BLOG #4: Relationships Between Shots

The piece of linear media I chose to analyze is a scene from the movie Requiem for a Dream, starring Jared Leto. This movie is really disgusting and not one of my favorites but I remember watching it and thinking, “Wow! This was edited unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.” The movie consists of a lot of cool colors like greens and blues because they want to give the impression that these people are really sick. The scene I chose to analyze is when Jared Leto’s character is in the car with Marlon Wayans’ and decides to shoot up into a nasty gash he has on his arm. It starts off with them speaking in the car, and the color of the scene might have a little blueish tint to it. The music starts up and they show very quickly what looks like the process of cooking the heroin. First liquid dropping into a cap, then a lighter being flicked on, then bubbles, and finally a close up of liquid going into the syringe. I guess the director does these fast paced cuts to show the audience all of the steps that come with heroin addiction. It is also very aesthetically appealing. Then it cuts from Leto’s face to a close up of the gash and him inject the needle into it. For a brief second we see what looks like blood flowing in veins, or at least some sort of reddish orange liquid, then it sharply cuts to a close up of his blue eyes dilating. This all is done at a fast pace as well to symbolize the transformation one undergoes when shooting up drugs. These little cuts, are done purposely to tell the story and see the whole process in a short matter of time. Overall, this movie was not the best conceptually for me, but I did think the editing very well done. I have included the scene below and it ends at 0:52 seconds.

Production Report for Final Project

I had many ideas of what I wanted to do for my final video project but upon learning that we had to shoot at school during lab hours, it took me forever to think of a coherent project. I knew whatever it was, I wanted it to be a music video so my process began by listening to my Spotify library. Often when I listen to music, I also get visuals of how to tell a story with it. I came across Regina Spektor’s, “You’ve Got Time”, also known as the title song to the popular Netflix original, Orange is the New Black. Then, the concept hit me! Why not make a video about a girl racing against time? So for my final project, with the help of Nour Saudi, I was able to do a piece on having to submit a paper by deadline. I played the girl, while Nour recorded all of the action shots. I recorded all of the B-roll (and basically any other shot I wasn’t in). We finished shooting in 2 hours. Then it was time to edit! Because I already had a storyboard and music choice, I was able to finish the project fairly quickly. When I chose which shots I wanted to use, the sequencing took little to no time in Final Cut Express. Then, it was just a matter of adding the song, shortening it a bit, and making it cohesive with the scene changes. Lastly, I added transitions between clips, a title, and end credits. It all took me a little over a class period to do. I am very happy with my continuity project “Deadline" turned out.

Continuity Project

Blog #3: MOMI Trip

On my trip to the Museum of the Moving Image, there were a lot interesting things I learned about the process of making film and video. One of the first things I saw were a lot of different types of old film cameras. It was interesting to see how the old cameras compare to modern cameras all today. It really showed that the process of filmmaking has come a long way since the early 1900s. The most interesting part of the museum that I saw was the Titanic exhibition. In this exhibit, they showed the scene of the sinking ship and how the sound was recorded apart from the filming of the scene. Usually, the audio and video are recorded at the same time through single system production. In this case, a double system production was used, recording the sounds separately and then merging them with the video during editing. There were many different techniques used in order to get the right sound to match the video. One of the techniques was using a chair with bags of sand tied to it being knocked over in order to simulate the sound of a body dropping down onto the floor. It is a perfect example of how sound editors in film have to get creative at times in order to get the right audio. When the audio and video were played out of sync, neither could stand on their own and they didn't make sense. Without the right sounds the image does not have the desired effect, therefore good audio is a key component in having a successful production.

Blog Assignment #2: What I Hear

The area I chose to explore on my sound walk is my neighborhood in uptown Harlem on the west side. As a racially diverse area of the city, they are many different sounds reflective of the cultures present. The first sounds I hear when I exit my building, are children laughing and playing in the street. The weather has started to get warmer so outside, little girls are playing jump rope after school. You can hear the sounds of the rope hitting the pavement as the girls count out loud.

Another sound you can hear is salsa music blasting from a car radio. There are a lot of Latin people in the area and on days where the weather is nice they like to gather outside for some bonding. Two elderly women are sitting outside of a clothing store, enjoying the music and chatting away. There is also a group of men surrounding the car playing music, that are hanging out and laughing. As I walk more towards broadway, I can hear the sounds of cars whizzing by. Broadway is a very busy avenue and has two way traffic so there are always plenty of taxis and cars passing by. There is the sound of a bus in the distance; I can see it two streets over. I also hear a mother calling out to her young son to “stop running ahead” in Spanish. Overall, the sounds I hear on my sound walk are very reflective of the busyness and culture that are the foundation of New York City,

Audio Portrait

Define A Space Project

Define A Space Project from Brigitte Elise Crime on Vimeo.