Self-portraits

Even though, I felt slightly embarrassed by my self-portrait, I thought, for working on my project, it was a fun experience to figure out how to express myself in an experimental way. For viewing the projects made by my classmates, I got to learn more about them through this assignment. I got to know some of them, not only prior to this assignment, but prior to taking this class, from other classes we had taken. With this assignment, I found out stuff that I actually did not know about them and I got to see the different approaches that they took to express themselves.

Cucalorus

I went to Cucalorus every day from Thursday to Sunday. I became a volunteer for the festival, which resulted in me getting a Pegasorus pass. I had short shifts and made sure I had plenty of time to see at least 5 showings, for the sake of this class…I went to 10. On Thursday, I went to my 2:00 volunteer shift, which lasted an hour, after that I went to my first three screenings, which were: Son of Clowns, the Emperor Shrimp block, and She’s Allergic to Cats. The Son of Clowns film was filmed in Raleigh, where my family lives, and so I spoke with the filmmaker after the film and talked about Raleigh, a friend of mine who appeared in the film,  The following day I went to the Wandering the Sphere panel, after my shift with the Virtual Realty set-up at Expo 216, which was then followed by the screening of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 Film, The Shining. I stayed for the Q&A following the film, in which the audience go to talk with Kubrick’s daughter, Vivian, as well as Garrett Brown (inventor of the Steadicam and camera op of the film) and Joe Dunton. After the Q&A, I was able to get a picture with Vivian, and a couple of my friends (which I thought was insanely awesome). The next day, Saturday, I had another volunteer shift which was to be a survey coordinator, during a screening. The screening was the Elephant Seal short block, which happened to contain a film by Dave Monahan. I enjoyed the film and thought it was great to another film made by one of the professors at my school. The following screenings I saw that day were Slash, which almost reminded me of 2007’s Juno in a weird sort of way and the Convulsions block. The film, Gwilliam, that was in the block was, I can honestly say, the first film to make me almost throw up (I did in my mouth a little). The last day, Sunday, I went to one (and my last) screening which was a Dutch film called, Moos. The film was a light-hearted comedy and (style-wise) reminded me of 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Cucalorus plan

For Cucalorus, I will be volunteering and I am planning to go to different screenings around my volunteering shifts. I will be working with Virtual Reality on Thursday and Friday, and will be doing surveys for the Elephant Seal shorts block on Saturday. I plan to go to any available screenings after my shifts Thursday through Saturday, currently planning to do, at least 2 or 3, on the latter day. Then, I plan to do some more on Sunday, seeing I don’t have any shifts that day and will have all day to see as many films and mingle with as many filmmakers as humanly possible.

Photo Assignment

Self-Reflection

                An idea I have for the self-reflection, is to incorporate a short story I have been working on and use that as a narration. The story will be come off as the inner monologue of an individual from birth up to the age of eighteen, and observations he makes. I want to incorporate into the story, aspects of how I see myself and how others see me. I want to incorporate aspects of anxiety and paranoia, for those are examples of how I view myself at this point.

                Seeing that this version of myself goes from infancy to young adulthood (18), part of me is concerned of how I will go about this in terms of the actual footage I will actually make and to coincide with what my story will be telling. I am also concerned with how I can make this reflect how myself, and others, see me. I feel that this would be an interesting approach of reflecting on myself, as well as something that can possibly be very humorous. I like to make people laugh, it makes me feel better when I can put a smile on someone’s face.

                With that being said, I see my approach to this project as a challenge. I see in as a way I can challenge myself not only as a filmmaker, but also who I am as a writer and as a person. As the project type entails, I think it will truly help me reflect on who I currently am as a person, who I used to be, and who I strive to be (I know that sounds like an overused cliché). I know that using a short story as a voiceover narration, even though it has been done, will definitely be a challenge for me, as a film student. But, figuring out the direction of the story and coming up with ideas for the footage to use, will be the true challenge.

Approach to Music Video

                The ideas I have for my role, for this project, involve making sure everything goes smoothly during filming; given the ideas my group has for approaching this project.  Seeing we plan to do this a single shot, or at least that illusion (if deemed necessary), I want to make sure we have enough rehearsal time with cast, crew and equipment to which we can make this style of filming comfortable for everyone on set.

I am planning to focus on the blocking for both actors and crew.  I want to make sure that we get any equipment or cast and crew members, who are not supposed to be in the shot, out of the frame while we are recording the entire video, or section of video. Also, through blocking, I want to make sure that everything has a nice flow to it, as we move through the two rooms, as the camera follows our five actors.

Also, seeing that the context behind our video will take the “(500) Days of Summer” approach, in which we will give off the sense of jumping back and forth through time. I will work with my actors, especially my main actor, to put them in the mindset of this approach. I will also work on the emotional approach with each actor. For example, with the main actor and the aspect of love, I will work with him and see if he can express a unique love for each ex, and then for other moments get an expression of anger or sadness.  I will also be working on instant transitions throughout the video, such as going from anger for one ex and then instantly transitioning to loving another as they switch out being a certain object throughout the video.

