For this picture, I wanted to play around with forced perspective. All of the cups are actually different sizes, but they are placed at different distances to create the illusion that they are all the same size and on the same frontal plane. I also wanted to make sure that they didn't overlap so as to help create the illusion of flat space and lack of depth. The grain lines on the table kind of ruin the illusion that I was going for (plus they add some depth cues, ruining the flat space) but I'm still glad that I experimented with it.
2.
This was a group shot that I took of all of my actors for my Childhood film. I realized later that it is a decent example of flat space because of how they're lined up and because tonally they all look similar. Their shadows add some unwanted depth cues, and the extra plane in the background also creates some depth that I didn't want, but I think it works okay.
3.
I really love the strange coloration of this building. I also loved the fortuitous weather the day that I took this because it added a lot of aerial diffusion to the sky and general surroundings, which helped create even more flat space. I took it from a lower angle in order to cut out the street and sidewalk, further adding to the effect. The tree kinda ruins it for me, but I didn't have a saw on hand, so I left it as it was.
4.
The aerial diffusion in this photo really helps to create flat space. There are no depth cues that can be seen past the house, creating a single plane that keeps everything together. I wish that I had cropped out more of the street in order to add to the flat space, but overall I like the effect.
5.
This is a picture of one of my dogs, Piper. I had a few other photos that looked nicer, but they weren't taken in the right format, so I had to use this one. I like how textured the carpet is and how it contrasts with her white fur. The texture really adds to the flat space. There's a little more head room than I would have liked, but I think it works as an example of flat space.
Growing up, I played a lot of
piano. My mother was a piano teacher, so
there was really no way that I could escape it.
Eventually, I grew to love it, but I still remember the long, tedious
hours of practicing finger exercises and scales. I find it fascinating that I look upon these
memories of piano practice as both a positive and negative aspect of my
childhood, so I wanted to capture that feeling in my film. I decided to juxtapose the first half of the
film (the boring fingering exercises) with some of the negative aspects of
childhood, such as making messes, getting in trouble with your parents, and
getting bullied and harassed by your peers.
The second half juxtaposes nicer, calmer, more personal music with more
positive elements of childhood, such as playing with toys, reading fantasy
novels, eating candy, and making up with your parents. Throughout the film, I wanted to play with
space, movement, and color. I really
wanted to make the film seem like you were experiencing it through the eyes of
the protagonist. I also wanted to place
a lot of emphasis on hands, since most of the activities that I participated in
as a child required a lot of concentration on my hands. Every time we return to the bullies, the
frame gets tighter, the camera movement is more erratic and violent, and the
lens gets longer, until we end with the distorting fish eye lens. I wanted to create a feeling of claustrophobia,
persecution, and panic in these shots, and I think that we were able to
accomplish that, especially when it was juxtaposed with the music. I also wanted to create a visual contrast
between the blue outdoor shots and the yellower, brighter interior shots, which
I think turned out well. I also wanted to
create a color and lighting difference when the mother returns at the end in
order to emphasize her changed emotional state.
I learned that a director really has
to communicate effectively with his DP.
There were a couple of shots where I was left unsatisfied with either
the timing or the camera movement, and I realized that this was in no way
Sariah’s fault, but rather my inability to effectively communicate what I
wanted from the shot. If I had taken the
time to slow down a bit and explain exactly how I wanted the shot, the effect
would have been closer to what I was imagining.
Lighting has always been one of my greatest weaknesses when it comes to
film making. I know almost nothing about
how to light a scene to make it look how I want it (for example, while making
this film, I accidentally melted a gel).
Luckily I had Sariah, and she was able to help me in this area, but I
still feel like my lack of knowledge on proper lighting techniques hurt the
film. If I could redo anything, I would
have worked on directing my actress better so that there was a more visible
contrast between the mother’s angry rant at the beginning and her calmer, more
apologetic tone near the end. I also
would have really spent more time to figure out how I wanted each shot to look
color-wise and lighting-wise so that I could fine tune the overall tone of the
piece. Overall, I was quite satisfied
with the film and I feel like I’ve learned a lot through the process of making
it.
I was shopping at Lolo's and decided to get a picture of the aisle. What fascinated me about this picture wasn't so much the color or layout or anything, but rather what I found in this aisle: candy and alcohol. Right across from each other. I found it hilarious that the majority of our modern vices were found so conveniently located together, so I had to get a picture of it.
2.
I shot this one through a glass door at the McKay building on Sunday after church, which was particularly foggy. I shot another one that didn't have the letters in it, but I like the look of these backwards letters floating over the landscape. I do recognize that the letters kind of obscure some of the depth cues (like the horizon and the pathway) which would help with the deep space that I'm going for, but I also like how it establishes a frontal plane that contrasts with the foggy background.
3.
I really wish this one had turned out better. The aerial diffusion caused by the fog could have really helped add to the illusion of depth, although there may have been too much fog to achieve that effect. I wish I had shot more of the street in this one. The angle is too high, so you mostly only see the fog. Oh well.
4.
I like how this one turned out. I took it under the same foggy conditions as the last one, but because of the bright red stop sign in the foreground, the deep space works a lot better in this one. And the aerial diffusion seems to add more to this one, whereas in the last one it did not. I wish I had framed the stop sigh a little better and shown a little more of the road so as to add more depth cues, but I really do like the color contrast in this photo.
For my first photo, I decided to shoot something that I really love: piano. I saw this old, electric keyboard and knew that I needed to capture it. I really like how all of the lines seem to converse at one point way in the distance, and I also like how you can see the dust on the front keys and red velvet. The contrast between the black and white keys also appeals to me.
2.
2. This is a photo of car and bike tracks in the snow in front of my house. I found it interesting to think about how all of the different lines intersect with each other, even though they were all made at different times under different circumstances, and they all come together seemingly at random to make a pattern. I don't like the color in this one, however, and I find it rather bland. If I could do it again, I would shoot from an angle instead of head on, and I would try to bring out the contrast between the road and the snow.
3.
This one fascinates me. I was helping Sariah shoot her Childhood project, and when I saw her porch, I knew that I needed to get a shot through the wooden beams. Looking through them made me feel claustrophobic, like I was locked in prison. I wanted to capture that feeling of claustrophobia that I was feeling, and I think that for the most part, I succeeded.
4.
I ride my bike a lot, so I have to deal with these things every day. I decided to see if I could make an interesting photo out of them. I failed. But I do like how the racks form a straight line going to the left, even though the racks themselves are made of curvy lines. I like thinking that you can create straight lines out of objects that are not conventionally straight. I'm not a huge fan of how it is lit, and I wish that those bikes weren't there because they ruin the line that the bike rack was making. But I kinda liked the idea behind the photo.
5.
I took several different photos of this landscape and suburban neighborhood, and this one was my favorite. It was a beautiful sunrise in Alpine, and in every direction that I looked, it was like walking into a Kinkade painting. So I tried to capture some of that. I like how the garage is kind of in the foreground and suggests more depth than the other photos that I took. I also like the uneven V shape that the mountains and roof form. My other photos had more straight lines and appeared flatter. I also like the blues and whites in this one. I don't think I quite captured the beauty of that morning, but I still enjoy this photo.
6. Bonus photo!
I was watching a Ben Folds music video, and I saw that Josh Groban had a 2 second cameo, and he totally looks like James! Just throwin' that out there.
1.What
is the story of this scene in two or three sentences? In other words, what happens in the
scene? In this scene, an unseen
protagonist (film is from his POV) practices piano, reads books, and watches
movies as an escape from the unpleasant things in his life. This includes mundane things, such as
spilling honey on the ground and being yelled at by his mother, to the more
serious and personal, such as getting bullied by neighbor kids. But no matter what happens to our
protagonist, he still has music and stories to escape from the unpleasantness
of life.
2.What
is the purpose of the scene? The purpose
of the scene is to contrast some of the unpleasant aspects of childhood with
the more whimsical, escapist elements of childhood. I want to show that no matter what bad things
happen to us, there is always a place that we can go in order to find joy.
3.What
is the emotion I want to communicate? I
want to communicate feelings of relief after building tension throughout. I want to focus on the hope and simple joy
that comes from some of the more escapist and fantastical elements of
childhood, as well as the pain and simple suffering of the more negative
aspects of growing up. Hopefully, the
film will bring relief to those who watch it. 4. Why
is the scene personal to me? What previous experience does it remind me of? Why
do I need to make this scene? This scene is personal to me because my own
childhood was pleasant enough because when I found something that I loved, it
filled me with such joy that I was able to filter out some of the more negative
memories of my childhood, such as getting bullied and teased by the neighbor
kids or getting in trouble with my parents.
This scene draws on some very specific memories of mine, such as the
time that I woke up at 4 am to watch cartoons and I accidentally spilled a huge
jug of honey on the floor while trying to make cereal. The other scenes are more of a combination of
memories, such as all of the piano that I played as a kid, as well as some of
the teasing I endured. I need to make
this scene so that I can better reconcile the positive and negative aspects of
my childhood.
5. What,
specifically, must the audience understand narratively and feel at the end of
the scene? How do you intend to make
sure this happens? By the end, the
audience must understand that even though childhood has its unpleasant moments,
there are still enough pleasant moments and activities that we can look back on
fondly. I intend to make sure this happens
by associating the music played throughout with the happier moments of the
film, and contrasting visually between the lighter and darker moments of the
story.
6. What
two visual elements will help you communicate the emotion of the scene? Two elements that I want to utilize are space
and movement. In moments of great
tension, I want the camera movement be a little shakier, more frantic, to
illustrate the mood of the protagonist. I
also want the camera to move slower (or even stay still) during moments of
peace and joy. If the mood is
claustrophobic, I want the space to feel confined with actions happening close
to the camera to simulate uneasiness. This
should work for my film since it is mostly POV. I also want to use a wide lens
for certain shots to enhance the space and create a sense of loneliness and
abandonment for the protagonist.
7. What
are some potential obstacles to creating a successful scene? How can you be prepared to overcome
these? One obstacle will involve
shooting outside. I have a couple of
exterior shots planned, and bad weather or planning can make these shots
difficult to shoot. However, I plan on
shooting on a Friday morning, so hopefully there will be enough light to shoot
the scene and the weather doesn’t interfere.
Another obstacle will be finding actors for my film. Luckily, this scene doesn’t require any
dialogue, so I will only need to find people who take direction well and aren’t
afraid to be on camera. Another obstacle
would involve equipment breaking or missing equipment that we need. To avoid this, I have talked with Sariah to
figure out exactly what we’ll need for the shots so that we don’t miss
anything. I also intend on returning the
equipment as soon as possible to decrease the risk of the equipment breaking.
This is what I see when I come home from school and work everyday. For me, this light is inviting, a sign that my day is over and now I can relax. I never realized how ominous this light was until a friend of mine gave me a ride home one day, saw the front of my house lit up with this red light, and told me that I needed to move out immediately. I always thought it was strange that the same light could make me feel at home and welcome, while to others it made them feel ominous and afraid. To me, this picture represents how the same object can be looked at in multiple different ways, with none of the interpretations being right or wrong. We all see the world differently, and that's okay.
2, Photo 2
This is another sight right next to my house. I was walking home at night, and this sign popped out to me. It looked even cooler when I turned on my camera and I noticed that the light from the sign blocked out all other light so only the sign is visible. It reminded me of my home in Vegas, where every billboard and sign vies for your attention with shiny lights and colors as they try to stand out in the darkness. So I guess I associate this sign with both my home in Provo and my home in Vegas.
3. Photo 3
I was at my friend's house here in Provo when I noticed this display over the fireplace. I loved the juxtaposition of two different religious ideologies sharing the shelf and wall together. To me, this combination of a picture of a temple alongside a Buddhist statue symbolized that even if our ideas, opinions, and beliefs differ, we can still exist peacefully side by side. (I should've centered it a little better to block out the curtain).
4. Photo 4
When I first moved into my new house, the name "Zed" was already permanently etched onto the refrigerator. Zed was the name of a previous tenant. He hasn't lived here in over six months, yet I still feel like the fridge still belongs to him. Even though I tried to personalize the fridge with an Audrey Hepburn fridge magnet, I still never felt like the fridge was mine because of this outdated marking on my fridge. I thought it was interesting that I could feel a loss of ownership and identity for an object that belongs to me and that I use everyday. Looking at it now, I realize that the colors aren't particularly interesting and that it is a little dull. Still, I like what the fridge, and this picture, represent to me about the loss of ownership and the complexities of identity.
5. Photo 5
Finally, I have this fireplace in my living room. This fireplace is never lit. It provides no warmth and comfort in our home. It is merely an ornament to our living room that is never used and feels like a waste of space. It makes me a little sad to think that we have this wonderfully useful tool in our home that is never fully used to its potential. I think there are a lot of things in our lives that work this way. We outgrow some things, while others never get fully developed. Some things simply never get discovered at all. This fireplace reminds me that we need to use everything in our lives to its full potential, lest it go to waste.
I never considered myself to be a gamer. When I was younger, I would play Mario and Sonic games for fun, but I stopped playing games in high school. I never seriously considered gaming to be anything more than a mindless distraction. That all changed after I played Bioshock Infinite. This is the game that convinced me that video games are not only fun and engaging, but can also be intelligent. It takes place in 1912, and you play as Booker DeWitt, an ex-Pinkerton hired to go to Columbia, a floating city in the sky obsessed with American ideals, the founding fathers, and their fanatical prophet/leader Father Comstock, in order to rescue a kidnapped girl. It touches on themes of racism, xenophobia, Jingoism, American Exceptionalism, and the dangers of religious fanaticism, all while telling a complex story involving quantum mechanics and multiple universes. It gets pretty complicated, and the ending of the game makes no sense on your first play-through, but if you're a fan of intelligent storytelling with complex themes and ideas, I can't recommend it enough (I also highly recommend the first Bioshock game, which is basically Atlas Shrugged underwater).
2. The Stanley Parable
If Bioshock Infinite showed me that games could be intelligent, The Stanley Parable showed me that games could be art. The actual narrative is simple enough. You play as Stanley, an office drone working an extremely boring job pushing buttons on a computer. One day, you notice that all of your co-workers have vanished and you wander around the now empty office, looking for an answer to this mystery, all while a British narrator describes your every move. This deceptively simple story disguises the fact that this is not only one of the funniest games out there, but one that pulls away the curtain and exposes the illusion of choice and free will within video game narrative. By the end, you'll be asking yourself "what's the point?", which was the whole point of the game all along.
3. Debussy
Arabesque No. 1
I grew up playing a lot of piano, and when I was a kid, my mom would often play CDs of Mozart to help me sleep. This helped me develop an affinity for classical music in my youth. On my mission, one of my companions had a lot of Debussy on his phone, and I would listen to it every morning as I studied my scriptures. I fell in love. There's just something so soothing about Debussy's music, especially his most famous piece Clair de Lune. That's all I have to say. I just find his music helps me to study and sleep better.
4. Calvin and Hobbes
Like video games, most cartoons and comics get dismissed as childish trash not meant for adults. Calvin and Hobbes couldn't be further from this. The comic tells the story of Calvin, a hyperactive, imaginative 6-year-old and his best friend Hobbes, a stuffed tiger who only comes to life around Calvin. Not only content with creating an extremely imaginative and entertaining world, the comic also touches on many important subjects, such as religion, politics, human nature, and art. Most of my favorite strips involve Calvin and Hobbes walking through the woods and discussing the complexities of life, human nature, and philosophy. That's part of what makes the strip so engaging. In one strip, Calvin could be having a space adventure as the daring captain Spaceman Spiff, and in the next, he could be talking about the fragile and fleeting nature of life with his good 'ol buddy Hobbes. It's not just imaginative adventures or philosophical ramblings; it balances both in order to become one of the most intelligent, touching, and entertaining comic strips in the history of the medium.
5. The Beatles
Penny Lane
What more is there to be said about the Beatles? Rolling Stone put 4 of their albums in the top 10 on their list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." When Itunes and Spotify added their music to their catalog, it made national news. They influenced everybody that came after them. Their compilation album "1", released in 2000, still hit number 1 on the charts, 30 years after they broke up. I grew up listening to that album on long car rides, and I fell in love with their music, "Eleanor Rigby" and "Penny Lane" in particular. When they came out on Itunes, I immediately bought The White Album, Abbey Road, and Sgt. Pepper, and they are still among my most favorite albums. Even today, I still listen to them as I ride my bike to school. If you're not a huge fan of the Beatles, I urge you to listen to "Abbey Road" and "Sgt. Pepper". Hopefully you'll find at least one song that you enjoy out of their hundreds of amazing tunes.
6. Ben Folds
Carrying Cathy
I got into Ben Folds my freshman year of college. I don't know if it's the fact that his music is very piano-heavy, but I love it so much. I've listened to every song, and I learned how to play the majority of them on the piano. His music sounds very happy most of the time, but his lyrics often talk about heartbreak, loss, and tragedy. I love this contrast, and it makes his music much more interesting to me. To me, it suggests that there are often more layers to a song or story that we don't realize, and we often have to look a little deeper to figure out what's really going on. His piano playing is amazing (listen to his songs "Philosophy","Dr. Yang", and "Do It Anyway" to hear what I mean) and there's an irreverent, humorous quality to most of his music that I greatly enjoy. I hope to someday be as good a pianist as he is. His band Ben Folds Five is also super awesome, so give 'em a listen, too.
7. Rick and Morty
Thanksgiving Promo
This show basically boils down to this: it's Back to the Future, but Doc Brown is an alcoholic sociopath, and Marty McFly is an idiot. Rick, an alcoholic, genius scientist, takes his loser grandson Morty on complex sci-fi adventures in alternate dimensions and all throughout the universe. The show's immature, vulgar, and crude, but underneath the crassness of the jokes and characters lies an intelligent show that pays homage to famous sci-fi stories, along with self-awareness comparable to the show Community (both shows were created by Dan Harmon, so that's definitely intentional). It's underlying nihilistic philosophy may be a little off-putting to some, but for me, it's one of the smartest, funniest shows on television right now.
8. Cracked.com
Obsessive Pop Culture Disorder
This video is just one example of the kinds of things that Cracked.com likes to talk about. The site obsesses with over-analysis of films, TV shows, and other media. And I love every minute of it. It is rare that I read an article or watch a video on this site that I don't like or appreciate. Most of my random film knowledge comes from this site (and IMDb), and I love how deeply they think about things that wouldn't even matter to most people. Not only do they talk about pop culture, but they often have fascinating articles about science, history, and art that cause me to reevaluate what I thought I knew about these subjects. For me, there is no other site on the internet as consistently funny, entertaining, and educational as Cracked.com.
9. Mae's The Everglow
"We're So Far Away"
Okay, I know I've talked a lot about music, but hear me out on this one. Mae is my favorite band, even more so than The Beatles, although most of this has to do with nostalgia. In this case, though, I decided to highlight not the band, but their best album: The Everglow. I used to listen to it every night before I went to sleep. To this day, I remember every word. Each song blends into the next one, and the entire album tells a story of a man searching for love. It was probably a lot more profound when I was 14, but this album still gives me chills. I finally got to see them perform live last summer, and they played the entire album, front to back, and it was incredible. It's sweet, it's touching, and in my personal opinion, the best album ever.
10. Bo Burnham
"Sad"
(warning: some bad language)
One of my favorite comedians, Bo strikes a great balance between comedy, music, and poetic musings. He's often very crude, but there's usually a cleverness to his crudity that makes him different from most comedians. And when he's not being crude, he can be surprisingly sensitive and insightful. His comedy comes from an intellectual place, often parodying the conventions of stand-up comedy and music, such as his song "Repeat Stuff" and, well, pretty much most of his stand up. He's definitely not for everyone, and I wouldn't be surprised if you find his comedy offensive. What makes him stand out for me is that when he's being offensive, it's not just to shock his audience; he's trying to make a point. And in some ways, he's changed how I view subjects such as feminism, gay rights, and the follies of human nature. So if you're able to see past his seemingly juvenile humor, you might find something special hiding underneath.
