End of the year

I decided I was going to change up the last post and just say how much I learned in the class and how much I enjoyed it.

To start I think Arturo Sinclair is incredibly knowledgable about the subject he teaches. I thoroughly believe that I got the most out of this class than any other class i took in TV/R. Learning about being a perfectionist and striving to make the best films we possibly can. I was inspired by the class and I am excited to continue my film journey. Thank you again Arturo for being such an open teacher and and being critical because it definitely pays off. I guarantee that I will being using almost every one of your life lessons in any future production I make. Have a great end of the year.

P.S. I have states tomorrow (Saturday May 4 all day) and will not be able to make the screenings.

#42 A Legend

I'm a really big sports fan, especially sports like baseball and football. When it comes to baseball, I'm a big fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and their history in the Major League Baseball. The experience of baseball changed forever when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first African American to play professional baseball. Jackie was born in 1919 in Cairo Georgia. Jackie became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, football, basketball, and track. In 1945, Robinson played one season in the Negro Baseball League with the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1947, Dodgers owner Branch Rickey approached Jackie about joining the team and throughout his career, he faced much discrimination and abuse for playing baseball. After his first season with the Dodgers, he was the National League Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the year with 12 home-runs, 29 stolen bases, and a .297 batting average. Finally in 1962, Jackie Robinson was inducted to the baseball Hall of Fame.

With all of that said, director Brian Helgeland, director of 2010 Robin Hood, L.A Confidential, Mystic River, and Man on Fire, is directing a motion picture called "42," which gives audiences a visual of the history making moment when Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers.

When I saw this trailer, I immediately fell in love with it and agreed that I would go see this movie. Harrison ford plays Dodger owner Branch Rickey, Lucas Black plays Robinson's teammate Pee Wee Reese who took the famous picture with Jackie with his arm around his teammate. Playing Jackie Robinson is not a well known actor, but it is Chadwick Boseman, who is known for his roles in All My Children, Persons Unknown, and The Kill Hole. This movie is set to open April 12, 2013. 

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and definitely see this trailer. 

Words of Wisdom.

As mentioned earlier in the year, I love to watch sport movies because they can be inspiring to a lot of audiences especially to the minds of younger adolescents. What makes the sport movie worthwhile besides the adrenaline of the action is the quotes that come from the movie that are inspirational besides just being plain AWSOME. Inspirational quotes from sport movies give the movie that extra boost in what inspires kids and could teach them moral values.Here are some quotes that I love to hear when I watch sport movies...

1. "Heroes get remembered, legends never die"- Art LaFleur as Babe Ruth in The Sandlot.

This was a great movie watching as kid that followed nine boys who played baseball on their old beat up looking sandlot field. It was a summer film and these kids did nothing but play baseball all summer long. However, when a ball signed by Babe Ruth is hit over the fence of a neighbor with a supposedly killer dog their summer of baseball turns into a thriller as they do everything in their power to get the ball back. When all seems lost, the leader of the group, Ben Rodriquez, has a dream that Babe Ruth visits him and tells him to jump over the fence to retrieve the ball and says this quote that inspires him to do just that.

2. Death Crawl from "Facing the Giants"

I couldn't come up with the words to describe this scene, but when you watch this scene you can very well be inspired as I was. This is the story of Grant Taylor who is going through a tough time in the community. Not succeeding at being the greatest coach, the parents and student are through with his coaching and want him replaced. He is struggling financially, and him and his wife are struggling to have a kid. In this particular scene he teaches his players especially his captain the importance of giving all you got and not giving up until you can go as far as you can go. There is no telling how far you will go, but give everything your best and hardest and don't quit.

3. Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Gaines halftime speech in "Friday Night Lights"

I love this scene from Friday Night Lights because it can describe a moment from experiences I had on the field playing football in high school. When our team made it to the semi-finals in the state tournament, we were losing pretty bad at halftime and we came away losing 66-8. We played a rough but great team, but at halftime our coach told us almost exactly what Billy Bob Thornton told his players in this scene. From our coach he said "Being perfect is not what we accomplished this year, it's how you all can look into your teammates eyes and tell each and everyone of them that you did your best and didn't let them down. Being perfect is how we accomplished where we came this year by playing as a team, a family."

4. Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in "Remember the Titans"

Save the best for last I always say. Probably my favorite sports movie of all time and my favorite inspirational speech of all time comes from Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in Remember the Titans. Throughout the beginning there was problems with the team as African Americans joined the once all White titans team. There was much discrimination and fighting in the movie until Coach Boone takes them on a run to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg and makes his famous speech about coming together and playing as one. My most favorite line in the history of motivational speeches as to be when he says "If we don't come together, right now on this hollow ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other and maybe...I don't know maybe we'll learn to play this game like men." I can't tell you how much this movie amazes me every time I watch it how they overcame their differences and learned how to play together.

Motion Graphics and Animation!

So this post isn't really entirely Fiction Field Production related, and I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me. BUT it is about Motion Graphics and Animation, so it'll be super cool, I promise.
I ended up enrolling in not one, but two of Arturo's classes this semester and I decided to post today about the other one, Motion Graphics, because we're all thinking about registration about this time of the semester.
SO. The class, which meets twice a week, deals with learning animation and effects in Adobe After Effects. We've also spent some time discussing other programs, including Photoshop and Maya, but we spend most of our time learning After Effects.

After Effects Launch Menu

So far this semester we've learned various elements of After Effects, including how to use rotoscope, motion tracking, green screen, color correction, and we've played with many of the effects that come with After Effects. 

Our first assignment that we completed on our own was a music project. We had to pick a song that we liked and make a graphic video to accompany it. Some people made lyric videos, which are becoming very popular on YouTube. Others made more interpretive videos, but all of them were really cool, and it was interesting to see how everyone interpreted the assignment. 

For my project, I did the song "Radioactive" by a band called Imagine Dragons. I really liked the feel and the beat of the song, and I used it to create my general theme of "red" and "sparks." 

My Lyric Video Project

I really liked this project because it gave me a chance to figure out After Effects for myself, and use the information I learned in class. I used many of the effects I learned in the class, but I also utilized one of our class resources. This great website, Videocopilot.net specializes in 3D effects in After Effects and other various motion graphics software.

If you're interested in motion graphics and animation, feel free to ask me about the class! Good luck with registration :)

Student Work

The other night on The Directors Chair, I interviewed a friend of mine Brando Benetton who shot this in Kenya over Christmas break last year. A sophomore in Film, Photography, and Visual Arts here in the Park School, Brando has made some great films and has remade a number of different trailers from motion picture movies today including Inception like so....

He has made trailers for Knight and Day, Easy A, Dinner for Schmucks, and many other great movies. A talented guy, Brando is following his dreams here at Ithaca College to work with movies and create great films that will draw the attention of audiences everywhere.

The Kenya video above is a music video with the music Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin. Brando used a Canon T3i and shot this when he went to Kenya to explore and experienced many animal sightings.

Brando's trailers were also shot using a Canon T3i. A process he loves, Brando loves to get to the movies early to see the trailers to get ideas for which ones he wants to shoot next. Brando uses his own cast and crew and will often make appearances in his own trailers. There have few trailers in which Brando has had random appearances from Hollywood actors like Dylan Baker http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048414/ and Alan Rickman http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000614/.
If you want to see more of Brando's work, you can go to youtube and type in BBB pictures and click on BBB Pictures "Trailers" Remakes.

My Favorite Movie

Over my break thus far, I have sat down and watched my favorite movie Inception directed by one of the most notable directors in the industry: Christopher Nolan. I mean not only was this movie well written, but the special effects and visual effects were tremendously well done. The first time I went to watch this movie I wasn't to intrigued to see it after watching the trailers. However, when I saw the movie, I left the theater totally mind blown. LITERALLY. I was so confused about what happened, but the story kept me on my seat and each minute that passed through the last scenes was a total nail biter more me. I watched the movie again and again and began to understand more of it and the hidden messages through out. I thought the characters were well picked for these roles. Leonardo DiCaprio played Cobb, the dream extractor and played an excellent leader of the group. Learning about his life through the plot made it even better and the story entertaining. Ellen Page showed true maturation through this film. After seeing her in Juno, I didn't expect her to do as well as she did, but she pulled off the part well. What can I say about Tom Hardy? An amazing actor with a lot of talent. I found his acting to be tremendously well-done and thought he did well playing the "bad-ass" of the group. Finally what movie isn't complete today without Joseph Gordon-Levitt? I remember watching him as a kid in one of my favorite child-hood movies "Angels in the Outfield." He has also grown up to become a really mature actor with the potential to do many different parts. I've enjoyed his roles and look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

