more believable as it adds dimensions to everything they do.

I would recommend this film to anybody that loves animation and very compelling and thought provoking stories. I haven't seen any other Don Hertfeldt films but I will be sure to check out his other works as I hope they are as well executed as It's Such a Beautiful Day.

4 Tips for Writing Directing and Producing a Short Film

Writing a great script for a short film is hard. Most people feel like you have to lengthen the script to create an in depth story, which isn't true. To make the most of your limited pages and minutes use these ideas:

1. Create complex characters. 
Before or during writing, ask yourself some questions about your characters. Asking questions like "What was the worst moment in your characters life?" might seem silly, but it could lead you to some very interesting conflicts and plot points in your story. If anything questions like this will help you to make a world around your character it makes sense for them to exist in.  Here are some character questionnaires to start with.

2. Don't neglect your set. 
Though most of us are just happy to get a location to shoot in, remember that the location of your film can be a goldmine for planting character information and foreshadowing. Avoid exposition through dialogue by leaving a characters room a mess with clothes and make up before a date, or show the room as immaculate if your character is very controlling.

3. Make dialogue that sounds real. 
People in the real world don't talk in full sentences, they sometimes stutter, pause, misspeak, use contractions. Read your dialogue out loud while writing. Do you believe someone would actually say it? Don't waste time with lengthy dialogue when you could convey the same idea visually.

4. Be confident.
Throughout this process realize that this is your vision and you are going to have to work hard to bring it out to the world. Be your own best advocate. Be confident that your idea is great and that it can impact something, and people will be willing to help. No one wants to work on a film that even the creator isn't excited about.

8 Things I Learned From Making A Short Film

This is it... Last blog post of the year. I'm not saying I've looked forward to this day since the first blog post, but... yeah. Just kidding, Arturo (please don't fail me)! I had a lot of fun with my last blog post (100% because of the GIFs), and since we're nearing towards the final days of Fiction Field I, I felt like wrapping things off with some valuable lessons I've learned, assisted by the power of moving images. So here we go.

8 Things I Learned From Making A Short Film

1. Choose Your Positions Wisely

You're finally in your groups, and it's time to decide what you're going to contribute to the film. STOP. Before you go volunteering for a position, think. How much work do I actually want to do? Do I want to be responsible for the failure of this film? Do I know anything about lights? Am I organized enough to catch every single continuity issue there is? Thankfully, each member of my team were equally competent in their positions and we learned a lot along the way. But, looking back, I probably shouldn't have volunteered for three positions. Although it was extremely rewarding, I don't think I've ever been this exhausted in my entire life.

2. Always Pick Comedy

Just kidding. But seriously, really think about the type of movie you want to make before you decide. Think you can handle talking about suicide, murder and depression for four months? Are you sure? You can try as hard as you might to crack jokes on set, but trust me, it'll start to weigh you down.

In the end, you might have something that will leave an impact in your audience, but be prepared to accidentally become the most morbid person in your creative writing class.

3. Don't Do Anything Embarrassing

This, unfortunately, is inevitable. But if you can avoid it, try. On a film set, inside jokes at the expense of others is a long, grueling experience. Extremely hilarious when it's someone else, maybe not so much when it's you. If you do something worthy of your ridicule, you can be almost certain that you're going to hear about it every single day, of every single shoot.

It's one of the only things that keeps the group together and no one kills anyone. So maybe think twice before you clap the slate in the actress' ear, or don't lose your pants the night before a shoot. But if you do, thank you for your sacrifice for the cause.

4. Birthdays Don't Matter

Prepare for your best friends, roommates or parents to hate you if their birthday happens to fall during production season. Doesn't matter if they're Jesus, thou shalt not party on a shoot night.

But hey, if it's your or a crew member's birthday, cake on set is ALWAYS appreciated.

Thanks for being born, Paul.

5. Take Lots of Naps

All nighters are going to happen. More than once. When post production rolls around, you're going to forget what going to bed before the sun comes up feels like. The only good thing about this is that your other professors may let you slide on a few assignments due to your new zombie-like nature.

So if you have a chance to fit in a nap, take it. Squeeze in an hour in between classes, or put your head down at the library for a few minutes during a study break. Doesn't matter where, but trust me, you'll need it.

