This is the part where i talk.
Showing posts with label short. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short. Show all posts
Friday, November 1, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
WHITE THUNDER Production Portfolio
Production Portfolio
IB Film HL
Session: May 2013
Rationale
I chose to do White Thunder because I really wanted to make a cheesy movie and experiment
with the lost art of zooms. I think that lowballing rather than super serious can be quite an
advantage with the audience. I also notice it is easier to get a reaction from the audience if you
make them laugh rather than feel bad or emotional, and my bitter reaction to my last super
serious film, the bitter tragedy of it being comedic to the audience. After seeing the film black
dynamite, I knew what I had to do for my next film.
Word Count 100
Trailer
It is a rational trailer. First, I set open framed shots in the beginning to create questions in the
viewer. The car shots and mechanized sound effects represented speed, and the zooms
accentuate fast feelings. Afterwards, I introduce Thunder and his qualities such as violent, being
a “loose cannon” and needing a partner. Panama is introduced characteristics of being cocky.
Using Andy, we establish that they are both cops down on their luck. A shot of Panama and
Thunder disagree on musical taste explains their relationship, and ending shots conclude the
bad guy’s role, Dragon Wang.
Word Count 98
Written Commentary for White Thunder
I had always wanted to do a really fun film. I had made a White Thunder short before, and
I wanted a to expand on the character. Once my co produced project Epic Roll , I knew that a
comedic cheesy fun film was something I had to make. The idea for White Thunder came from
my love of Buddy cop movies and the recent explosion of parody blaxploitation and cheesy 70’s
parodies. The plot itself is a cliched buddy cop story, present in many films from Rush Hour to
Running Scared to Bad Boys. They would always begin with introduction to the characters, how
they were forced to conform to each other, find how different they were, mess up, take the case
into their own hands, and become friends. And thus our plot was created as so.
The script began as a treatment that was created at the end of sophomore year basically
outlining the events that would transpire in the full version of White Thunder. A short “pilot
episode” screentest proving ground for the show was shot later that year but not a full version.
With the help of 3 different screenwriters, a continuous edit and a 2nd draft, we completed the
majority of the major scenes, and I was very happy with actually having a almost full script by
the time of actual production, unlike many of my other productions. Unique characters would end
up being the most important part of this film, rather that could have been an intimate relationship
between Panama and Thunder. For better or for worse, this was the influence Jonathan Nievera
brought onto the project, and this would lead to the notorious marketing campaign. My “dual
meaning backhand” blunt style of writing was somewhat present in this project, as in the intro
scene, which was loosely scripted. For example, Thunder says “ Stop being a pansy, Jet. You
know I love you...” which at first glance is not inherently obvious, but under tighter scrutiny is
clearly recognized. The script was a marvelous thing, it created not only cohesion and efficiency,
but direction on the project., and was very beneficial.
Setting the film as a period piece was really a challenge with this film. Having to amass
the wardrobe, sets, props and even vehicles for such a large project was quite an undertaking,
but I think it was a really good learning experience. Even behind the scenes our film was a period
piece; This type of practical effect, home movie blockbuster production harkens back to the 70’s
Super 8 genre style filmmaking usually identified with Spielberg’s early works, and homaged to in
the film Super 8. To that end, each character in our film was uniquely characterized by their
wardrobe and choice of props. For example, White Thunder uses a large .45 Colt, and Panama
Jack uses a small, almost insignificant .22 revolver. Thunder is a brash and hulking fighter,as
well as speaker, whose large and flamboyant style may not actually relate to his actual
effectiveness. Panama, on the other hand, is a small and sly guy, he can hide his secrets until
he wants to strike. However, most of the Panama direct characterization didn't make it through
the first few drafts, and his character is very flat, letting the script focus more and Thunder’s
epiphany. Dreyfus has suspenders to suggest his maturity and wisdom, and the “Other Buddy
Cops” wear Hawaiian shirts not only to address the era, but to also suggest their laid back
nature, contrasting with their reactions later, creating ironic comedy. Dragon Wang Chan wields
a large, blunted sword to suggest his way of getting things done; he is a doppelganger to
Thunder, in the egotistical sense, he is the dark side of Thunder, brutal, blunt, and violent. The
setting of the film was important as well, many of the assorted sets we tried our best to adapt it
to be period acceptable or try to not face the camera towards such things as flatscreens and
cars. Modern cars are however a major error in the film, but are very luckily very subtle. The
choice of Penn School seemed to fit with it’s Cold War Era Architecture, the rest of the locations
were time period anonymous. The use of cars in films seems to be ramping up. Our usage of a
the 1976 red Chevelle was a little different. Because our car was restricted by time, driver, and
the fact that it was old, we decided to go with the green screen route rather than practical.
Conversely, practical effects were an interesting but briefly used in our film. The blood spurts
were created from a air compressor and fake blood in surgical tubing, clogged at the end with a cut piece of a rubber glove. The dummy was a old scuba suit, filed for hours upon hours with newspaper “salvaged” from the neighborhood, and the head was an equally laborious process. I wrapped Jon’s head in an old cloth, and then duct taped its crevices (of course with breathing holes) , and filled with newspaper as well. It was promptly thrown from the roof as a test.
My job on the film was Cinematographer. I really wanted to experiment with zooms in this
project, a sort of underused art. In my research, I found the reason that zooms were so prevalent
in the 70’s was because they had just reached the mass market and were now “new”. Films
during the era had used so many zooms to simply show off their new technology, but as a result,
prime lenses not being used and smaller aperture of zooms led to more exterior day shots and
less low light shots. White Thunder had to have a lot of light pumped into it, as present in the
Andy Litili scene, because most of the film was actually shot at f/8. Stopping down the f stop also
helped with the zooms, as being at a lower aperture meant less depth of field, meaning easier
focus between zooming. Similarly, I found it to be increasingly annoying that short films shot with
DSLR’s made shallow depth of field almost cliche, many shooters rarely stopped down manually
and as a result had trouble pulling focus.
