this week

well this was a nice week for class. both days involved working hands on with these new hd cameras. they sure do look good in 1080i and 24p. really nice stuff. the exercises were nice, review for the most part but working with a camera is better than a lecture so ill take it. i learned more about thinking conceptually on framing a shot, just little technical ideas here and there about placement. not much in practice, i knew how to do everything we did. it really is just a matter of converting it from one camera to another. but really, all cameras white balance or adjust the iris in the same manner, just find the button and the adjuster. bu it was a nice week of work, cant wait to get to the real good stuff.

filmmaking? me?

to say you want to grow up and be a filmmaker is quite a broad exclamation. of course, we would all love to one day be a famous hollywood director, but is that really a reality? im not sure it is, which is why that is not my personal goal for filmmaking. i love movies, and i love making them but more than that i enjoy working with a camera. honestly, in my ideal world i would own my own restaurant or two and have the ability to make films on the side. however, in another sense i need a back up plan to that, one that involves a job out of college very fast. with that said, i have really taken a liking to sports filming. i completed my internship filming football practices and games for tuscaloosa county high school, and that experience has led me to wanting to film more football. i would not mind being one of those guys filming the nfl one day, working for a tv company. all of that would suit me. in fact, im trying to film alabama football for the coming season, a work in progress. with athat said, my goals for this course are to become more comfortable with a camera, more comfortable being on a set, just more experience overall that can help me whether its on a movie set or on football field.

my visual style

trying to come up with your own visual style is somewhat difficult, as i feel it changes with each project. however, i think that there is a general style people have, and i went to some of my favorite movies to figure out my general style. i really like uneven lighting. i like the chiaroscuro look on alot of things, i like the light to be very prevalent in one area then not in the others. here is a chiaroscuro idea seen in the sky, and i like how the clouds are very lit up in the middle and get darker on the way out.

another image i like is this still shot from oceans 11 movie, a shot at the end of the movie. i think this is a beautiful image, and again we have a major source of light and everything else is dark or silhouetted against it. even the line up of the people is visually compelling, as the heads of the people are in a 'mountain range' shape moving gradually up then down. this is one of my favorite movies and this may be my favorite shot from it.

the third image is a shot from the movie 'let the right one in'. it is a swedish film about a vampire girl. i love the way snow plays in movies, especially with the blood and night. anytime blood is used with snow, milk, or other white items it has a very good contrast.

top 10 films

in no particular order:

1.The Departed

2. Tropic Thunder

3. Charlie Wilsons War

4. 28 Days Later

5. All the Kings Men

6. Good Night and Good Luck

7. 'Oceans' Series

8. Burn After Reading

9. Fargo

10. DeathProof

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272007/