After a few awards at the Oscars in 2011 including best achievement in Cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects. I have to agree on all these awards because this movie produced excellent sound that followed the movie well. One of my favorite effects from the movie was the rotating corridor scene when Joseph Gordon-Levitt was fighting off an assassin. The scene consisted of a 120 foot long by 30 foot wide revolving corridor. The corridor was constructed of wood and was backed by steel tubing. I-beam rings with roller wheels were placed every 16 feet along the length of the corridor. The wheels were connected to two 55-hp electric motors, which were synchronized by a computer. The corridor would rotate every 10 seconds clockwise and counter-clockwise. The cameras were placed on tracks that were placed in the corridor to shoot the fighting scene. 

  

Are You Kidding Me? REMAKES!

What annoys me more than awful sequels/ trilogies is when a motion picture studio decides to make a "remake" of an original movie that came out years ago. Like sequels/trilogies, there are few good remakes, but most ruin the reputation of the original film. It makes audiences appreciate the original movie that came out years ago. There is nothing like a huge slump in the box office when the oldest edition of a film does better than the newest edition. Below are 2 of the many remakes that I left thinking "Really!!! Come On"

1. Total Recall

Before I watched this years newest edition of Total Recall with Colin Farrell, I watched the 1990 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger. While I thought this was a decent film to sit through, after leaving the theater I thought the 2012 was nothing compared to the original. Ok maybe the special and visual effects were much more advanced, but I followed the story and characters better in the original story. Here is what I want to emphasize about above when I said "slump in the box office." In 1990 when Total Recall, it made an overall gross of $119 million with $26 million opening weekend. 22 years later, the Total Recall's overall gross slumped down to $59 million with the same opening weekend around $26 million.

2. Psycho.

After watching Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, I literally peed myself and couldn't take a shower with the curtain closed. I thought Anthony Perkins played an excellent Norman Bates and I thought the overall quality of the film, despite in black & white was overall well done. After watching the 1998 film directed by Gus Van Sant starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, I was in utter disgust of how they remade this movie, ESPECIALLY in color. I thought it gave it a more terrifying film in black &white. Talk about a slump, the first Psycho made a total gross of $32 million while the 1998 film made a total gross of $21 million.

In all, I feel remakes are an enormous waste of production money and we as audiences don't need to watch movies a lot of us have already seen. However, I cant say that about all remakes because some have actually turned out quite well and have done a great job in the box office.

Spielberg's Lincoln

For many years as I can remember I have always been a fan of Steven Spielberg's films including Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, E.T, Indiana Jones, Artificial Intelligence, The Goonies, and many other great films. He has been a great inspiration to me as well as many other people. He has directed, and produced some of the greatest American films that most people watch today.

His newest movie "Lincoln" stars three Academy Award winners including Daniel-Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, and Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens.

One reason this movie was attractive to me was because it's about Abe Lincoln, one of America's most influential presidents and surely one of my favorites. I remember as a kid in high school loving to learn about Lincoln in the Civil War and what he did to abolish slavery. This movie takes place some time near the end of the Civil War which is sometime in 1865. As the movie progresses it explores Lincoln's tactics and techniques as he works with his cabinet attempts to abolish slavery.

I also chose to post about this movie because it is another movie that is based on a true story, movies I tend to watch more than others. Like I mentioned earlier, in school, i loved learning about wars, presidents, and other moments in history. One of my favorite topics was the Civil War and how our country worked to abolish slavery in the south.

From the love of this historical moment, I am interested to learn more from this film and see it on the big screen.

