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MFA - FINAL Mastery Journal

For this being my final month of my Masters, I feel this was the perfect class to end the degree program on. To be honest it taught me a lot about something I didn’t even know I needed to know. It not only helped me refine my resume, it also helped me understand agents a little better as well. One of my favorite portions of this class was the mock “negotiation” I really feel that was a really interesting exercise that was also fun as well. The film festival portion of this class took up a large amount of class time and for a good reason, its very important. This part of the class really helped me to think bigger on the festival circuit, and helped to open my eyes to all of the festivals out in the world. This class did an absolutely amazing job of keeping a subject a lot of people find boring; entertaining. The main instructor Peter, as well as the others who taught as well were great. They were all knowledgable and very experienced, this allowed for an environment conductive to learning. Something else I also noticed is that this class ended up helping me think outside of the box and design a more unique resume. Most of this is thanks to the lectures in class, they not only helped me design a better resume, but they helped me to update my information in a great way. I also really liked the way Hall Of Fame was handled in this class. All in all, this class was a great class to end my degree with. From the great teachers, to the awesome content taught in a fun way.

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link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKKNlEfQmPQ&feature=youtu.be

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MFA

During this month I learned a plethora of concepts and applications of the editorial world. One concept in which I not only learned a great deal, but was also able to put into practical use was “suturing”. Suturing is the process of weaving or seaming an object together, in this case we are suturing clips together in an edit to make a watchable product. While playing with and getting used to “Avid: Media Composer” and all of the wonderful features that accompany it. I was able to learn (and practice) suturing and my editing skills in general. I, myself am familiar with the Adobe Suite, as well as final cut. However, after even using Avid in my bachelors degree, I still found there to be a ridiculously strong learning curve that makes new people shy away. On the other hand, once you get good at it you will find Avid opens a whole new avenue of possibilities not thought of beforehand. During this class, I also learned a great amount on codecs and exactly what they are, and how they impact your final export of your project. Something else I had the fortune of being able to learn more about this month is what exactly “luts” are and how to apply them and when. I found the use of luts to be really interesting, and something I had never noticed or known much about beforehand. Overall, I think this class was really great for me. Not only because it helped awaken a side of me that likes to edit, a side I haven’t seen in a long time. I also learned a lot about editing in general. I got some help with pacing, and music choice that really helped me to not only define myself within my edits but to do so in a correct manner.

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March.3.2019 Mastery Journal

I feel that I learned a lot this month, in terms of what I’d like to do in my specific department. I learned a lot about how a camera team fully functions on a location. I feel this is super useful for me as I plan to do a lot of shoots on locations. I also learned a lot from purely using the camera for several days. I learned a plethora of new information regarding framing and specific compositions of shots as well. I also learned a lot about how to deal on set with people with whom I don’t usually work well with. I learned how to motivate others to work, or how to help get people back on track on set as well. I loved using the camera, and I loved my camera team as well. Everyone knew their equipment and how to operate fully and do their jobs correctly and responsible.

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BAO (Short) - Feb . 2 . 2019

The short film I chose to watch today was “Bao”. It was released with “The Incredibles 2” for the theatrical releases. If I had to give this film a logline I believe it would be “A mother struggles with her little dumpling aging”. I believe the term “little dumpling” is perfect especially for this short, because at first her son is presented to the audience as a little dumpling that’s alive and nothing more. But later in the film you are shown that the “little dumpling” was her son all along, and in fact a human being. I also believe the play on words is great and an awesome metaphor, due to a lot of people calling their children and/or significant others “dumpling”. When the film opens we see a lonely woman making dumplings for an elderly gentleman, and once he hurries on to work the last dumpling becomes alive. She and the dumpling both love each other. Then once the dumpling begins to age we can see the relationship between the dumpling and the mother start to deteriorate and worsen. Eventually the dumpling begins fighting with the mother, and not wanting to do stuff anymore with her. And even ditching her to go hangout with friends. He eventually brings home a woman, whom the mother does not fancy at all. She is the complete opposite of the mother and it is very apparent, through several montages. Eventually when the dumpling is leaving with his friends and the woman the Mother fights and fights with him, before eventually eating him. Then going to cry in his room. This is the reveal, where we see for the first time that he is in fact human, and the story was a large metaphor, for dealing with aging children. The Mother and son then sit on his bed and eat bread rolls that they enjoyed together when he was a child. After this we see the woman from before bonding with all of them as a family. His new wife is even amazing and rolling the dumplings, and so everyone is happy. And that’s the end of the story. I would have to say the genre for this film is Drama, and the theme would be “aging”. The tone for this film I would have to say is very fast paced, as well as dramatic.  