I am looking forward to making this project and the challenges that await. 

Location and Talent for Music Video

Our location for the music video will be David's apartment in Seahawk Village.

Our talent consists of:

Guy: Ryan Ayars

Exes: Alexis Terrell, Morgana Callahan, Tess League, and Wesleigh Neville

Microcinema

With this article, this was the first time, that I can remember, hearing about the topic of Microcinemas. But, find it interesting about these small, non-conventional places, such as bars and so on, that can serve as little community movie theaters from time to time. Reading about what makes a Microcinema, reminded me of an area where I used to go camping when I was growing up. In the campground there was a pond, where people went swimming in the summer. Every Monday during that time there would be a movie that would play, in the grass area, at the pond and that was something I enjoyed thoroughly.   

What I Learned from assignment 1c

What I learned, from shooting on film, for assignment 1C is incorporating time into production and being more cautious with what needs to be shot. When working with digital, one may be able to take as much time as they would like to take as many pictures as they would like. But, contrary to what the Rolling Stones may have said, time was not on our side. My group and I had to make sure we took the pictures that we needed, but made sure that we had incorporated time to make sure that our pictures developed. Also, seeing that the we had a limited about footage space for the pictures we needed to take, we had to be cautious, with each and every shot.

Our group had four people, four shots each, and (for each shot) three takes each. So, we took 48 takes total and we only had 20 plus spots available on each role. So, my group and I had to make sure each and every shot was well thought out and close to perfect as we could get it. With that, for me, having digital cameras (both picture-taking and filmmaking) for most of the stages of my life gave me the benefit of having the actual image immediately, where with the cameras we were given for this project, we didn’t have the instant gratification of seeing the pictures, right after week took them. All we had was the camera’s viewfinder to help set up each shot, and we all hoped that by the time we got the pictures back, that they had turned out ok. If they turned out great that there would be a sigh of relief, at least from me, but if there were any that sucked, there would be some swearing made, as we would get ready to make some more.

                I had realized with this project that I had taken advantage of digital cameras, and wondered how much of pain it was to take pictures for digital cameras came into play.

Light Observation 3

My third, and final, light observation was the group working together and figuring out, with the light meter, the lighting for each shot, before they were taken. During one of the shoots, during the interior photo session, we had to make sure we were close enough to a light for the specific shot we were trying to get, so that we had room for the normal looking shot, the overexposed shot and the underexposed shot. That instance was the only time, I believe, that we experienced that issue. The other photos shoots didn’t give us that issue and each time it took a few minute to figure out the lighting for each image.

Light observation 2

Another observation I had made during the course of this project, is that timing is everything. I mentioned in my blog about my first observation about coincidences with the weather. One example, is that one of the days we were planning on taking photos, started as a good day for it, but it ending up raining, so we had to resort to taking interior photos. Also, a couple of days later we all met at about 9:30 in the morning and were trying to figure out how to work with the light. But, all in all, a perfect moment was when we came across someone who was meditating while working on our shots and he had allowed us to photograph him.

Light obseravtion 1

One observation I made, about lighting, while doing this project is how much it takes to make sure that, for exterior shots, the lighting at a specific moment works for a photo, not just footage. Depending on the time of day, someone decides to go and film, or take a photo, I had to make sure it worked with the photos I wanted to take. Sometimes the weather does not want to work with you, and sometimes it does. Also, sometimes  there are the weird coincidences in which the day you plan to shoot, the lighting seems to be perfect, but it changes once you are ready to get your photos or footage.

Absolute

While reading, I enjoyed the comparison of film and music within the article. Both can be elegantly composed as a piece of art, though usually with film we have a visual to go with the sounds, whereas with music we have just the sound. My reaction to that section is the same as to my reaction for the second part of our soundscape project, it is all about the imagination aspect, where I tend to mentally compose a story in relation to sounds I hear throughout reality, as I feel occurs with others. What also caught my attention, in the article, is the connection of Avant-garde and experimental to politics and the military, which had never occurred to me before.

Presentation #1

 I had learned quite a bit from Natalie’s presentation. I didn’t know who Jonas Mekas was before her presentation. I had gotten to learn about him not only as a filmmaker, but as a person. I thought she presented the material very well and I enjoyed her power point and how she had woven the video clips inside. I also enjoyed how her power point had gone from slide to slide. Instead of the unusual slide transition, it felt as though I was watching an episode of history series on tv. She also seemed to have a clear understanding of the material to which she had presented. Through her presentation, I felt that I had gotten familiar with Mekas’s style as a filmmaker and I had found it very unique.

Sound Response

What I learned from this project is that it takes more that visuals to tell a story in film, and not only that, a visual is not always needed. By doing this part of the project, I was able to mentally create the visuals from what my group and I put together. I had a similar feeling to working on this, that I do when I read a book, or listen to a song. It gave me a glance of the pictures in my mind.

For me, personally, in my day to day life, when I hear a collection of sounds and I do not know their sources, I try to make stories revolving around them. To use an example of, let’s say, a police siren, it can go from pure assumptions, such as someone getting pulled over by the police, or it be some form of child-like fantasies, such as maybe there was a bank robbery and there is about to be a high speed car chase.