Some times the crazy ideas are the best ones

I thought I was ready for school for school this semester. I was bored at home tired of working minimum wage jobs and manuel labor for under the table cash.

last semester I went hardcore. maximum credits. job on a show at ic tv. multiple clubs. I was spread thin. and what happend was everything i did sufferd the cost of not getting enough attention.

This semester I thought i was going to take it easy on my self take less courses and doing less clubs, but  c'est la vie some how I am even more spread thin then ever before. over whelmed with stress I became extremely introspective wondering about what I want to do in the industry and trying to figure my self out. It was in one of these moments of self meditation when I got a crazy Idea.

What did I come to Ithaca for? I came to make movies. to learn how to make movies. I never considered my self an artist. But recently i came tot he realization I am. my free time is spent creating. weather it be  writing short, storys script, music, jokes for my standup ( I am an amateur stand up comedian). but mostly I am insane im not ashamed to admitted it and every great artist is insane in one way or another. I am not trying to say I am a great artist, but that i do possess the qualities of one.

When my professor Arturo Sinclair told me he dropped out of college to make movies at age 15 i was  impressed to say the least. it was such a simple answer to a question that seemed so complicated. how do you mange to do in life exactly what you want to do. you just do it.

I've done it before in life. when I was a freshman in highschool I wanted to fly to chicago to visit my best friend and go to lollapoolza. I had no money. my parents said if i would pay for it i could do it. (proably assuming i could never get the money.) to solve my problem i designed a Teeshirt I could sell at my school. to make a long story short I sold over 100 shirts and grossed over a thousand dollars and funded my trip.

this summer i was strapped for cash again but i could not get hired at any job in town. so i made a job. i started my own window washing service and made 4 times the money i could have at a regular minimum wage job in a quarter of the time.

The point I am trying to make is sometimes in life when you want something you just have to go take it. you can't sit around waiting for opportunity to find you.

now if you have read all of that you are proably wondering what my crazy Idea is. and it is simple I want to make a film a real film I can be proud of.

this is just a rough Idea and I am begging for input and advice.

If you look at the Ithaca website for the price of tuition and fees you see this chart

Tuition and fees	$35,278
Board	5,980
Room	6,874
Health insurance	575
Total	$48,707

48,707 dollars a year is more money then I have ever seen in one place
If you are like me which i suspect there are quite a few you are not on scholarship or only partial scholar ship your parents help you pay some of the cost you use the money you make over the summer to help pay tuition while keeping some so you can buy things you want and need and you take out some student loans a massing a daunting debt especially with the uncertainty of of the future this can be terrifying.

well what if after the spring semester when you have a massed junior or senior standing and become way more polished in the skills it takes to make a movie you take a gap year and put those skills to use.

in this gap year plan to spend $10,000 put into the project of making a movie its a fraction of the money you would spend a year when at college and at the end of it all you would be part of something amazing. an original film that you co-produced had direct influence over.

If I can get 7 more people on board with this idea thats 80,000 dollars we could invest into this project.
with that money we could rent equipment pay for meager room and board, pay actors, and pay for permits for what ever we need too.

we could create a great low budget film and it would be ours.

on the side we could also use the equipment were renting to document the entire process so by the end of the gap year we have our own film and the footage to make a documentary about they entire project.

The type of people I would be looking for to join me on this crazy project are as follows
- A Head cinematographer
- A Head sound designer
- A Director
-  2 editor
- A lighting expert
- a costume/prop designer

of course i would also expect of these core people to be multi talented and can fill in to any other positions needed

we would need a script a great script that can be shot easily that does not demand to much capital.

It seems crazy. but at the same time it seems very possible. and at he end of it all we know we went for it. and will probably learn more then we every thought possible about this industry and our selves.

this is just a skeleton of an idea and i need help from YOU to fill the skeleton with meat and organs and blood and life.

if you are interested in this please contact me my phone number is  609-610-4445 and my email is Austin.Scharfstein@gmail.com

help me make this crazy idea into a crazy story.

eComm in San Francisco

I hope all of you are doing great and your projects are in the final stretch without too much stress (a little is OK:-)
The conference is great, lots of good speakers and ideas. We are ready for ours tomorrow...
But for all of you here is a premiere peek: