My Cucalorus experience

Cucalorus was beyond amazing! Being my first time going to a film festival, I was a little skeptical of the quality of movies and the overall experience I would have. As soon as I got to my first screening, it was like being with family. My favorite film screening that I went to see was Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, which i knew was part of kidsalorus, but as an animation fanatic I wasn't going to miss it. Before the showing, Everyone in the audience participated in a half sign language, half singing song where we needed to open the window and let the dove fly in. It was out of the ordinary and I was glad to participate. The movie itself was amazing and the lessons and morals that I took away from it are going to stick with me. If you haven't seen it go see it or find it soon. I would love to tell you all about it but I don't want to spoil it and I can't summarize. After viewing and a little before, I was able to chat with some others who were going to view it as well (probably the most valuable experience of Cucalorus). Making the connections there are going to help me later on and if I had not gone I would have missed out otherwise. As for the future, I plan on attending every year. I should have been doing this from the first year at uncw, but I will have to try to make up the lost time elsewhere. It was such a fun time and I recommend it to everyone.

This is an abstract look at my Laptop. It's been with me since the beginning and I use it for all of my projects. It might not be the most important thing in life, but its pretty darn close. A toast to an unsung hero.

Self Portrait

Like many projects that I have completed during my time here at UNCW and in film studies, I find that my best work is accomplished when I improvise. I love the idea of this project and how open it is in its requirements, which there are very little. I think that I will try to use a lot of contrast/chiaroscuro in the final product and most likely some animation. I am prone to using stop motion animation whenever I can. I grew up watching it, I use it for my personal work and I feel that there is so much more that can be achieved by using it.
 A major concern that I have with every project is that it will fail miserably or that my audience will find it simple and uninteresting. I think that is a common theme and problem that all of us face, so I will try to manage.
A challenge that I would like to give myself would be to be more present in this project. In the past, I would be reluctant to be visable in the final work, but with this project its different. It's a self portrait so why not?

response to 1c

Project 1C in our experimental production class had our groups using film cameras and sekonics. Personally, I had never used a professional film camera nad never a sekonic. My experience with film was our consumer grade, point and shoot kodak and the disposable cameras you get for vactions and fun trips. This camera was very different from those because it had so many setting and cool options that we could use when trying to take a shot. I found that before using the camera, I was scared that I would mess it up or that the film would be a hassle to deal with, but it was super fun. I actually prefer using the film now over digital because the film has a more natural feel to it. There aren't many differences between digital and film besides the cost to develop the pictures, but the film seems gritty and more of a surprise. Digital is so fast and you get  to see the picture right away. I feel like that is an under appreciated feature that we have just become accustomed to as technology has advanced. I am looking forward to using film in the  upcoming projects and I hope to use it for some personal projects as well.

Sound Design experience from project 1B

The sound design process was amazing fun, mostly because of the pure freedom involved. Sound recording is the true free process, where you find objects nearby and experiment, but the design is where you truely have control. You can change the speed, the direction, the pitch, etc. and fine tune a normal lack-luster sound into anything, from a spine tingling shrill screech to a light hearted bop or boing. Working with the group led to some pretty interesting ideas that I myself would not have thought of, some of which I loved and some I did not, but for the most part we tried to incorporate everything in. Nothing was out of the question due to the experimental genre in which we worked. From the very beginning I knew that the project would be a real hoot. A project called "Her Ultimate Vaginal Opening" is something that is truly random and destined to be entertaining. And we couldn't do wrong in this project. While we worked, it felt like some of the sounds were so odd and didn't quite match up with the style or idea of the complete track, but when it was placed together it made sense. An example of this for me is some of the clanky, metal sounds, such as the saw-like sound of the moving flask, but in unison with the others, it worked great. In conclusion to all of this, I feel that I have learned to think more outside the box when it comes to sound design and be open to new ideas. A sound is just a set of frequencies in unison and they can shift and shape into any mold. Sound is like audible clay, and as filmmakers and sound designers, we must become the sculptor and artist and create great symphonies to accompany our visual works.

Cymatics

As discussed in class last week, Cymatics is the process of viewing sound. Its awesome how sound moving through an object can show frequency patterns. Just like with many other lessons this semester, this was completely new to me. The process starts by putting sand or other small grain-like substance on a metal surface, then run frequencies through the metal to reveal sound designs/ patterns.
The possibilities are endless for what this type process could be used for. One that come to mind for me could be a visualizer for the next itunes or music player. You play the the current song through the metal surface and the sand moves to the music. Another use could be showing people who cannot hear what a specific frequency looks like.

Sound experience

Its very hard to explain how weird and fun sound recording is to someone who has either A) not ever tried recording sound or B) is not a raging film fanatic like most students in this major. Sound is one of the most important parts to any film project and when you need to get your own unique bits... is where the fun begins. It is amazing how much intensity can be built from a spoon hitting glass, surely a sound that Hitchcock would approve of. That goes for a lot of what my group used, such as pom poms, flasks and chip bags.