The DSLR revolution has let even the smallest budgeted film maker capable of capturing great images, but as a result the “market” you could say was over saturated with shallow depth of field films. It is quite interesting that zooms were originally the new craze, just coming to market, and now filmmaker are rediscovering, and in some cases overusing the prime lenses of old.
Another aspect I noticed was people who do not use primes shooting at the widest FOV
possible, say 18mm on a T2i. While this is not a bad thing, in fact I quite like it’s epic sweeping
feel, its not what I wanted to do with White Thunder. I used the Panasonic GH2, a smaller name
than the widely used and trusted Canons, to represent not only the reaction, but as reference to
the era itself. The GH2 has a smaller sensor, but more sharply grained noise camera that is
widely regarded but rarely used by the filmmaking community. Even buying this camera was my
reaction to modern filmmaking: everyone had Canons, and if i wanted to I could borrow those at
any time. Why not try something new? White Thunder, at its core, is a BMovie,
and at that time they were shot on 16mm film, smaller than 35mm cinema; therefore, shooting on smaller sensor would make sense and add to the overall period feel of the film. Making White Thunder was my
antithesis to the modern DSLR filmmaking age, as this is clearly present in the zooms, stopped
down aperture, lack of sliders, longer lenses, and usage of smaller camera sensor. However, I
am not completely immune to falling into such self set pitfalls. As exterior scenes and naturally lit
scenes became darker as night approached, I was forced to open the aperture to, I dare say,
blasphemous f/4.5. This, paired with my innate ability to not sense when things are slightly out of
focus, led to some shots being blurry, which I take complete responsibility for.
And score. Indie production is not without its difficulties, but the film scorer is always the
worst. I must say, working with Jonathan Nievera was very beneficial in bringing another mind
onto the intellectual property of the film, but relying on him to do score was the worst experience
of my life. Numerous times he checked out the audio gear and not once did he return with
anything. Not even loops, and despite devoting and promising he would deliver, he did not.
My critical analysis of the film was that it was a fun adventure buddy cop film but with
some issues in pacing and sound. The film was deeply influenced and teat genre research
shows throughout the film, with very good attention to detail in costumes, sets, and ways of
speaking. The acting was a little underdone, but it kind of fit with the B movie style and era piece.
The Cinematography also represented the era with zooms and lack of depth of field, but there
were some issues of inexperience with the zooms that made them choppy. Editing was very
compressed and kind of sloppy, leading to some bad pacing during the Informant scenes. Sound
design and score was very lacking in this project and the weakest link overall. Overall it was very
fun to shoot and the actors play it out, leaving the audience feeling the same.
Word Count: 1600
Marketing Campaign
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteThunderShow
IB Film HL
Session: May 2013
Rationale
I chose to do White Thunder because I really wanted to make a cheesy movie and experiment
with the lost art of zooms. I think that lowballing rather than super serious can be quite an
advantage with the audience. I also notice it is easier to get a reaction from the audience if you
make them laugh rather than feel bad or emotional, and my bitter reaction to my last super
serious film, the bitter tragedy of it being comedic to the audience. After seeing the film black
dynamite, I knew what I had to do for my next film.
Word Count 100
Trailer
It is a rational trailer. First, I set open framed shots in the beginning to create questions in the
viewer. The car shots and mechanized sound effects represented speed, and the zooms
accentuate fast feelings. Afterwards, I introduce Thunder and his qualities such as violent, being
a “loose cannon” and needing a partner. Panama is introduced characteristics of being cocky.
Using Andy, we establish that they are both cops down on their luck. A shot of Panama and
Thunder disagree on musical taste explains their relationship, and ending shots conclude the
bad guy’s role, Dragon Wang.
Word Count 98
Written Commentary for White Thunder
I had always wanted to do a really fun film. I had made a White Thunder short before, and
I wanted a to expand on the character. Once my co produced project Epic Roll , I knew that a
comedic cheesy fun film was something I had to make. The idea for White Thunder came from
my love of Buddy cop movies and the recent explosion of parody blaxploitation and cheesy 70’s
parodies. The plot itself is a cliched buddy cop story, present in many films from Rush Hour to
Running Scared to Bad Boys. They would always begin with introduction to the characters, how
they were forced to conform to each other, find how different they were, mess up, take the case
into their own hands, and become friends. And thus our plot was created as so.
The script began as a treatment that was created at the end of sophomore year basically
outlining the events that would transpire in the full version of White Thunder. A short “pilot
episode” screentest proving ground for the show was shot later that year but not a full version.
With the help of 3 different screenwriters, a continuous edit and a 2nd draft, we completed the
majority of the major scenes, and I was very happy with actually having a almost full script by
the time of actual production, unlike many of my other productions. Unique characters would end
up being the most important part of this film, rather that could have been an intimate relationship
between Panama and Thunder. For better or for worse, this was the influence Jonathan Nievera
brought onto the project, and this would lead to the notorious marketing campaign. My “dual
meaning backhand” blunt style of writing was somewhat present in this project, as in the intro
scene, which was loosely scripted. For example, Thunder says “ Stop being a pansy, Jet. You
know I love you...” which at first glance is not inherently obvious, but under tighter scrutiny is
clearly recognized. The script was a marvelous thing, it created not only cohesion and efficiency,
but direction on the project., and was very beneficial.