             This film was completely 3G CGI. It looked stunning, and the food prepared looked fantastic. For an animated short film, the cinematography in this project was outstanding. There was enough camera movement to keep you entertained, as well as expertly executed montages through the film. The lighting and focal lengths seemed to be rather interconnected in this film as well. In the beginning of the film the focal lengths seemed to be further away. Also, the lighting seemed much darker in the first portions of the film as well. And in instances of happiness and laughter the lighting was higher, and we had a closer focal length. A great example of this is when they are in the bedroom and the lighting is super dark, and we are further away. But once the son comes in with the bread rolls, we get closer and can see the lamp light dance across their faces.

             There was no dialogue throughout this film. It is so well done I did not even notice that at first. This short relied on a lot of realistic sound approaches. It sounded very realistic and there was a very clear distinction between diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Since there was a pretty decent amount of montage in this film, they also used a decent amount of music. Music in the montage(s) was great and went with the scenes. Music in the actual film itself was great as well. It at no point became over bearing or annoying to the viewer.

 The editing in this film is fantastic as well, as it is very minimal to the human eye. They went with a more traditional Hollywood editing style for this film and focused on seamless transitions and impactful yet plentiful cuts. I think this film has slightly expanded my mind on what is possible with an animated film in terms of a simpler editing approach. All in all, I would say this is a must see short. Somewhere around three minutes this film is a lambast of emotions. It not only tells a great story in a unique metaphor format rarely seen, it is also very well animated and an absolute pleasure to view.

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Mastery Journal Dec.16.18

       The film I choose to watch was titled “It comes at night”.  It came out last year (2017) and was from a rather new writer and director, Trey Edward Shults. “It comes at night” was an indie horror/suspense film and was shot on a rather small budget of around five million dollars. The premise of the film is simplistic, yet at the same time does a lot to expand the minimalist concept into something truly worthwhile.

        The film opens with a husband (Paul) and his wife (Sara) with their teenage son (Travis) burying and burning an already infected man who is revealed to be the wife’s Dad. Later that night a man attempts to break into their house. Paul then knocks the man out and ties him up outside to make sure he is not infected. After leaving him outside for a while, Paul is satisfied that he is not infected. Paul goes outside and talks to the man, it turns out his name is Will and he has a family held up not too far from there. Will pleads with Paul and begs, saying they only need water and they will be on their way. While extremely apprehensive about this and after talking about it with his wife Sara, he decides to help Will get his family and bring them back to their house. That way they would have food and water, especially since Will had farm animals and lots of canned food to help contribute to the groups survival. Once Will’s family got there everything seemed good. The two families were working quite well together. However, one night after Travis had a nightmare about his Grandpa he woke up to find Will’s very young son (Andrew) having a nightmare in the Grandpas room as well. Travis then took Andrew back to his room to sleep with his parents. Later on, Travis hears Will and his wife talking about how they “need to leave”. He also hears what he believes to be young Andrew in pain. Travis goes and informs his parents who have a confrontation with Will and his wife. Things turn violent and guns are pointed before Sara takes control of the situation. She and Will then lead them outside and after a scuffle with Will, he is shot. While Will’s wife (Kim) runs with Andrew in her arms before Paul shoots him. Kim lays next to her child’s lifeless body and screams before Paul shoots her as well. Once they get home they realize Travis is infected as well from touching Andrew, and his parents see him off on his deathbed. The final scene of the film is Paul and Sara sitting at the kitchen table in the morning obviously infected, and exhausted.

          The Genre for this film is primarily horror, with suspense elements throughout. The main horror elements in this film were in Travis’s nightmare sequences. Also, this film does not in any way rely on pure visuals to scare you. It relies on what you can’t see and makes your mind fill in the blanks, this is super smart in my opinion as oftentimes our minds can come up with something worse than what they show us.

           The tone of this film was very bleak, and almost depressing looking. They decided to use a lot of greens and browns to make the secluded woods they live in, just that much more dark and depressing. The editing also felt like it lingered in scenes longer than usual in order to make us uneasy and ready to expect something at any moment.  This accompanied by the ever increasing crescendo of sound and music throughout really helped to exemplify the suspense throughout the entirety of this film. The performances by all of the actors and actresses were stellar, especially Paul and Travis in those pivotal and climatic scenes. I feel the use of tone severely impacts the viewer of this film by allowing our thoughts to take over and never really getting a clear grasp of the concept of the story till the second act.

           During the death of Travis, his mother comforts him at his bed side as he slowly passes away. He begins to have several dream sequences with him and his family, and around his home. It then transitions to Travis walking into this sectioned off quarantine area. This is a great scenic metaphor, and is a more unique way to show some one pass away rather than just show them pass out. The way the director controlled the camera in this film, especially with the long cuts, I feel was intended to give us this lingering or trapped feeling. This does a great job of playing with our emotions and making us believe possibly Travis is up to something, or possibly his parents could be up to something. No one was really shot in a position of ‘power’ in this film because there really didn’t seem to be anyone in control. Even though they had specific rules about the house and different schedules, it was still really clear they were in over their heads.

             Overall, “It comes at night” is a fantastic film that not only defies expectations it also explores a similar concept of horror, in a new and fresh way. The cast and their acting was a fantastic addition to the film and made the plot that much more believable. The editing and lingering on the long cuts really helped this film in terms of pacing. The lighting in this film was really well done, with the whites and blues from the flashlights and use of overhead lighting made this film look great. The writing was clever enough in my opinion to cover any plot holes and add a great level of world building and continuity to it. This film did a great job of showing what you can do with a rather decent investment, and still make it look like a very expensive film in the process. This film also for the first time in a long time really helped me to remember how important location is in films like these. In the end “It comes at night” is a great film and I highly recommend it.

[parkerfoxmfa]

Mastery journal nov 18

This month, during my “Visual Storytelling Techniques and Technology” course I learned a lot of new things. From the multiple strenuous assignments to the in class and HANDS ON lectures. This course really helped me to not only redefine mastery, but it helped me learn new things in film I thought I couldn’t. The hands on portion of this class, really helped me to gain a further understanding of the equipment and concepts being caught in lectures and other assignments. I know the photo recreation was a project a lot of people didn’t like, but I on the other hand thought of that assignment to be great and challenging. I even liked the fact of how strict you were in the critiques of them (even if it hurts my grade). I feel this helps to hold us to a high standard and keep us there. I really thought this assignment would be easier, but this assignment helped me to learn to pay attention to the more minute details of not only photography, but videography as well. The emotion video was a project I chose to have a lot of fun with this month. After writing a lot of sad and or depressing stuff for the last several classes I decided it was time to change it up. It wasn’t necessarily easy to follow the strict requirements for the assignment. But I was able to and decently happy enough with the end results. I also thought the story in a picture was a great assignment as well. It really helped you to think a little deeper into every picture you see taken. I also think the narrative assignment did its job in giving us not only more experience on set, but it gave us a good opportunity to experience and practice what we learned in class during lectures. I would absolutely say that I met my goals for this course, and feel it was a great step on my journey to mastery.

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10/21/18 Mastery Journal

           This month for my experimental filmmaking course I feel I greatly improved on taking multiple rolls at once on set and off. I also learned a lot in terms of expanding my specific filmmaking skills in a more controlled environment.  One of the things on my Mastery time line for this course was to “Familiarize myself with emerging technologies for the art of filmmaking”. And I absolutely believe I did that. The first presentation I had to give in this class I chose the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree video. It really made me look at storytelling and cinematography in a completely different light. It also reminded me to keep my ear to the ground for new and emerging technology that can help improve and change the filmmaking process. Another one of my goals was to improve my abilities with Claymation as a type of filmmaking. I wanted to shoot a six second video with it. However, I found myself strapped for time, during this busy month. However, I was able to buy a bit more clay as well as a very large assortment of play-doh. I was able to improve my sculpting skills as well as working on creating an environment. I also have plans to get a Claymation YouTube channel off the ground sooner than expected. This class has help expose me to a little more realism for what being on set for a film I control is like. It has caused me to reevaluate my decision to be a director, both positively and negatively. It makes me want to direct more, but it also causes a lot of stress. So, this will cause me to be extra prepared beforehand, to help ensure my success. Overall, this was a great class and I learned a lot not only from the lectures. But on set as well, that made a huge difference in this course and allowed me to learn more effectively.

[parkerfoxmfa]

Mastery Journal 9/30

I learned a lot this month in my “Directing Talent” class. Originally one of my main goals as I established last month was to gain a better insight on directing talent one on one. I feel I gained a bunch of experience on this especially in the three directing scenes we did. These three directing scenes required a lot from us and I feel they were the most informative and one of the most useful parts of the course. Especially where we had to adapt a non-copyright work to a script, that was not only a really useful assignment, but I actually found it to be really fun as well. I also really loved the acting portion of this class and its requirement. I really feel it made me me much more comfortable in front of the camera, and as a result I am much more interested in acting on the side. I also really liked the lectures in this class as it really helped with directing actors and directing other crew members on set. Learning the ‘as if’ scenarios in the class lectures and learning how to better address talent and crew really helped me with my confidence on set in a key position. This class has really sparked my interested in directing, even to the point of me deciding to pitch for thesis. This is a big step for me but I feel the knowledge gained in this class has helped me to be a better director.

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My mastery vlog :) 

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Tumblr post 07/15/18

The short film I chose to watch today was titled "Don't look away" and was a horror short I found on YouTube. It was also only eight minutes in duration, but it packed a pretty good punch for the duration. The longline for this story should be "a girl discovers a monster in her back yard that can only move when you can't see it". The theme for this story I would have to say is listen to your parents. If she had listened to her parents she would have never got in the predicament in the first place, and not created a second monster in the end. As for the tone this story is rather dark, but due to the acting not being the best it can occasionally be funny in that department. ​The inciting incident in this story is when the brother tries to get the sister to go mow the lawn. They begin to argue a lot and go back and forth before the sister realizes theres a person in the back yard. She then calls her dad who seems pretty unnerved about the whole incident and tells his daughter not to move or look away from the man. For the first plot point in this story is when the sister calls the brother into her room and tells him about the man in the back yard. He originally thinks this is some sort of excuse to get her out of her chore of cutting the lawn. But once he comes over he sees the figure as well. The Second plot point for this story is that both the brother and sister decide it is the best idea for the sister to go down stairs and lock all the doors. Since the sister believes that since the brother is still looking at the man, they will most likely be fine. The midpoint in this story is right after the sister comes back upstairs from locking the doors. Then they both notice that there is two separate men, and they don't exactly understand why. The climax for this film is when the sister looks away and then looks back and the man outside is gone. Once she turns around he is In the house. But the brother still sees one outside. So she slowly moves to the bedside stand before reaching in the drawer and grabbing some tape, and taping over the mans eyes. But once she turns around to call her dad again the man grabs her. The resolution for this story is once the dad gets home he bursts into the room and grabs a hand mirror, before showing the man his own reflection in the mirror and causing him to be stuck into the mirror. The denouncement for this story would basically have to be the part at the end where they had shown the other man get away. It basically set itself up for a sequel. For the set they used their pretty average 2 story home with the backyard. The costumes for the man were nicely done. However, The clothing and wardrobe was only mediocre in my opinion. I also thought the crew for this project did a pretty good job in terms of the set dressing. It all felt pretty real. The cinematography for this project was absolutely awesome as well. It used consistent but still fresh camera positions and angles making it a blast to watch. This made the duration of the film feel much shorter than it actually was, and in my opinion thats a good thing because it shows how much they were able to immerse us in a story within a short amount of time. As for the sound on this project the dialogue sounded great so the booming was well done. The music was also a strong suit for this project and it allowed some moments to be more intense or impactful. Overall the music in this film did a great job of helping to convey the emotions of the main characters. The natural sounds like walking and wind and other various post sound effects did a great job of blending in this film. Helping to unknowingly draw in the viewer even more. I also thought the editing in this film was pretty well done. You almost can't tell when the scene is changed specifically within the house, that is a very good thing and something I always look for when I edit. I noticed no continuity mistakes either. Overall this was a great short film I found randomly and I highly recommend it to others. I also believe I learned a pretty good amount from watching this short film and I feel I can adequately use it in my short film to help areas like production value, sound, and the overall look of the film.

​Tumblr: ​https://www.tumblr.com/blog/parkerfoxmfa

​Short Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f3hG-5grlw​​

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Ricky Bobby