6. Keep Your Cool

Tension will thicken and tempers will rise. This is what happens when seven extremely different personalities are forced to work together for four months straight, running low on sleep, food and sanity. If you are a producer or director, it is especially important for you to keep calm during these times. People are going to snap and mental breakdowns will happen, and as tempting as it is to join in the anger and misery, you have to pull through and mediate the situations.

The storm will pass, and when it does, you'll be in a much better place if you didn't punch your crew members in the face.

7. Make Sure You Like Pizza

This will be your diet for the next few months or so. Maybe you'll get some bagels and coffee in the morning on a good day, but most likely it will be frozen pizza from the night before. So suck it up, and accept the cheesy goodness that is shitty delivery pizza.

8. Appreciate Your Crew Members

Your crew is like your family. Probably more so since you spend way more time with them than anyone else. Everything you do affects the group, and you can't do much without them. And just like family, they may get on your nerves, and you'll most likely get on theirs, but at the end of the day you have to love them. This semester, I had one of the greatest groups I could ask for. I made so many friends and memories, and created something I was truly proud of. Without them, this semester could have gone horribly wrong, and I thank each of them for not kicking me out (yet). Shout out to the members of Team Falcon (Patricia, Paul, Amelia, Kelly, Mike and David) for all of the hours and hard work that you put in and sacrificing their lives to create a twenty minute short film about butterflies. I love you all!

Now all we have to do is survive the premiere...

The First – a short film from shortoftheweek.com

Lately I've been trying to make it more of a habit to visit shortoftheweek.com. It's a great way to access the creative development of young filmmakers like myself. This week I watched a short film called "The First". At the beginning it seems like your average sun-kissed love story between a guy and a girl. By two minutes in though, it takes a dramatic twist. "You push like a girl", she says to him as they flirt sitting next to a pond. "Oh yeah?" he says, as the film quickly cuts to him falling onto a bed. You expect her to follow into frame, but she doesn't. Instead, another guy falls on top of him as they start to passionately make out.


WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE. I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS.

I might be lying when I say this, but I'm pretty sure this is the first graphic LGBT short that I've watched. I was confused and turned off, but at the same time drawn in to what this guy's life was all about. The story unfolds to tell a rather interesting story. There is also an incredible montage scene at the very end that is worth checking out. Put on your open minds and accepting eyes and check out this short 13 minutes piece:

I also recommend you support the director, James Sweeney, and check out his website here.

The cinematographer, Greg Cotten, was also a big part of this films success. He has a pretty kick-ass reel that is worth checking out too:

The Short that Forces You to Face the Unsettling Truth of the Digital Age

Earlier this week, I threw my backpack on top of my bed upon arriving home from class. Before even taking my shoes off, I got my computer out and did my habitual scroll through my Twitter feed. Within a few seconds, I opened Facebook and continued to scroll until I saw a link to a short film that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival called Noah. I figured I'd give it a shot, because I thought it was interesting that the short took place on a teenage boy's computer screen for the entire 17 minutes. The film was unlike anything I have ever seen done before. It did not take me into a different world. It did not act as a diversion from my every day life. It showed me a world all too familiar.

If you haven't already seen Noah, you need to be watching it right now. Unfortunately, the original video has been taken off of YouTube. Here's a different upload, but I'm not sure how long it will be before it's taken down. If it isn't working by the time you read this, then I suggest taking some time to search for it. It's worth it.

Noah begins with the high school protagonist logging onto his computer. His desktop picture of a girl and a guy pops up. I didn't even think about it. She was his girlfriend. And I was right. The short then proceeds to follow Noah as he flips back and forth between social media, online porn, gaming, music, etc. In the midst of all these distractions, Noah finds his relationship spiraling downhill. The style of storytelling through his conversations on various social mediums (Facebook, Skype, Chatroulette, and iMessage), along with the natural distractions of the internet, shed light on the frightening reality of modern romance's lack of human connection in the digital age.

It's mind-boggling the way Noah showed how much information our generation is accustomed to taking in on the internet. This was not done solely through Noah's short attention span on the internet, but the audience's ability to follow his ever-changing computer screen and piece together the story. As I mentioned earlier, that first picture immediately told me that Noah has a girlfriend. But an even better example is that tiny little notice that his girlfriend read his Facebook message. It isn't even the focus of the shot since he's writing in a different message, but it acts as the rising action to the climax. I mean, we're talking about being in the same minute that she read it, yet we feel him boiling in panic. All of these subtle cues tell the story and the fact that we can follow along and pick up on them weirds me out in itself.

I found Noah to be a horrifyingly fascinating film. It was a fearless depiction of how easily digital technology can be used as a cheat: having a serious talk on video chat to leave when things get hard or overstepping boundaries to find out the truth or using distractions to bury your feelings rather than deal with them. I recognized each wrong turn as they all brought back high school memories.

I remember the multi-tasking boyfriend who thought he mastered the appearance of giving his undivided attention. I was the girlfriend who accepted it and even felt comfortable starting a serious conversation, though well aware he's only partially present. And the worst part is that it wasn't just me. The film reminded me of every single person in my life. I set up that couple that was constantly in contact through digital technology to the point where they would panic if the other took more than a minute to respond. I knew that couple that continued to sneak onto each other's Facebook to find out who the other talks to when they aren't around. A friend of mine even dated a guy from Australia that she met on Chatroulette for a few weeks.

Perhaps the freakiest part is that some people I showed Noah to did not find it disconcerting. In fact, they were confused as to why I was freaked out after watching it. They found it interesting. I suppose as in they enjoyed the storyline? Maybe I've spent an abnormal amount of time thinking about digital technology and it's impact on our lives, but I think "interesting" is taking it a little too lightly. One of my friends even paused and minimized it to check if someone responded to them on Facebook. I wish I were kidding.

I truly believe Noah will hit you uncomfortably close to home, if you can manage to go 17 minutes without checking your phone, and leave you feeling uneasy with your current lifestyle. So please. If you didn't take the time to before. Scroll up and watch this. Maybe it won't disgust you that way it disgusts me, but if nothing else, it's powerful. And powerful films like this need to be watched.

Hidden Gems on the Internet

Recently, like most people in the world, I was procrastinating doing my work by surfing the internet. Fortunately, since my major is TV-R sometimes watching netflix or videos on YouTube can help with my major. Recently I found a YouTube channel that posts videos by animation students at a school in Denmark. One of the videos that I really enjoyed was one called "The Saga of Biorn".

Not only does the animation style remind me a lot of "How to Train your Dragon". But I thought the humor was very well done in this short. Especially in the ending, you can't help but feel bad for Biorn, I guy where just nothing seems to go his way...

Well I have now been watching videos by the YouTube channel Animation Workshop for a while now and some of them are very well done. Especially as far as storyline goes. It is very difficult to make the audience have a invested interest in a character in under 10 minutes, yet some of these videos are able to pull it off. Here is another video which I thought was very amusing entitled Captain Awesome.

I thought this was a great take on how Superheroes never seem have time to take a break from their job (not even to take a number 2). There are dozens of other animated videos on this YouTube channel and I recommend some of you guys check it out.

Paperman

Another Disney related post... sorry guys.

I had the pleasure of watching Paperman today. I had heard awesome things about it and finally got the chance to sit down and enjoy it.   Paperman is a short, black and white animated Disney film.

I appreciated this film for a ton of reasons.  First of all, I really took time to appreciate how the black and white shading of the film affected how the story was told, since our first project is being shot in black and white.  It really added a "classic" aspect to the film.   It helped stray away from when the story took place.  With the exception of some telephones that were a little "old fashioned", it was difficult to tell when the story took place.  Everyone was dressed in business/work attire, which also remains relatively the same among generations.  

Next thing I noticed was the use of many different aspect ratios we discussed in class.  I noticed a lot of the "Golden Ratio" being put to use.  A lot of the shots were very aesthetically pleasing.  Since this is animated, the animator has true control over where everything is placed.  One of the first shots in the filmed shows aspect ratios... 

See?

And probably the thing I appreciated most about this- the relationship between Paperman and Mickey The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  I liked how there was a relationship in the sense that there was life given to inanimate objects.  It was definitely cool to see a reference to an old Disney film. 