Setting the film as a period piece was really a challenge with this film. Having to amass
the wardrobe, sets, props and even vehicles for such a large project was quite an undertaking,
but I think it was a really good learning experience. Even behind the scenes our film was a period
piece; This type of practical effect, home movie blockbuster production harkens back to the 70’s
Super 8 genre style filmmaking usually identified with Spielberg’s early works, and homaged to in
the film Super 8. To that end, each character in our film was uniquely characterized by their
wardrobe and choice of props. For example, White Thunder uses a large .45 Colt, and Panama
Jack uses a small, almost insignificant .22 revolver. Thunder is a brash and hulking fighter,as
well as speaker, whose large and flamboyant style may not actually relate to his actual
effectiveness. Panama, on the other hand, is a small and sly guy, he can hide his secrets until
he wants to strike. However, most of the Panama direct characterization didn't make it through
the first few drafts, and his character is very flat, letting the script focus more and Thunder’s
epiphany. Dreyfus has suspenders to suggest his maturity and wisdom, and the “Other Buddy
Cops” wear Hawaiian shirts not only to address the era, but to also suggest their laid back
nature, contrasting with their reactions later, creating ironic comedy. Dragon Wang Chan wields
a large, blunted sword to suggest his way of getting things done; he is a doppelganger to
Thunder, in the egotistical sense, he is the dark side of Thunder, brutal, blunt, and violent. The
setting of the film was important as well, many of the assorted sets we tried our best to adapt it
to be period acceptable or try to not face the camera towards such things as flatscreens and
cars. Modern cars are however a major error in the film, but are very luckily very subtle. The
choice of Penn School seemed to fit with it’s Cold War Era Architecture, the rest of the locations
were time period anonymous. The use of cars in films seems to be ramping up. Our usage of a
the 1976 red Chevelle was a little different. Because our car was restricted by time, driver, and
the fact that it was old, we decided to go with the green screen route rather than practical.
Conversely, practical effects were an interesting but briefly used in our film. The blood spurts
were created from a air compressor and fake blood in surgical tubing, clogged at the end with a cut piece of a rubber glove. The dummy was a old scuba suit, filed for hours upon hours with newspaper “salvaged” from the neighborhood, and the head was an equally laborious process. I wrapped Jon’s head in an old cloth, and then duct taped its crevices (of course with breathing holes) , and filled with newspaper as well. It was promptly thrown from the roof as a test.
My job on the film was Cinematographer. I really wanted to experiment with zooms in this
project, a sort of underused art. In my research, I found the reason that zooms were so prevalent
in the 70’s was because they had just reached the mass market and were now “new”. Films
during the era had used so many zooms to simply show off their new technology, but as a result,
prime lenses not being used and smaller aperture of zooms led to more exterior day shots and
less low light shots. White Thunder had to have a lot of light pumped into it, as present in the
Andy Litili scene, because most of the film was actually shot at f/8. Stopping down the f stop also
helped with the zooms, as being at a lower aperture meant less depth of field, meaning easier
focus between zooming. Similarly, I found it to be increasingly annoying that short films shot with
DSLR’s made shallow depth of field almost cliche, many shooters rarely stopped down manually
and as a result had trouble pulling focus.
The DSLR revolution has let even the smallest budgeted film maker capable of capturing great images, but as a result the “market” you could say was over saturated with shallow depth of field films. It is quite interesting that zooms were originally the new craze, just coming to market, and now filmmaker are rediscovering, and in some cases overusing the prime lenses of old.
Another aspect I noticed was people who do not use primes shooting at the widest FOV
possible, say 18mm on a T2i. While this is not a bad thing, in fact I quite like it’s epic sweeping
feel, its not what I wanted to do with White Thunder. I used the Panasonic GH2, a smaller name
than the widely used and trusted Canons, to represent not only the reaction, but as reference to
the era itself. The GH2 has a smaller sensor, but more sharply grained noise camera that is
widely regarded but rarely used by the filmmaking community. Even buying this camera was my
reaction to modern filmmaking: everyone had Canons, and if i wanted to I could borrow those at
any time. Why not try something new? White Thunder, at its core, is a BMovie,
and at that time they were shot on 16mm film, smaller than 35mm cinema; therefore, shooting on smaller sensor would make sense and add to the overall period feel of the film. Making White Thunder was my
antithesis to the modern DSLR filmmaking age, as this is clearly present in the zooms, stopped
down aperture, lack of sliders, longer lenses, and usage of smaller camera sensor. However, I
am not completely immune to falling into such self set pitfalls. As exterior scenes and naturally lit
scenes became darker as night approached, I was forced to open the aperture to, I dare say,
blasphemous f/4.5. This, paired with my innate ability to not sense when things are slightly out of
focus, led to some shots being blurry, which I take complete responsibility for.
And score. Indie production is not without its difficulties, but the film scorer is always the
worst. I must say, working with Jonathan Nievera was very beneficial in bringing another mind
onto the intellectual property of the film, but relying on him to do score was the worst experience
of my life. Numerous times he checked out the audio gear and not once did he return with
anything. Not even loops, and despite devoting and promising he would deliver, he did not.
My critical analysis of the film was that it was a fun adventure buddy cop film but with
some issues in pacing and sound. The film was deeply influenced and teat genre research
shows throughout the film, with very good attention to detail in costumes, sets, and ways of
speaking. The acting was a little underdone, but it kind of fit with the B movie style and era piece.
The Cinematography also represented the era with zooms and lack of depth of field, but there
were some issues of inexperience with the zooms that made them choppy. Editing was very
compressed and kind of sloppy, leading to some bad pacing during the Informant scenes. Sound
design and score was very lacking in this project and the weakest link overall. Overall it was very
fun to shoot and the actors play it out, leaving the audience feeling the same.
Word Count: 1600
Marketing Campaign
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteThunderShow
Friday, May 24, 2013
WHITE THUNDER Trailer
Hailing from the streets of Harlem, Thunder is a smooth cat. Once a part of the Black Panthers, Thunder is trained in martial -fu and weaponized arts. Now he must unravel his greatest foe: Hao Ciao Mein, the Asian crime lord who owns a monopoly of Italian Noodle shops across South Central LA.
Created by Conner Ward and written by Jonathan Nievera and Michael Harris
Like WHITE THUNDER on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteThunderShow
:UPDATE:
White Thunder has been accepted into the Capuchino Film Festival!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Capuchino-Film-Festival-Cap-Oscars/459240524157516
Sunday, March 17, 2013
70'S Whitesploitaion Buddy Cop Treatment
70's Blaxtiploitation and 80'S Buddy-Cop Movie (w/cliches) "Frantic Cutting”
Brought to you in High-Fidelity Mono-Sound™!
Its blaxploitation, but he is white and it's a buddy cop.
