Narrative Story Project

This is a link to our video for our narrative story. I hope you all enjoy it!

https://vimeo.com/114143259

Narrative Preproduction materials

A Poster for our narrative film

5 Interesting Phrases...

Here are five interesting phrases that I have overheard from conversations and simply jotted down.  I have written one of the phrases into a simple script.

5 Interesting phrases…

1    1)      Weevil-Wobbles but he won’t fall down!!!

2    2)      Like Ducks in a row…

3    3)      Context and Sub-context:  What goes up…(must come down)

4    4)      What’s this country coming too??

5    5)      Sarcasm:  Awe I’m sorry…

6    6)      There’s nothing more I can do…

7    7)      I bet my dad can beat up your dad…

Ideas for a script…

3).  Context and Subcontext:  What goes up…(must come down)

(Synopsis)

1).  A man is laying sprawled out in the street in a fairly nice suit, he looks a little roughed up.  In his head he is thinking of how he got into this situation. The camera is angled overhead with a slow zoom.

The Narration begins John:

Ya know something…theres days I wake up and wonder why I’m about to do any of the shit I actually do.  It’s mainly the reason why I feel like crap.  Today was different though.  Today wasn’t normal.  Today I felt good, which didn’t make sense.  I didn’t care that Sharon was on my ass about bills or getting a real job that matter to her pretentious side of the family. I didn’t care that I owed a couple of loan sharks for some bad bets and got threatened with a stapler to my balls.  Nah….for some reason, I didn’t care…and I knew today was just going to be a bad day….

2).  He recalls listening to his wife yell at him earlier  that morning.  As he was simply getting ready to go to work that morning, during his routine and remaining silent as his wife is berating him in the background.  He looks at himself in the mirror. 

Sharon:

I don’t even know why I stay with you.  My mother was right, MY Father was right!  Why am I even here anymore, you never listen!  What the hell do you plan on doing today, going and gambling all day at the bar again! You know your about useless, I should hook up with that Bobby Reynolds you’re always pissed off and jealous of.

(Narration) John:  (Looking at himself in the mirror)

There wasn’t really much that Sharon could say to me that would really get me angry.  That’s all she ever wanted to do was just argue.  It was her way of making me buy her new shit to keep her happy.  She was just a trophy wife, with a couple of rich loaded old folks who didn’t know what they were really worth.  It wasn’t worth trying to fight with her on any issue.  There isn’t any love in this marriage, she knows it too, it’s just too easy to manipulate the poor girl’s head.  Everyone needs a safety blanket and this was mine.

3). John begins walking down the street and continues his narration.  He is walking through an alley to get to the back door of an old building to play in an illegal card game.  In his wallet he’s got only fifty dollar bill.  Several shady guys are sitting around a table.  A man named Michael speaks first

Mike:

Ah! Johnny Boy!  So nice of you to join us so late!  Hurry in and annie up, first game we’re playin is seven card draw, no looking.  Usual buy in $50. 

John:

Well I’m ready to win some money, get ready to clean out your pockets boys cause I’m taking you all for all you got!

4). Johnny sits right in between two large men who both awkwardly turn to look at him.  A few hours go by and Johnny is sitting with a stack of cash on the table next to him.  He is reluctant and is trying to leave without giving a bad impression, since everyone else at the table appears to be a sore loser.

Mike:

You know Johnny I heard something about a week ago from a bookie friend of mine.  It was the craziest thing.  He said that some scrawny, little polish guy has been going into his place in the evening, right before he’s been trying to close.  This guy apparently has been winning pretty big and has been placing bets that turn out to be duds and roll over

5). Johns eyes begin to dart around the room. 

Mike:

Yea it turns out that this guy owes my buddy about a lil over 5 g in bad bets.  Say John…

6). John knows where this is leading…the men around him are glaring at him, he tries to back his chair up and stand only to be grabbed and forced to the table.  John is screaming for help, but it is useless

Mike:

You know what that is Johnny that’s stealing.  My old man always told me that stealing is wrong and that thieves need to be punished!

7). John is roughed up in the alley and we see the other men walk off in the distance.  John is laying on his back in the same position as before in the same spot in the alley.  He conveys his thoughts on trying to find a way to get rich quick and how he just wants a life like a celebrity and be famous for nothing.

John:

So here we are once again.  All I ever wanted was a way to make a quick buck and be on my own.  I always wanted to be famous for no good reason, I figure my face on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow morning is about all I would get out of this town.  Walked into the biggest gamblers den in the city, with nothing but fifty bucks and came out over 5 grand ahead, just enough to pay the scum bags off I needed to pay…Looks like they got their money and a free ass whooping on top of it.  All in all, did I learn my lesson, (smiles at the camera, same angle from beginning) Nahhh… I figure some days I have my ups and downs.    

Roll credits

Documentary setting photos

Emotions: Stress...

This assignment I really wanted to explore my creative side and primarily learn how to use Adobe Premier.  The most challenging part of this assignment was learning how to finalize your video and upload it to Vimeo to be honest.  In my video description on Vimeo I offer further explanation to the creative process that I used, in part with my emotion.  The link below will take you straight to my Vimeo video for the assignment.  Enjoy!!!

https://vimeo.com/106995723

Emotional Photos: Filth

Wow I had a great time with this assignment.  I could have easily done a conventional emotion that anyone could list off the top of their head, however I wanted to take an alternative approach to this assignment!  I wanted to convey an emotion that I felt as I was taking the photo, and see how well that emotion transfers from viewer to viewer.  The particular feeling that chose for the assignment was filth.  Filth is an emotion, it's synonymous with that of grotesque, gross, disgust, and sickness.  It is an emotion that we live with everyday.  I took images of everyday encounters and plain sights that I come across everyday as well does everyone else.  Now I am making my disclaimer now, I did not use any photos of any sort of bodily fluids, that is disgusting, and undermines the integrity of this assignment!  Tolerance of the filth we live with in the world around us can give us insight into how everyday uses, practices, and objects we come into contact with are simply negated by our mind at first glance.  We simply don't "bat an eye".  Yet when forced to view the filthy things in life we are overcome with this feeling of disgust, and a natural instinct to look away.  Try not looking away at these images, and maybe after the hair isn't raising on your arm anymore, you wont succumb to your instincts.

 This was a sink that has been backed up for a couple of weeks now.  The debris at the bottom is believed to be soap scum.  There was no odor however which was surprising.
 (Top View)

This is another dirty drain having calcium and lyme buildup problems.  The dull lighting still gave it a warm tone which sort of adds to the depressing look of the drain in my opinion.

This is a dirty oil rag that was in my fathers work shop.  It took a minute for me to position my camera into the appropriate angle for the shot (there isn't much going on in the photo so it had to be made more interesting).

  This was the toilet from the abandoned house that I've been going on about.  I chose to put a black and white filter over it to make it more interesting and so the viewer won't immediately look away from it.  There is only debris in that drain, don't get any ideas.

 This is why your mom taught you manners!  These two things are my biggest pet-peeves!  Whenever I see someone either eating with their mouth open or picking their nose I want to throw up.  These photos need little explanation as to why they pertain to the topic of filth.  I know people who still have these bad traits, and it shocks me.  I've never been more embarrassed to go out to eat with someone who chews with their mouth open.  It's just wrong.

 The above shot took more shots than you would have thought to take.  I am of course giving the illusion that my tongue was touching the flyswatter, yet I must admit I did make the mistake of barely touching it and immediately I washed my mouth out. The moth below is just incredibly detailed and strange to view.  This photo shows off the anatomy of the moth and makes you wonder how different you are compared to the moth.

 Don't throw up.  This is a bucket of food waste that is fed to farm animals such as pigs and chickens.  This is the stuff of gold to those poor animals, if they could only know better.  In the bottom left hand corner is a cricket, he was hanging out in there probably enjoying his time.

 This was an awesome image I was able to take at night of multiple deer racks hanging off of my dads workshop.  I learned about Chiaroscuro lighting, I do believe I spelled that correctly.  I figured this would be an alright example of such and the decay of the fur to bone and the light reflecting off the bone gives a great contrast to the photo

 And of course...it's what we all see every day of the week.  This was a possum photographed at noon.  There are no shadows.  It's in our view all the time and yet we drive right by.  In essence, when I see a helpless creature on the road dying in agony, I feel as if I have taken apart in a murder, as was the case when I smashed a squirrel the other day.  Yet I regain strength and collect my resolve and remember that the poor thing wouldn't have died if it wasn't so stupid...........

Music Video Analysis

I love this music video! This is amazing and if I ever had the opportunity to do something like this video I wouldn't let it go to waste.  The costume design and color scheme is great, and I'd like for in my own video to show off a lot of darker tones and have a dreary setting such as the sets in the video.  Of course making something of this production value is close to nearly impossible however this is just a little insight on my particular tastes.

This video by Godsmack is awesome!  I love the eerie feeling that it can give you by the sounds and visuals when they combine.  This is what I want the viewer to feel like as they watch it.  I am sure that is what the director of this music video had in mind.  I'd love to film in a church as the opening scene of this video does, however the possibilities of making something of my interests such as this and having it around in a church around here... I'd have to say is slim to none.  I do have plenty of creepy cornfields to film in though!                              

This I would have to say is still my best and brightest example of what I'd like to do for the music video.  I'd like to shoot high/low/corner angle shots with limited lighting and frightening close-ups of an actor.  I have plenty of props to destroy and have a great location.  I'm going to use a generator to have power during shooting.   

Narrative

As a narrative piece I was perhaps willing to work on the concept of a psychotic, self-obsessive teenager, dealing with alternate versions of himself trying to cope with reality of his situation.  The most interesting way to film this I would say would be a non-linear situation, that could be cleverly written to delude the audience and persuade them into agreeing beliefs that are contradictory to their own and perhaps understand my own perspective of issues.  I really don't have any visual imagery to support this one except an idea of where to film, perhaps my home which has plenty of space and is relatively old and stylish.  As a working title I would like something like "Duality" and a tagline could be "Find your own reality"

Documentary ideas

After spending more time thinking about a documentary film, I'd like to perhaps make a documentary into the life of American poverty within our area.  Have it consist of interviews of friends, and family and neighbors who struggle to get by in today's society, their views of particular matters (however right or wrong they may sound), such as social media, widespread county corruption, local business, and the simple way of life.  I'd like to cover a person from every age demographic excluding children of course.  This image below is of that house for the music video, it's presence in the area and the surrounding houses gives insight into how bad the poverty is in the area.  A working title could simply be "American Poverty" with the tag line "The story you won't believe till you see"

Brainstorm Ideas

I had a few brainstorming ideas for the music video, narrative, and documentary film projects.  Of course I mentioned in a post before about having an idea of where to shoot a music video, in this old abandoned house I found out on Nutmeg road here in Marshall County. Imagine the house as this place in this music video, and we're allowed to destroy stuff in this house (I can bring props to destroy).  I got permission to film there too, I was cleaning out the house before the summer.  I want to film sort of a grungy, dirty, video and have a band to film and are willing to offer a showing at the Evil Czech Brewery in Mishawaka. It's my sister's boyfriend's band goes by "Moveable Types" they're a jassygrazz band that rock pretty hard and they want me to film the concert there, if anyone wants to join you're welcome.  My idea for a documentary would probably involve either my father's process of canning vegetables (it's interesting, I know what some of you are thinking) and all the steps involved in the process.  As a narrative film I have been thinking of a noire 
film involving the depression, and delusions of a psychotic teenager.  Of course these are simple brainstorming ideas, nothing is ever 100%. I hope that some of you have the sort of same visions I have and we'll all be able to collaborate easier.

Intro Tour

Hi!!! Welcome to my blog!  I plan on putting plenty of great stuff on here for everyone to enjoy, and hope that someone in the class will be a great inspiration and collaborator on all of our projects for the semester.  By the way I found an abandoned house that I was tearing out earlier this summer that we can smash up and do whatever in for a music video.  The place looks like that house from that Day's of the New music video, "Touch, Peel, Stand, & Feel" where the kid is doing drugs and smashing up his grungy house.  Anyway not to get off topic, but I am totally committed to making the best videos for this class ever and am stoked working with all of you.  I'd have to say I'm interested in making media because my imagination is always expanding.  My favorite form of media is games.  If there were no censorship or copyright laws, I wouldn't restrict myself at all towards the graphic ideas that come to my mind.  I tend to be very expletive, simply because everyone tries to tell you not to be.