Wednesday, May 13, 2015

A Ball and its Ball! (Final Project)

My partner Noam and I, worked together on our final project called, A Ball and Its Friend. We first made a decision of what it is we want to shoot; we both knew we did not want to do a documentary. We did not want to involve actors, because of the time constraint, so we decided on capturing a day in a life of a missing ball that eventually finds its way to his friend.
Noam wrote the script, and I put together the storyboard for our project. On shooting day, we tried to follow our storyboard as much as possible; to be able to accomplish each shot as it was imagined via our storyboard. On our first day we did run into technical difficulties, where we had to split camera time with another group. That did not stop us; we kept working on as many scenes as we could fit in one day.
We both wanted to accomplish a shot where the ball is getting kicked and the camera follows the ball. We wanted the camera movement to be smooth, from the point it gets kicked; to the point the ball rolls down the hallway. Our Professor suggested we bring in a skateboard in order to get that smooth, moving ball shot. A skateboard was nowhere to be found, and Noam and I put our heads together to create something amazing. I put Noam on a big plastic garbage bag, and slid him across the floor as he shot the ball being kicked and then rolling down the hallway.
Our sound to each scene was recorded separately, and we created our own foley for specific sounds of the ball. We collected room tone from each location that we shot in, so we would be able to layer it during editing.
We chose classical music for our piece, as our piece came together like a silent film. The two actors, Noam and myself, don’t talk, but we show emotions in the film and to the music. Being that Noam is a genius when it comes to classical music, the choice for a classical piece was a no brainer.
We both sat together as the editing process began and worked and reworked our mini movie. We added the correct room tone, foley and applied the right pieces of classical music to go with the emotions of each scene.



A ball and its friend2 from Dennis Khrakovsky on Vimeo.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Images on our blog!

The four images I was able to identify on our blog’s banner are as follows, two movies Talk To Her, and Do The Right Thing, and two important filmmakers Maya Deren and Marlon Riggs. Marlon Riggs was an African American filmmaker that directed several television documentaries. Riggs is known for breaking boundaries with documentary filmmaking on subjects that include black male sexuality. Riggs used his documentaries to express criticism of racism and homophobia in the United States. Riggs was born on February 3rd 1957, at I time when America was still divided racially. He used his filmmaking skills to produce many documentaries that shined the spotlight on gay, black men, to show the positive side of gay, black masculinity in the United States. He was a true innovator for his time, as he used his films to communicate and create social controversy. His films include, Ethnic Notions, Tongues United and Color Adjustment. His relationship to what we have been doing this semester is how we, as students, are able to express ourselves through film and media making. The connection I make with Riggs’ work is our final project where we incorporate sound and images. In one of the lectures we were shown a short documentary about Natural Hair, from a student of the previous semester. Natural Hair is a topic that black women are always faced with, but no one seems to talk about it. The students put together a documentary where other students were able to express and voice feelings. Through media and film, we, the new generation, are able to explore the different dimension that filmmakers like Marlon Riggs broke through for us. Maya Deren, is one of the earliest avant-garde filmmakers that broke boundaries in the world of cinema. She broke the boundaries by being one of the first female filmmakers in the 40s and 50s. She was born as Eleanora Derenkowskaia in Kiev, Ukraine on April 29th 1917. Her use of editing, cutting, superimposition, jump cutting, slow motion and other camera techniques proved that not only was she an innovator, but also ahead of her time. Some of her works include, Meshes of the Afternoon, At Land, and Meditation of Violence. She is considered a key figure in New American Cinema, by breaking all boundaries of filmmaking. She criticized Hollywood for the monopoly it was creating in the American film industry, stating that what Hollywood spends on lipstick, she is able to make films out of. Her work is closely related to what we have been doing all semester especially towards the end. One of our assignments was to analyze a film, by showing what type of editing, color, sound, etc. the director chose to use, to be able to get his/her message to the audience. Marlon Riggs and Maya Deren, are American icons in the film and media industry. As filmmakers, they broke boundaries, with sexuality, racism and feminism. Today, we live in a world where racism and feminism still exists, but filmmakers have the freedom to create their art and have it be viewed by the public without much repercussion. Riggs and Deren, grew up in a time when certain subjects were highly controversial, however, they were able to convey their message through filmmaking. Media and films are a highly effective way to communicate with the world. Our semester has taught us many ways of how we, as new media artist, can convey our style, messages and representation of ourselves through the use of media.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

James Aronson Awards

This was an extra credit project, and I was not thrilled about spending my Friday evening in school. I had already been at work since 4 am that day, and in class since 2:45 pm. I do have to say, I am glad I got a chance to see the James Aronson Awards. The whole award show touched me, and it was interesting to find out that one of my past professors Robert Stanley brought Mr. James Aronson to Hunter College. I was also struck by the “in memoriam” of David Carr, who was last year’s recipient of the career achievement award. David Carr was such a charismatic man, and a strong journalist for the New York Times. The award that touched me the most was presented to Andrea McDaniels for her article in the Baltimore Sun, “Collateral Damage.” She was not there to except the award, but her editor Diana Sugg was there on her behalf. Diana gave a speech and a little insight on what the article “Collateral Damage” is about. Her speech almost brought me to tears, mainly because I never thought of what young children go through in high crime areas. “Collateral Damage”, highlights some of the highest crime areas in Baltimore, but it takes a different perspective on crime, instead of focusing on what happens to the victims, Andrea and Diana focused on the innocent bystanders, the young children who are caught in these high crime areas. What happens to the five year old who just saw someone get his or her brains blown out, or the young boy who is looking out the window when someone gets shot? Life for these children just does not go on, they end up with nightmares, become violent, and act out in schools. There is no help provided from therapists or psychiatrist. Half the time these kids are scared to talk to the police, fearing for their own lives. This made me think of what is going on in the world today. With all of the police brutality, and innocent lives that get taken forcefully. The United States is experiencing one of the toughest periods in its history. The country is drastically changing, people want to be heard, people want equality. When we look at some of these journalists and documentary filmmakers involved in social justice, we need to give them more credit then they have been given. These journalists and filmmakers bring forth some of the most important stories, and they don’t get noticed because they may not have a celebrity status in the journalism world. In my opinion as a Media Student, I think Media students should attend the Aronson Awards every year. I was not sure what I was going to hear, but I am sure glad I went, and got to see these extraordinary people.