A cop, dressed in an open collared shirt and a leather jacket, WHITE THUNDER™ and his partner JET HURRICANE™, arrive at a “toy factory”. They are in pursuit of the asian crime syndicate lead by mob boss Hung Lo, who has been poisoning kids with lead paint action figures since ‘62. Thunder notices boxes being moved and Thunder stops. They exit the car. Thunder tells Jet that he can take on Hung Lo alone. Jet says he can try, he takes out two and loses to Dragon Wang Chan he dies because he is inferior. Thunder tries to open the door, but he can’t, he notices the shots but is too late. Thunder takes the badge and cut to next scene.
4 years later, and White Thunder’s loose cannon actions have resulted in the distribution of bootleg toys and that causes hundreds of kids to get hurt/sick. Black police chief Dreyfus calls Thunder into his office. He tells Thunder that he's a loose canon. He needs someone to keep him in line. Dreyfus tells Thunder that his new partner will be Panama Jack/Joe, an equally ego-centric detective. Dreyfus explains that Panama is a straight cop that grew up in the ghetto and vowed to take crime off the streets. Thunder resists, however, and says that he only "flies solo". Chief Dreyfus says the partner is not optional. Either that, or Thunder loses his badge. Chief Dreyfus softens up a little and says that he knows Thunder still takes blame for his partner's death. This case has links to the unsolved murder. He calls Panama into the room. His feet can only be seen. The door knob twists, and as he walks in, he gets one look at Thunder and goes "heyll nah!" He explains to Thunder that he is as resistant as Thunder and he doesn't want to be partners either.
White Thunder and Panama stroll out of the office. Standing around the water dispenser is two other cops, Thunder’s rivals, Darrel Roebuck Marvin Searzinski, taunt the pair about their new partnership, with gay undertones. Thunder and Panama feel like separate entities.
In the car they talk. [CHARACTERIZATION]
Thunder barges in to the Hispanic informant’s house, who usually gives Thunder information in turn for letting him slide a little. Panama slyly just walks in. Thunder questions him, but he won't give in this time. Thunder going around the house and knock things over, sarcastically telling him things like “this looks like an expensive vase. To bad its broken.” Panama starts to disagree with Thunder on his ethics and tries to take the lead. Eventually the Nicaraguan guy caves when panama speak spanish and tells him where Hung Lo’s hideout is.
We cut to the lair of Hung Lo, Pier 69, Hung Lo briefs Dragon Wang Chan. He tells Chan that he must eliminate Thunder like he did to Jet Hurricane, he says Dragon Wang is his most loyal servant and trusts him to take care of White Thunder who has been on his case ever since.
While on the stakeout, they talk about Hung Lo. After they see crime they decide to sneak in.
They get to the hideout and Thunder wants to stick together. Unfortunately are caught after they fail in a kung fu fight. At shotgun point they are confronted by Wong and his henchmen. Thunder gets a "Thunder Sense" and looks at two of the henchmen. After a small looky loo, Thunder notices something isn't right. Suddenly, the two odd henchmen punch out the other henchmen, and Wong runs. It turns out that the 2 "henchmen" were actually agents undercover. They had to blow their cover to save Thunder and Panama, They are angry because they had been working on the case for 8 months infiltrating Hung Lo’s ranks.
Chief Dreyfus calls them into his office. He is furious and scolds them and calls them "irresponsible" and takes their badges and guns. Thunder suggests that he ask first to take them off the case. Panama says that the situation is "hella wack." Disgruntled but hopeful, they separate for a while.
One day Thunder gets a phone call: Dreyfhus has been shot. He calls Panama and they put aside their differences and decide to track down Hung Lo. They track Hung Lo to his new lair and try to arrest him, at which point Thunder's love interest, Destiny Jones, comes forth as a hostage of Wong's. As Dragon and Thunder are about to fight to the death and there is a flashback with Thunder running through the jungle and hears a man yelling in agony. Thunder runs toward the man and notices he is part of the Vietcong and in attempt to shoot him Thunder couldn’t kill wounded man so he rips a piece of his jacket/shirt and wraps it around Dragon’s eye. The final confrontation ends with Wong dying. The two have become friends, and they finally accept each other. Thunder gets the girl, and Panama goes on to become the police chief with the lowest crime rate in a century.
Brought to you in High-Fidelity Mono-Sound™!
Its blaxploitation, but he is white and it's a buddy cop.
A cop, dressed in an open collared shirt and a leather jacket, WHITE THUNDER™ and his partner JET HURRICANE™, arrive at a “toy factory”. They are in pursuit of the asian crime syndicate lead by mob boss Hung Lo, who has been poisoning kids with lead paint action figures since ‘62. Thunder notices boxes being moved and Thunder stops. They exit the car. Thunder tells Jet that he can take on Hung Lo alone. Jet says he can try, he takes out two and loses to Dragon Wang Chan he dies because he is inferior. Thunder tries to open the door, but he can’t, he notices the shots but is too late. Thunder takes the badge and cut to next scene.
4 years later, and White Thunder’s loose cannon actions have resulted in the distribution of bootleg toys and that causes hundreds of kids to get hurt/sick. Black police chief Dreyfus calls Thunder into his office. He tells Thunder that he's a loose canon. He needs someone to keep him in line. Dreyfus tells Thunder that his new partner will be Panama Jack/Joe, an equally ego-centric detective. Dreyfus explains that Panama is a straight cop that grew up in the ghetto and vowed to take crime off the streets. Thunder resists, however, and says that he only "flies solo". Chief Dreyfus says the partner is not optional. Either that, or Thunder loses his badge. Chief Dreyfus softens up a little and says that he knows Thunder still takes blame for his partner's death. This case has links to the unsolved murder. He calls Panama into the room. His feet can only be seen. The door knob twists, and as he walks in, he gets one look at Thunder and goes "heyll nah!" He explains to Thunder that he is as resistant as Thunder and he doesn't want to be partners either.
White Thunder and Panama stroll out of the office. Standing around the water dispenser is two other cops, Thunder’s rivals, Darrel Roebuck Marvin Searzinski, taunt the pair about their new partnership, with gay undertones. Thunder and Panama feel like separate entities.
In the car they talk. [CHARACTERIZATION]
Thunder barges in to the Hispanic informant’s house, who usually gives Thunder information in turn for letting him slide a little. Panama slyly just walks in. Thunder questions him, but he won't give in this time. Thunder going around the house and knock things over, sarcastically telling him things like “this looks like an expensive vase. To bad its broken.” Panama starts to disagree with Thunder on his ethics and tries to take the lead. Eventually the Nicaraguan guy caves when panama speak spanish and tells him where Hung Lo’s hideout is.
We cut to the lair of Hung Lo, Pier 69, Hung Lo briefs Dragon Wang Chan. He tells Chan that he must eliminate Thunder like he did to Jet Hurricane, he says Dragon Wang is his most loyal servant and trusts him to take care of White Thunder who has been on his case ever since.
While on the stakeout, they talk about Hung Lo. After they see crime they decide to sneak in.
They get to the hideout and Thunder wants to stick together. Unfortunately are caught after they fail in a kung fu fight. At shotgun point they are confronted by Wong and his henchmen. Thunder gets a "Thunder Sense" and looks at two of the henchmen. After a small looky loo, Thunder notices something isn't right. Suddenly, the two odd henchmen punch out the other henchmen, and Wong runs. It turns out that the 2 "henchmen" were actually agents undercover. They had to blow their cover to save Thunder and Panama, They are angry because they had been working on the case for 8 months infiltrating Hung Lo’s ranks.
Chief Dreyfus calls them into his office. He is furious and scolds them and calls them "irresponsible" and takes their badges and guns. Thunder suggests that he ask first to take them off the case. Panama says that the situation is "hella wack." Disgruntled but hopeful, they separate for a while.
One day Thunder gets a phone call: Dreyfhus has been shot. He calls Panama and they put aside their differences and decide to track down Hung Lo. They track Hung Lo to his new lair and try to arrest him, at which point Thunder's love interest, Destiny Jones, comes forth as a hostage of Wong's. As Dragon and Thunder are about to fight to the death and there is a flashback with Thunder running through the jungle and hears a man yelling in agony. Thunder runs toward the man and notices he is part of the Vietcong and in attempt to shoot him Thunder couldn’t kill wounded man so he rips a piece of his jacket/shirt and wraps it around Dragon’s eye. The final confrontation ends with Wong dying. The two have become friends, and they finally accept each other. Thunder gets the girl, and Panama goes on to become the police chief with the lowest crime rate in a century.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
White Thunder Pilot Episode
The man who gets all the ladies, the man whose "Thunder" never strikes in the same place twice, who's faster than thunder, the one and only;
White Thunder!
Hailing from the streets of Harlem, Thunder is a smooth cat. Once a part of the Black Panthers, Thunder is trained in martial and weaponized arts. Now he must unravel his greatest foe: Hao Ciao Mein, the Asian crime lord who owns a monopoly of Italian Noodle shops across South Central LA.Sunday, December 9, 2012
Documentary Pre-Production
| 1.Purpose: (What is the message or intent of the piece?) To document the only sweatshop in San Francisco. |
| 2.Contacts: (Who do I need to speak to in order to get the information for my piece?) Ross Alley -The Owners(Ask to film) -Workers (ask for permission to interview) (415) 781-3956 |
| 3.Interview Questions: (What do I want to focus on in the interview? At least 5 questions and avoid Yes/No questions.) (REMEMBER THAT WITHOUT STRONG CONTENT YOUR PIECE WILL FALL FLAT!!) {OWNERS} History -How long have you been in business? -History of Factory? -Are you the original owner/ in the family? -What challenges do you face? |
| 4.Shot List- What images do I need to make the visual part of the story work? Interviews use mostly Close-ups, Waist shots, and B-roll. Background should also be considered. Usually at least 5 to 10 different shots are combined for a sophisticated piece. Establishing Shots, around 4. -Portsmouth Square -Tin How -Misc Streets -Shots from Car -alleys (also The Alley) -meat racks -interesting stores B-Roll -Macro Rack Focus of machines -Symmetrical shots of machinery -Workers working Interviews -Establishing Interview Shot -Longs pauses for name slides -Medium close up, can zoom later in post |
| 5.General Flow: Describe the beginning, middle, and end of your segment. Include any narration you might include as well as graphics or interviews. (Try to imagine the piece playing in your head) We see establishing shots of Chinatown. Starts out grand, such as temples and city squares, then becomes more and more claustrophobic and into the gritty alleyways. We move in towards the small manufactory itself. After some macro shots, we are introduced to a laborer working alone. He is sweating, putting his craftsmanship and labor into the machine. We then roll into interviews and historical shots of old photos and b roll of the factory at work. |
| 6. Scripts: This is the written portion of your piece that is included either for the broadcast script or for a voice over that pulls the different interviews together. Intro: Have you ever wondered what a small sweatshop looked like? Me too! Closing: 7. Production Schedule- Dates for interviews/broll Sunday -B roll -Interviews -Pick ups |
Sunday, November 25, 2012
EL CAMINO - Film Support Site
A support site for our latest film, EL CAMINO.
Henry Gyles is photojournalist who's down on his luck. His boss, whom was once his friend, continually puts him on murder cases relating to the mob boss Douglass Mclafferdy. When Mclaffeddy is killed, he returns to town and his boss, Hammond, gives him the case to write up. It requires him to go and talk to Mclafferdy's 2 year wife, who has since reverted to Ms. Janice Wetherby. Seeing nothing more than another murder case, he refuses the job. As he is about to leave the office, Hammond that all secrets are be fatal.