Lastly, the amount of characterization to a person who isn't even real.  I never stop being amazed at how characters that are animated touch my heart so close.  This film tells a compelling story, without dialogue, but through emotions of animated characters. 

Needless to say- I really enjoyed Paperman. Job well done. 

Incredible Short Film: La Culpa

Last year, Youtube tried an experiment.  They launched their own film festival, online, open to anyone.  It was called "Your Film Festival", and judging by the results, I'd say it was a success.  They had over 15,000 submissions, of which 50 were chosen as finalists for the world to vote on.  The top ten were then shown at the Venice Film Festival, and voted on by a panel.  The winner was a short film entitled "La Culpa" ("The Guilt"), by director David Victori.  I would suggest watching it fullscreen in HD.

This is a stunning piece of work.  It has an intriguing story that draws the viewer in, told with a minimum of dialogue.  All the technical aspects, the camerawork, the lighting, the sound, art direction, and visual effects, enrich the story and contribute to the emotional depth.  However, they do so in such a way that they never distract from the story, in fact, the technical aspects are almost invisible on the first viewing.

On closer inspection, it is all these small technical details that create such good visual storytelling.  The camerawork, in particular, is used to display the characters' emotions without any dialogue.  As the intensity builds, the camera motion becomes more and more erratic, which echoes the emotional turmoil and confusion that the characters are feeling.  There are also some great shots where a character snaps into focus right when they have a realization or change of heart.

Overall, this short film is extremely well done, with great writing, acting and production.  You can check out David Victori's other films on his Youtube channel, and the other finalists at Your Film Festival.  No word on whether Youtube will be hosting this festival again in 2013, but here's hoping!

Boom Op vs DP

Last week I posted a little about sound design, so this week I wanted to post about sound recordists and boom operators, the common audio positions found on a set. Sound guys notoriously get treated like shit. Most other crew members including Directors, Cinematographers, and Producers don't give sound priority. All they care about is the image that is being shot, but in reality the picture can be great but if it sounds bad then the entire film is going to be bad. That's just how it is. Of course there are exceptions to this and there are Directors and DPs that care and ask how a take sounded, etc, but for the most part this is the case on professional sets and especially on college sets. Sound doesn't get enough appreciation.

This link below is called "An Open Letter From Your Sound Department." It is written by the top Hollywood Mixers and Boom Ops and gives practical solutions for each crew member on set to make the film sound better. I bet no one knew that it is in the Grip's job description to help sound and set up sound blankets and work to create the quietest filming environment. I learned quite a lot from this letter and anyone can learn from this. Definitely worth a read.

http://filmsound.org/production-sound/openletter.htm

As someone who has both been a Director of Photography and a Sound Mixer/Boom Op, I can relate to this short animation that makes fun of this relationship between the camera and the microphone. Anyone that has done both these positions or just taken notice while on set of what goes on and where all the power seems to be. I would highly recommend everyone to watch this video.

There are plenty of things like this that occur on film sets and there are quite a few of these animations that poke fun at it all and they are all funny and completely true.

Learn, Move, Eat

Some have you have probably seen these before. Basically these short films are about "3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films....."

Its pretty cool to see how these guys told the story of their travel by boiling it down to 3 basic principals

Can you win an Oscar?

Oscar night was sort of a letdown for me. The hosts being probably the weakest since, well, The Oscars. Showing how Bob Hope hosted the early shows only emphasized the huge talent gap.

However, the highlight of the evening for me was Luke Matheny, the Brooklyn based filmmaker, writer and actor whose “God of Love” won the 2011 Academy Award in the Best-Live Action Short category.

The short film was Matheny’s thesis at NYU’s graduate film program. It had previously won the gold medal at the 2010 Student Academy Awards, a special jury recognition at Aspen ShortsFest and first prize and the King Award for Screenwriting at the NYU First Run Film Festival.

He is of course not new to the festival circuit. His previous short film "Earano" -- a hilarious take on Cyrano de Bergerac's love exploits, won the King Award for Screenwriting at the NYU First Run Festival, an honorable mention at the Angelus Student Film Festival, and Best Student Short at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada.

So, can you win an Oscar? Yes, you can. You just need to walk the walk...

Here is "Earano" in two parts: