Documentary Pre-pro

Purpose: To show the life of a recovering addict in his attempt to regain his life and be once again accepted by his family and friends.

Contacts: Tyson (Main character), family members, friends of Tyson.

Interview Questions: How has drugs and alcohol affected you?

How do you think they have affected your family and friends?

Do you think you’ll ever become mentally stable?

What are your future plans?

What will you do to become sober once again?

Shot List: Close Up’s on all those who will be interviewed. Variety of shots (CU, MCU, WS, MS, etc.) of B-Roll that supports what the interview is stating.

General Flow: Beginning - B-roll on different parts of his home leading into the opening interview of Tyson.

Middle - Interviews of family and friends, along with B-roll as to what they were talking about.

End - Variety of B-roll, officially signaling off the interview on a positive note.

Intensified Continuity

David Bordell believes that continuity in films has intensified because of rapid editing, lens length, close framing, and a free ranging camera. Basically film has become more focused on close ups and quick cuts with less camera movement. Many recent films have quick cuts throughout rather than moving the camera itself. It allows close ups to be seamlessly integrated into a film to deliver a more intense idea or emotion. "As we'd expect, action films tended to be edited more briskly than other types..." (Bordell). Action scenes in films are complemented by quick cuts because it increases intensity. For example in a scene where a protagonist and villain are crawling for and object -like a gun- cuts between the surrounding, the actors faces, and the distance from the object can be shown seamlessly. This event in a film would be much more boring in one longer shot. Of course this choice is left up to the director or editor. On the other hand "musicals, dramas, romances and comedies didn't really favor long takes" (Bordell). These types of films require smoother pacing, slow pans, and minimal cuts. Any cuts that are made should be slow and far in between in order to keep the audience involved in what they are watching. The pacing of shots and cuts is important to the emotion and effect of a film on an audience.


Lenses have drastically changed, today the telephoto lens can provide a wide range of shots with only one camera and even one shot. In addition, new technology like cranes and hovering rigs allow the camera itself to be moved around to provide coverage. "The new lenses yielded several stylistic byproducts..." (Bordell). Since cameras today are so maneuverable, shots like close ups can be gotten much more quickly than before. In dialogue scenes, no longer is a director limited to having a two shot, they have have the option of cutting between close ups and long shots. In a romantic scene, shots may get tighter and tighter to match the emotion being portrayed. 


New technology has also made showing different scenes from a film easier. Using two cameras can make continuity much easier in edit. Getting two angles at the same time can make a cut more convincing since a shot would be the same. This would be much easier and less time consuming than using one camera and having to re-shoot one scene. For example in a scene where there is an explosion, fire or collapsing building- multiple cameras can be setup to allow the most coverage without the need to re-do expensive scenes. Dramatic scenes can be shown from different angles giving the viewer more time to see something that looks cool through a heightened sense of reality. This may also be true in a scene where a character shows some great emotion that would have to be matched, if two cameras had not been used.


Skip to 2:30 on this video for a great example of using multiple angles to get the best coverage of a one time shot.

Comparison: "Arrival of a Train" and "Damsel in Distress"

The most obvious difference between these short films is the camera work. The Arrival of a Train is a single sequence with no cutting, narrative, or any real meaning. The Damsel in Distress on the other hand has a plot, suspense, characters, and a full story arc.
In the Arrival of a train the camera does not move at all, and shows everything that happens in that particular frame. It is one long sequence with no point, or characters to give value to the train or its passengers.
With Damsel in Distress, conflicts and characters are shown with cuts. The way the women is tied up is shown, followed by the hiding place of the villain. All this has to be clear because of the lack of sound in films of this time period. The cuts are fast paced for the duration of the film especially when showing parallel action. For example, the train is approaching while the dog and man come to the woman's rescue.
Although the key point of both these films is a training arriving at a certain location, the way that event is portrayed is very different. One is simply an every day event while the other is a life death situation.

Again the difference in these films is between the use or lack of film making techniques. There is no editing in the Arrival of  a Train, which does match the event. The Damsel in Distress has many quick cuts in order to keep the audience involved while telling a dramatic story without getting boring.

The Arrival of a Train is a realistic film, the audience is free to look at what they find interesting and interpret the events. The film is also very short because of the lack of a narrative. The Damsel in Distress is more formal, closeups are used to show what is important. The woman blowing the whistle gives the dog a motive to arrive, the close up on the chains show the woman's problem. When the mans bike is broken it is showing the problem that he has to face, not being able to get to the woman that quickly. Finally the resolution is shown with the train breaking the chains holding down the woman. There isn't much to interpret, the film shows the audience everything that is important.

Advanced Editing Notes

III. Soviet Montage and The Formalist Tradition

• Pudovkin created the idea of 'constructive editing'
• It is the idea of having a reason behind every shot that is shown
• a new meaning should be created, the meaning was most important, the shot was just a tool
• Pudovkin believed that close ups were too intrusive and alone had no meaning
• When he used close ups he would put them in a montage in order to drive across a particular meaning
• close ups were a way to help assemble important parts of a film
• Pudovkin, Hitchcock, and Kuleshov all agreed with the idea of breaking a film into fragments that would be assembled to create a meaning or a narrative
• The meanings that derive from a characters reaction to an object are called juxtapositions
• it is up to the audience to understand what the shots symbolize
• man+soup=hunger
• man smiling at woman and child=kind gentlemen
• man smiling in same way, towards woman in a bikini = pervert or something of the sort
• today it is used in film as more than two completely separate objects; a desperate man in a scene may see a large sum of unprotected money
• 1. Close up of mans face with eye line match
• 2. Close up of money
• 3. Close up of mans reaction
• 4. Mans action follows
• Eisenstein believed that life was about constant change, and film is about capturing important moments
• he believed that shots should be incomplete in order to allow other shots to complete meanings or ideas
• this technique is used in propaganda
• In the Odessa Steps scene there is a focus on mother and child
• The first mother reacts directly to what happens to her child, this is all done in close ups and the meaning is very clear; the mothers distress
• Key events are the boy calling for his mother, and his hands and body being trampled
• The second mother has a baby in a carriage, and the wheels on the carriage directly symbolize the mothers life
• When the mother is shot it is obvious that she is going to die leaving the baby alone
• as the wheels rock back and forth, the mother struggles between life and death
• Once the mother dies, the carriage falls down the stairs

IV Andre Bazin and the tradition of Realism

•   Bazin was a french editor; he believed that a film should portray the directors ideas, known as their stylistic choice
• this clashes with the idea of giving the audience what they want in films today
•  Realism involves long shots, using wide screens, deep focus, panning, craning or tilting-- otherwise moving the camera physically with minimal editing
• 
  

The Immortals Movie Trailer-Review

The immortals is based on the Greek Mythology story of Theseus. It has the basic idea of any Greek myth, an individual with great power and prowess in battle with a magical weapon given to him by the gods.

The trailer begins with the voice over from a disembodied voice. It establishes the basics of all the gods of Greek Mythology. The first scene begins with a large cliff wall with a small town carved into it, zooming out as the voice over explains what is happening. The main characters are established in the order of King Hyperion the Villain, Theseus the Hero, Zeus the King of the gods, and what appears to be a prophet who is also Theseus' love interest. Each character is appropriately voiced over, Hyperion having his goal of unleashing evil and Theseus being the only hope for both humanity and the gods. The epic story-line and its characters are introduced through voice over and in film dialogue.

The cinematography goes perfectly with what is being established. Many of the shots tend to have a golden color tint. The gods also have gold clothing which separates them from other non important characters. The shots help show the differences between the gods and titans through location. The gods are on top a mountain which over looks everything, in the bright sun. The titans are shown in a box deep inside a large hollowed out mountain. During a pre-battle scene, the entire landscape is shown, giving an idea of the shear size. During fight scenes the action focuses around the main characters, especially around Theseus.

The trailer is cut in a way that keeps some form of motion, shots last just long enough to be interesting before moving on. Action scenes go around characters talking, or pick up and drop depending on the music. The editing goes perfectly with the dialogue, sounds cut during certain quick sounds, or heavy music. There are many quick cuts as the action picks up and certain important plot points are stated.
The music is very well done, it doesn't interrupt other sounds, and it hypes you up to see the film. The beat of the trailer matches perfectly with the action sequences. It does not distract from the shots and scenes. It is appropriate and not overpowering.

The trailer is well made and delivers its plot and characters in a way that allows the audience to get an idea of the film, and want to go see it.

First Film Pitch

Michael Taylor

Justin Pieraldi

Daniel Afeaki

Ricky Jalilie

Logline: Adolescent boy talks about his struggle through high school as he’s forced into a role of maturity as a result of his mother’s terminal illness.
Genre: Drama
Tone: Relaxed, calm, depressed
Time Period: Today’s time period, 2009-2011
Three act structure:
1. Boy introduces himself directly to audience, he is sitting at a train station. He talks about how easy life was, having a girlfriend, captain of basketball team, straight A advanced classes. This is shown through flashbacks. He introduces his family and the fact that he never had a father but that it didn’t matter.
2. Tho boy is longer doing any of the previous activities he had previously mentioned, and his grades had dropped. He talks about the role that he has to take over, doing for his sister what his mother did for him. He talks about how his mother can’t be there as much as she should. He explains that it is constantly wearing him down.
3. The boy goes to the hospital with his sister to visit his mother. It is revealed that his mother had some terminal illness (cancer?) and that is what has been causing him all his trouble. The film ends there.

A train passes by the train station and reveals a boy sitting on a bench looking in the direction of the train. He looks around a little waiting for his train and checking his watch. We see him look in the direction of the camera and he begins to walk across the tracks towards us. Saying “I’m Ryan, you don’t know much about me and maybe you don’t care. But I’m gonna tell you my story anyway”. a Jump Cut brings him back to his bench and the train pulls up blocking our shot.

On the train we see him walking to his seat, from a front view he starts telling his story, explaining how hard things have been for him. Starting a couple years ago, i was only a freshman in high school at the time. [fade into flashback of school and activities] That’s when i really began to struggle, school was so tough. I was in all the advanced classes, played basketball, went out with the prettiest girl in school. Back then things were easy, top of the class, captain of the team... had the world on a string. I didn’t have a dad, but it’d never really been a problem cause i had my sister and mom.

[return to a shot of boy taking seat and looking out the window] Near the end of sophomore year, i knew things would be much more difficult... My grades began to suffer a little, nothing serious, just a couple A’s turned to B’s. [flash to mom working and helping around the house] Mom worked as a teacher, she didn’t make a lot but it was enough for us to get by. She was a great cook and we always had food on the table.

[transition shot and whistle sounds] boy gets off the train looking around [story pauses as he walks down the train tracks to the station and enters. [inside we see him stop and ask a woman for directions to an address, not knowing what the address means] saying thank you and walking towards the camera he walks towards the exit.

“where was i?.... o ya, it was sudden... you know, one of those ‘it’ll never happen to me’, kinda things. [flash of boy crying counselor's office]...Well it did and it was terrible. By this point in my story I'm a junior, I didn’t play basketball anymore, i broke up with my gf, and i had to pretty much care for my sister alone.

i had to grow up pretty quick. [still shot of crying, picture of basketball falls in(breaks) picture of girl and boy falls in breaks, picture of boy leaning over sister studying + picture of boy cooking). [back to boy talking, hands money to vendor and receives coffee] I even had to get a job.... (ha) sleeping became quite a luxury for me.

we see the boy walking out of the cafe and towards an elevator, sipping his coffee he enters the elevator, jump cut to his exiting the elevator on a new floor. This has been really hard on me and my Julia, my sister [nods to someone outside of camera => sister runs into shut and hugs him. She’s been realy strong and has helped me out as much as she could.

Boy and girl walk down the hall as the boy explains that as tough as it’s been he’s confident itll all work out. [stopping, and looking to the side] thank you for listening to my story, it’s been a lonely time for me and the company has been nice, maybe ill see u around [appearing on the verge of tears the boy fakes a smile and turns walking into the door].

As the camera pans to the left following the boy we see a sign on the door saying ‘Cancer Word’. We see the boy walk towards a woman laying in a bed. Hey mom, the boy and girl say in unison. [boy: how you feeling today, through muffled voice struggling not to cry] The boy and girl hug their mother, and the door shuts on the camera.

First Film Treatment

>There is a note under a phone which says something like "do homework study for SAT's DON'T GET DISTRACTED" the phone alarm then goes off and there is a reminder that today is the last day to sign up for the SAT.

 >The boy sits up in bed as his alarm goes off looking tired with messed up hair and looks up hearing their parents tell them to do their homework and not to forget to sign up for the SAT's by a certain date.

>The boy is then looking at his phone and goes on facebook, seeing several statuses about how people have done college applications and been studying all day. The boy fluffs his pillow and strongly lands back into bed. The boy is already fast asleep.

 >The boy is then sleeping in a classroom and wakes up asking to use the bathroom.

 >As he walks out he thinks about how he should do his homework and remembers the sounds of his parents telling him that he'll end up some loser if he doesn't. He walks by groups of other students talking about him and about what a loser he is going to be when he grows up.

 >Time flashes forward where he sees himself homeless.

 >He looks hurt but keeps walking pretending he never heard anything but he sees other groups of people saying the same thing and begins thinking that they aren't making fun of him behind is back. He goes to the bathroom and washes his hands and splashes water on his face, as he walks out all the people he saw are right outside saying the same things.

 >He begins to run and in the middle of running he wakes up to the sound of the alarm.He bolts out of bed and grabs a comb, only combing half his hair before he runs over to his desk and begins his homework. Through a series of jump cuts he is doing jumping jacks, writing, slouching in his chair, and the whole time the clock is ticking.

 >The clock is changing time rapidly, and the boy drops is pencil which is down to a stub with no eraser left, the boys hand is red.

 >Happy and smiling they go back to bed, but wakes up shocked when they remember the SAT sign up. They smile when they think of how easy it would be.

 >As they reach the computer and is about to finish signing up they see that they need a credit card for the online registration. Frantically he runs around the house looking for his mom or dad, he can't find either.

 >He begins rushing around the neighborhood looking for someone who would let them use their credit card, as the clock ticks closer to the cut off time. He thinks of who he could ask and relies on a woman, and thinks about the fastest route, he sighs when he realizes how far it is.

 >He pauses and looks up taking off without wearing shoes. He successfully reaches the woman is given a ride back to his house. He bolts through the door and pulls off his socks which have been worn down. He looks at the card realizing that it is a library card. He looks at the computer seeing a late registration day and falls off his chair and just lays there.