Enter
https://sites.google.com/site/retrofuturisticnoir/
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Story Elements to Step Outlines
Story Elements to Step Outlines:
Neo Noir Retro Futurism
Element
|
Description
|
Character
| A reluctant hero saves a town from a murderer as wel as himself. Tries to get over death, finds love, etc. |
Setting
| Takes place in characteristically suburban city. Time period is retro futuristic, a 1940's view of the future. |
Backstory
| Protag has been pushed around alot, different agencies etc. He is an agent of special purpose, unbeknownst to the people in town. His partner has been killed, he here for revenge, he's here for the job. |
Goal
| The character has a deep goal, as well as his case. He wants to get revenge for his partners killing, but has to keep his job and take the criminal if for fair trial. |
Time
| Flashbacks occur, time is eschewed by similarity, as if to be a complete narrative. |
Relationship
| Develops a relationship with a woman, gets over his with his partner, and finds himself. |
Obstacle
| The urban environment, the murderer, his likes and loves. |
Mood
| Very slow paced and suspenseful, sad, and yet uplifting in the end defying noir tradition. |
Unknown
| How the case will turn up, who will it be. Will he ever leave this foreseen town? |
Discovery
| As it is a mystery suspense, there is alot of plot related discovery and in the tend character discovery. Refer to relationship. |
Step Outline
1.Agent appears on train station.
-To introduce character and urban location, his loneliness.
-To introduce character and urban location, his loneliness.
2. Goes to police station. Goes to hotel.-To establish story.
2a. flashbacks to partner
-establishes conflict
-establishes conflict
3. receiving object (Chekhov's gun) and leaves hotel
5. investigates murder inside deep house
Sees murderer and confrontation
5a. Talks to partner (flashback/ghost?)
-creates conflict (belly whale)
Sees murderer and confrontation
5a. Talks to partner (flashback/ghost?)
-creates conflict (belly whale)
6. interrogates woman
6a. woman leads him astray
7. gets scolded by dead partner trough flashback?/ghost/police chief
7a. apostasis
7a. apostasis
8. confronts baddie
-climax
9. Final duel on train station
9a. refuses to get on train
-Leads to his death
-Leads to his death
10. Ends with baddie getting on train.
11. Protag is dying
11a. flashing back to return home, finds some philosophical message
-gets over fear of death
-gets over fear of death
Monday, May 14, 2012
Commentary on "A Soldier Apart"
We chose to work on this idea because everyone else just "went with it" and just said yes to my treatment, a process I dislike. With this project I really wanted to make a scifi action flick while exploring underlying themes of corruption, and fascist governments (that parallel our own), combining themes from the genres I researched on (scifi, propaganda) and mix it with my partners' common genre (war/action). This final idea called for less time based scifi like I had imagined, and more war. I felt this was not a good choice, but due to restrictions on, ironically enough, time, many ideas in the original plot did not make it through the first few drafts. In order to balance the mindless action I felt the project needed strong dialogue, and I really wanted top include a well lit conversation scene.
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I believe that the two biggest applications of my influence and style were in the color grading and interrogation scene lighting (particularly on the General, played by Alex S.). In the color grading, I tried to convey the over-grade of the footage in order to symbolize the fanciful and unreal sense of scifi but also the world that it takes place. It is a world of secrets and government deception, a place where everyone is shrouded by these colors, and bound to them and their allegiances. In the color grade of the interrogation, cold, distant, empty, trying to add the the atmosphere that wasn't there, the emptiness. In the forest I had to match the over grade, so I did a green color because it seemed appropriate, as the only other color you can grade footage effectively beside blue and green is red, and hat would not have been appropriate. In the lighting of the scene with Alex, I really wanted to go overboard and have a very dramatic opening shot. This would set the high Fidelity tone of the visuals for the rest of the movie. I really like classical filmmaking, not to watch but to record, and the motionless shot was my child. I also love silence in films. It really allows you to explore the environment in which the characters are in without actually showing or talking about it.
1. Critical Evalutation
I thought, overall the film was a flop. It had it’s good moments, in fact some great moments, however it did not reach the production value I wanted in some places, and did not tell the story that I wanted either. Rather it became a monster, that turned into a special effects shootout that just might have ruined the next generation of Art of Video’ers. Let me explain. They, in seeing the film, must want to make their own film with guns, despite the “Granny Rule” in place. We broke the rule, and we were supposed to be angelic “Advanced Kids” and be role models. I didn't want this to happen, I really didn't. However due to lack of time, We had the cut the story and the time travel element all together. But I digress.
I felt the film had a lot of potential, however, it had almost no plot and what plot it did have were subject to confusion and misunderstanding. It was more violent then it needed to be and had crappy sound effects, which added to the cheese. I believe that the film should have just not had a forest scene at all, and instead been focused on th relationship between the rogue and the soldier, with more choreography in the Warehouse scene. The ending monologue could use improvement and the actor choice could have been better also. The visuals were pretty solid, with grading and effects looking just fine. In all, I believe it to be a learning experience: dealing with mass props, extras, remote locations, and most important: have a story!
- Research and concept development related to your area of responsibility.
 |
| Find Makarov |
- Research and concept development related to your area of responsibility.
- What challenges and solved problems arose in your area of responsibility. (Remember that by fully explaining the above, and by giving specific details about what you did, you are actually giving evidence that you actually worked on the project)
 |
| In camera "Jello" |
- What areas of production do we best see the application of your artistic style and influence in the project? Explain why is this significant and relevant.
.jpg)
I believe that the two biggest applications of my influence and style were in the color grading and interrogation scene lighting (particularly on the General, played by Alex S.). In the color grading, I tried to convey the over-grade of the footage in order to symbolize the fanciful and unreal sense of scifi but also the world that it takes place. It is a world of secrets and government deception, a place where everyone is shrouded by these colors, and bound to them and their allegiances. In the color grade of the interrogation, cold, distant, empty, trying to add the the atmosphere that wasn't there, the emptiness. In the forest I had to match the over grade, so I did a green color because it seemed appropriate, as the only other color you can grade footage effectively beside blue and green is red, and hat would not have been appropriate. In the lighting of the scene with Alex, I really wanted to go overboard and have a very dramatic opening shot. This would set the high Fidelity tone of the visuals for the rest of the movie. I really like classical filmmaking, not to watch but to record, and the motionless shot was my child. I also love silence in films. It really allows you to explore the environment in which the characters are in without actually showing or talking about it.- How the group solved problems that arose on the film as a whole. (You may, if you wish, detail problems in this section that arose because someone on the shoot had problems, was undependable, and did no work. However, the first question I will be asking you is, “Why didn’t you go to that person and tell them that they were not contributing enough, or help them work on skills that they found difficult.”)
1. Critical Evalutation
I thought, overall the film was a flop. It had it’s good moments, in fact some great moments, however it did not reach the production value I wanted in some places, and did not tell the story that I wanted either. Rather it became a monster, that turned into a special effects shootout that just might have ruined the next generation of Art of Video’ers. Let me explain. They, in seeing the film, must want to make their own film with guns, despite the “Granny Rule” in place. We broke the rule, and we were supposed to be angelic “Advanced Kids” and be role models. I didn't want this to happen, I really didn't. However due to lack of time, We had the cut the story and the time travel element all together. But I digress.
I felt the film had a lot of potential, however, it had almost no plot and what plot it did have were subject to confusion and misunderstanding. It was more violent then it needed to be and had crappy sound effects, which added to the cheese. I believe that the film should have just not had a forest scene at all, and instead been focused on th relationship between the rogue and the soldier, with more choreography in the Warehouse scene. The ending monologue could use improvement and the actor choice could have been better also. The visuals were pretty solid, with grading and effects looking just fine. In all, I believe it to be a learning experience: dealing with mass props, extras, remote locations, and most important: have a story!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
PARALLEL
Predestination paradox
A short film treatment
Do not edit, add comment
Summary for Understanding
A boy chooses to do something. But then someone dies. He tries to go back in time and change it. But then he contributes to the actual death. The he must go back in time once again to stop himself from even contributing to the future. In the end he returns to the beginning.
A man is shifting in and out of conscienceless he sees a watch... He cant believe what he sees
The same man is sitting on the ground in his garage. His friends are around him asking Jim, that is his name, if he was ok. They said that they only wanted to play around but they didn't mean for him to fall.
Jim Buscher lives a simple life. It is the near future and the “Time Age” is dawning. College graduates are making portable low power time machine-devices in their garages. The US government has already started making some, but they are large and unwieldy and have been restricted and classified until about 4 years prior. Parts for their time machine are abundant, such as the Krasnikov tube and the Tipler cylinder, along with new advances such as the Dyson Sphere Emulator. The late Steven Hawking agrees that with these innovations, time travel is not only feasible, can be even proven on a large scale.
In his garage, Jim had created a portable time machine with his two exceptional nerd friends, Thomas and Ridley. They are so excited, that they device to test it out, not thinking that it may be fatal. Excited, they decide that Thomas should go in. When he does, he return in a dying state and looking older, almost instantly. He says that he tried to transport himself to the time before they invented it, but he miscalculated and ended up right after he left. He is also missing his Time Watch. Jim and Ridley are in shock. They don't know what to do. They have to shut the temporal portal to the past, the only way is return to the place where Thomas entered and stop him from ever opening it. If they try to call for help, the portal might open further and suck in the entire house. Eventually they argue over what they should do, but then they are both sucked in and sent into the temporal portal.
They they awake on a beach. A distant noise can be heard, but they pay no attention to it. In the distance, they can see a slight shine: The Watch.
They begin to fight over the watch.
During the fight, Thomas is mortally wounded and falls into the portal. Ridley and Jim realize what they have done.
In shock, they cant believe what has just happened. They decide that they must go back and stop them from ever creating the time machine.
Everything begins to reverse, and, after a series of cool fx shots, Jim is confronted with a test, give himself up for his friend or save himself. He ponders on his situation.
Finally, Jim decides. He throws the Time Watch into the portal as it closes, and he is thrown back and knocked out.
He awakes on the floor. His friends are crowding around him. We didn't mean to hurt you Jim. We were only playing a joke. We didn't mean for you to fall. It is then he realizes: He looks into his hand, and he sees the time watch still in his grasp.
Predestination paradox
A short film treatment
Do not edit, add comment
Summary for Understanding
A boy chooses to do something. But then someone dies. He tries to go back in time and change it. But then he contributes to the actual death. The he must go back in time once again to stop himself from even contributing to the future. In the end he returns to the beginning.
A man is shifting in and out of conscienceless he sees a watch... He cant believe what he sees
The same man is sitting on the ground in his garage. His friends are around him asking Jim, that is his name, if he was ok. They said that they only wanted to play around but they didn't mean for him to fall.
Jim Buscher lives a simple life. It is the near future and the “Time Age” is dawning. College graduates are making portable low power time machine-devices in their garages. The US government has already started making some, but they are large and unwieldy and have been restricted and classified until about 4 years prior. Parts for their time machine are abundant, such as the Krasnikov tube and the Tipler cylinder, along with new advances such as the Dyson Sphere Emulator. The late Steven Hawking agrees that with these innovations, time travel is not only feasible, can be even proven on a large scale.
In his garage, Jim had created a portable time machine with his two exceptional nerd friends, Thomas and Ridley. They are so excited, that they device to test it out, not thinking that it may be fatal. Excited, they decide that Thomas should go in. When he does, he return in a dying state and looking older, almost instantly. He says that he tried to transport himself to the time before they invented it, but he miscalculated and ended up right after he left. He is also missing his Time Watch. Jim and Ridley are in shock. They don't know what to do. They have to shut the temporal portal to the past, the only way is return to the place where Thomas entered and stop him from ever opening it. If they try to call for help, the portal might open further and suck in the entire house. Eventually they argue over what they should do, but then they are both sucked in and sent into the temporal portal.
They they awake on a beach. A distant noise can be heard, but they pay no attention to it. In the distance, they can see a slight shine: The Watch.
They begin to fight over the watch.
During the fight, Thomas is mortally wounded and falls into the portal. Ridley and Jim realize what they have done.
In shock, they cant believe what has just happened. They decide that they must go back and stop them from ever creating the time machine.
Everything begins to reverse, and, after a series of cool fx shots, Jim is confronted with a test, give himself up for his friend or save himself. He ponders on his situation.
Finally, Jim decides. He throws the Time Watch into the portal as it closes, and he is thrown back and knocked out.
He awakes on the floor. His friends are crowding around him. We didn't mean to hurt you Jim. We were only playing a joke. We didn't mean for you to fall. It is then he realizes: He looks into his hand, and he sees the time watch still in his grasp.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Short Film Treatment: Parallel
PARALLEL
Predestination paradox
A short film treatment
A boy chooses to do something. But then someone dies. He tries to go back in time and change it. But then he contributes to the actual death. The he must go back in time once again to stop himself from even contributing to the future
A man is shifting in and out of conscienceless he sees a watch... He cant believe what he sees
The same man is sitting on the ground in his garage. His friends are around him asking Jim, that is his name, if he was ok. They said that they only wanted to play around but they didn't mean for him to fall.
Jim Buscher lives a simple life. It is the near future and the “Time Age” is dawning. College graduates are making portable low power time machine-devices in their garages. The US government has already started making some, but they are large and unwieldy and have been restricted and classified until about 4 years prior. Parts for their time machine are abundant, such as the Krasnikov tube and the Tipler cylinder, along with new advances such as the Dyson Sphere Emulator. Carl Sagan and the late Steven Hawking agree that with these innovations, time travel is not only feasible, can be even proven on a large scale.
In his garage, Jim creates a portable time machine with his two exceptional nerd friends, Thomas and Ridley. They are so excited, that they device to test it out, not thinking that it may be fatal. Excited, they decide that Thomas should go in. When he does, he return in a dying state and looking older, almost instantly. He says that he tried to transport himself to the time before they invented it, but he miscalculated and ended up right after he left. He is also missing his Time Watch. Jim and Ridley are in shock. They don't know what to do. They have to shut the temporal portal to the past, the only way is return to the place where Thomas entered and stop him from ever opening it. If they try to call for help, the portal might open further and suck in the entire house. Eventually they argue over what they should do, but then they are both sucked in and sent into the temporal portal.
They they awake on a beach. A distant noise can be heard, but they pay no attention to it. In the distance, they can see a slight shine: The Watch.
They begin to fight over the watch.
During the fight, Thomas is mortally wounded and falls into the portal. Ridley and Jim realize what they have done.
In shock, they cant believe what has just happened. They decide that they must go back and stop them from ever creating the time machine.
Ridely goes to the present, while Jim goes to the past.
Everything begins to reverse, and after a series of cool fx shots, Jim is confronted with a test, give himself up for his friend or save himself. He ponders on his situation.
Finally, Jim decides. He throws the Time Watch into the portal as it closes, and he is thrown back and knocked out.
He awakes on the floor. His friends are crowding around him. We didn't mean to hurt you Jim. We were only playing a joke. We didn't mean for you to fall. It is then he realizes: He looks into his hand, and he sees the time watch still in his grasp.
Predestination paradox
A short film treatment
A boy chooses to do something. But then someone dies. He tries to go back in time and change it. But then he contributes to the actual death. The he must go back in time once again to stop himself from even contributing to the future
A man is shifting in and out of conscienceless he sees a watch... He cant believe what he sees
The same man is sitting on the ground in his garage. His friends are around him asking Jim, that is his name, if he was ok. They said that they only wanted to play around but they didn't mean for him to fall.
Jim Buscher lives a simple life. It is the near future and the “Time Age” is dawning. College graduates are making portable low power time machine-devices in their garages. The US government has already started making some, but they are large and unwieldy and have been restricted and classified until about 4 years prior. Parts for their time machine are abundant, such as the Krasnikov tube and the Tipler cylinder, along with new advances such as the Dyson Sphere Emulator. Carl Sagan and the late Steven Hawking agree that with these innovations, time travel is not only feasible, can be even proven on a large scale.
In his garage, Jim creates a portable time machine with his two exceptional nerd friends, Thomas and Ridley. They are so excited, that they device to test it out, not thinking that it may be fatal. Excited, they decide that Thomas should go in. When he does, he return in a dying state and looking older, almost instantly. He says that he tried to transport himself to the time before they invented it, but he miscalculated and ended up right after he left. He is also missing his Time Watch. Jim and Ridley are in shock. They don't know what to do. They have to shut the temporal portal to the past, the only way is return to the place where Thomas entered and stop him from ever opening it. If they try to call for help, the portal might open further and suck in the entire house. Eventually they argue over what they should do, but then they are both sucked in and sent into the temporal portal.
They they awake on a beach. A distant noise can be heard, but they pay no attention to it. In the distance, they can see a slight shine: The Watch.
They begin to fight over the watch.
During the fight, Thomas is mortally wounded and falls into the portal. Ridley and Jim realize what they have done.
In shock, they cant believe what has just happened. They decide that they must go back and stop them from ever creating the time machine.
Ridely goes to the present, while Jim goes to the past.
Everything begins to reverse, and after a series of cool fx shots, Jim is confronted with a test, give himself up for his friend or save himself. He ponders on his situation.
Finally, Jim decides. He throws the Time Watch into the portal as it closes, and he is thrown back and knocked out.
He awakes on the floor. His friends are crowding around him. We didn't mean to hurt you Jim. We were only playing a joke. We didn't mean for you to fall. It is then he realizes: He looks into his hand, and he sees the time watch still in his grasp.
Friday, August 26, 2011
First Post.
Faceless
The cinematographer chooses to keep the man’s head mostly out of frame, which in turn actually draws us to it, trying to see if it ever reveals his features. This combined with the masks gives the protagonist, "Jeremiah," his ominous look. He is, in fact, buying drugs at this street corner. The drug dealer does not recognize him until he puts on the mask.
The film is cut in very slow, interesting scenes that let the viewer focus on things and ponder upon them. This scene (below) involves a trucking shot, that emphasizes the coming melancholic scene were the innocent worker is laid off despite having "just been promised a promotion" from Jeremiah.
He reveals he has a wife, yet is cheating with another woman. She is purposely lit more than Jeremiah so that Jeremiah seems darker and more sinister. When his wife tells him she knows about his cheating and his masks, the mask changes from just a metaphor into reality. He then comes to the realization.
The social message of "Faceless" is that we all were metaphorical masks, we lie and change our persona to fit the needs of others. The realization comes, however, that if we are not who we truly are, then who are we?
 |
| Jeremiah's true face, without the masks. |
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