That is how it was, for me, with this project. Even though my group and I already knew our story before we started putting our sounds together, it took that part of the creative aspect of my mind and allowed the visualization to happen as we were putting it together. As we were going along, I would sometimes listen to what we have and pretend to be someone who did not know the story and figure it out along the way. Every time, I felt our soundscape got closer and closer to the story and themes we were trying to portray with the sounds that we had available, from the groups from the first part of the project. I feel that the sounds we had and the story we had gotten worked really well together.

Sound Experience

                With recording the sound, for this project, it started with me taking a few moments to think of possible sounds my group could get. I thought of some and they were incorporated in the collection of sounds, whereas others we got on the spot. But, during the time my group was out listening to the world, the most interesting (and dangerous) part of it, in my opinion, was when we were at the Wildlife Preserve and we came across a snake, by the lake, and then, from a more humorous aspect, the obvious sound of someone smoking pot within the same area.

Synesthesia

With synesthesia, I recall hearing about it years ago. I had come across article segments about artists, specifically musicians, that have it, but did not look into it any further. It wasn’t until we talked about it in class that I learned about it in detail and how it works. One music artist, that has emerged in recent years, that I had read about that has a form of it is British singer, Charli XCX. She can see sounds as colors and has stated that "I see music in colours. I love music that's black, pink, purple or red - but I hate music that's green, yellow or brown."* After talking about the condition in class, I had not only recalled the reading about Charli XCX and her sound to color synesthesia. But, it had occurred to me that I may have it myself. It isn’t letters, words, or numbers in color, but for as long as I can remember, I have seen letters and numbers of having their own gender. Numbers, such as 1, 2 and 3, are male and numbers, such as 4, 8 and 9, being female. As for letters, the letter ‘A’ is female and the letter ‘B’ is male. It is something started looking into after class.

*Savage, Mark. "Charli XCX: Pop, punk and synaesthesia." BBC News. 12 December 2013. Web.

Sound Observation 1

One sound that I had noticed, while out and about while doing my project, was the sound of a filter in a water fountain. The fountain is the one by Morton Hall and Leutze Hall. The filter was something I wouldn’t have noticed due to the loud, overlaying sound of the running water. The filter had made quiet, and has made the sounds of bubbling, every time it opened. The filter was slow-paced. Once it closed, it didn’t open a split second later. It would be closed for about a second or two before it would open back up again.

Belazs and Sound

What struck my attention about Bela Belazs’s article is the section in which he discusses the picture forming the sound. It is mentioned that the connection of a picture to a sound may be different than if a spectator just had the sound, in terms of the objects look, function and so on. The comparison to the use of colors in paintings came to my liking as though Belazs implying that without a picture, or any visual source, to go with it, sound is not complete. I think it all goes down to what George Lucas has said, “Sound is fifty percent of the movie going experience, and I’ve always believed audiences are moved and excited by what they hear in my movies at least as much as by what they see.”

Sound Observation 2

Another sound that I had observed is the bubbling sound of fish coming to the surface of water. While my group and I were at ponds recording various sounds, and that was something that caught my attention. Like the filter at the water fountain, it was a very quiet sound, something I wouldn’t have noticed while walking passed. Also, like the water fountain, it wasn’t something that happened within split seconds of each other, each bubble came up a few seconds after the previous bubble. The pop of almost each bubble was followed by a slight splash, that was only slightly louder than the bubbles.

Experimental

The first sentence in Fred Camper’s article about experimental film states that it is difficult to define these kinds of films because there is a broad range of styles within the form. With that being said they do share a few qualities, such as they are usually made by one, single person or a small group of filmmakers, or that they the stories are very unclear. Camper states that experimental films usually don’t have to follow the all of the qualities to be classified as an experimental film, but they should all be considered. There are a few films that actually do meet all of the qualities, an example being Meshes of the Afternoon, by Maya Deren.    

Amateur Vs. Professional

The article had made me look at the difference between amateur and professional filmmakers in a completely different way and that the word “Amateur” is actually Latin for lover, the latter which indicates that someone would do something thing more for the love of it rather than the economic aspect. I never thought that amateurs (while having envy for professionals for the actors, the amazing sets, and so on) would have something that professionals envied, which is the freedom. The amateur is able to focus more on their film as an art form, rather than a paycheck. They don’t have to worry about the products and the deadlines when it comes to making the professional industry.  

Biography

I am Michael J. Mantsourani, Jr. I was born on April 12, 1993, in Beverly, Massachusetts. I have loved movies since I was very young, and have wanted to be a filmmaker since I was about ten years old. I moved to North Carolina in February of 2007. In the world of filmmaking, I strive to be a writer and a director. I enjoy coming up with stories and feel that that direction is the best outlet for that. As hobbies, I enjoy drawing and writing parodies of songs, the latter I try to incorporate into my filmmaking resume by recording the songs and creating music videos for them, with friends.