Visions 6 Film Festival & Conference

I’ve gone to Visions for the past 4 years. The first one I attended, I wasn’t even a student here yet. I was just touring the Film Department and the festival was on the same day, so my Dad and I went and had a pretty good time watching some films. I was a freshman in college then, now I’m a senior and I’m attending as a filmmaker. It was an incredible experience going to a festival that recognizes undergrad filmmakers and their short films. Since I had worked in Visions last year as an animator, I knew that the festival and it’s staff treats undergrad filmmakers like a normal festival would with feature filmmakers. It’s so they can get used to the festival environment at a younger age.

This year’s festival has to be the best I’ve ever attended. There was only one film that I didn’t really like, but all of the others were well done and very creative. And the conference blocks were equally interesting. They added a Visionary panel for local and alumni filmmakers to talk about their experiences in the film industry in their post-grad career. I hate to admit I was dozing off during that, but it was only because I had been up since 3 or 4 in the morning that day. They had some great things to say and they reassured me why I should continue working in film. I hear every time from other filmmakers that “It’s a tough business” and “Not everyone can be in it,” so on and so forth. But it’s inspiring to see younger filmmakers say “Yeah, it is tough and you do have to work a lot to get consistent work, but it’s far from impossible.” I knew a couple of the people on the panel because they had only graduated a year or two ago, and now they’re doing alright in the film business.

My favorite part of any film festival is, of course, the films. Like I said, there was only one film that stood out at bad or not as good as the rest, but both of the blocks this year were spectacular. My favorite films were Dew Drop, because I love the blues music inspiration and the overall style that the filmmakers chose to go with that film, and The Bumblebees, because it was something I did not expect overall. I did really enjoy Everyday Heroes: The Story of Dr. Hooves because it’s concept was so bizarre that I had no choice but to love it. I’m still curious how someone was able to conjure up the idea of that film. The film Period Stories took the crowd by surprise because I don’t think anybody would think of making a film about menstruation in such a way. I was sitting next to a couple of my friends, and the look on their faces was that of enjoyment and awkwardness at the same time. I’m sure that was the look on my face too, because that’s how I felt. But it was well-edited together and a well-crafted film.

The conference blocks were different this year because the number of presenters was reduced from 8 to 4. Not sure why it was that way, but each of the topics were intriguing. I’m glad someone talked about sequelization and re-issues of blockbuster films since it’s definitely a trend in Hollywood right now. However, that presentation did go on longer than the other three. Someone told me the night before at the Visions dinner that someone was doing a presentation on the film Creep (2015), which I think is the most underrated, and best, horror film of last year. So I was looking forward to what the presenter had to say. He really entertained the audience with his points about the queer other in films. My friend Travis, who I got paired with for the video race, made a presentation about Cinema Verité and fly-on-the-wall style of shooting. While each of his points were fascinating, I wish it didn’t have to be about New Wave films, because I cannot stand New Wave films. I just finished a class this semester on the History of New Wave, mainly because I needed the credit, but I could not stand watching any of the films. Travis almost made me like New Wave pictures for a bit, but I will acknowledge that his presentation was well done and he was very confident about his material.

Am I allowed to say that I really enjoyed the film race if my group won? Because I will say that. Doing the video race reminded me of what’s great about run-and-gun filmmaking. We just went out with a prop and a line, and we had to come up with something. It was like going out with a camera when you were a kid and filming with your friends. As soon as we finished shooting, which was WAY before anyone else had finished, we started getting cocky. We were telling other groups that we were going to win before we had seen other videos. Once we saw those other videos, I’ll admit I was scared that we may have talked a bit too much because there were some really good ones this year. We won, of course. Which both surprises me and doesn’t surprise me. We had some really good blocking and a solid concept, but everyone else really pulled out the stops to try and win. I really want to keep making films like that during down times.

Overall, the festival was loads of fun this year. I can’t believe it’s already over because I was pretty hype that my film got in and that I got a day off to spend with other filmmakers. All I can say is, good luck Visions 7, the bar has been raised pretty high.

Blog #5

I think if we want to convincingly sell Anthony as a fake stand up comic, we need to be thorough and come up with a believable back story. I think it would be a great way to start the film just before we show the performance to the film's audience. That's what Aedan said he wanted the film to end up like. I think it can work, but it will only work if we are thorough with this character.

We not just trying to fool the Dead Crow audience, but also anyone watching the film later on. How do we do that? Make this character seem real. Obviously marketing will be extremely key in this process. We'll need to have a fake Facebook, fake Twitter, a fake IMDb page (Which is totally doable. Trust me), and anything else. I think it would help by filming Anthony performing stand-up with actual jokes and being a really funny guy and then show those videos to random people to get reactions from them. I was talking to Anthony about this and he thought I meant film him doing awkward antics on stage, but that'll sort of give away what he'll do on Open Mic night. He needs to believably be a stand-up comic and proof of it so we can lure a crowd into the comedy room for his actual performance.

Not too long ago I watched the documentary F for Fake which is primarily about forgery and authenticity. In fact, that film is strikingly similar to what we are doing. Making the audience believe they are watching a documentary until they realize what they saw was complete fiction. I think my group should watch that film to get a better idea of hot to make our own film.

But why am I, the DP, thinking so hard about this? Well for one thing, most of what I need to have planned is already done. I've decided on the look I'm going for, it was decided that I will shoot the entire process of this film, and Aedan and Jack seem to be happy with the footage I've shot so far. So I've got some time on my hands to do a little extra work for this film.

Blog #4

So last Friday we got to shoot in the black box in addition to holding auditions. The overall process of casting was very slow since only a few people showed up and actually auditioned for the role. But I was glad I got to go all out with the lighting and make it look good. I got to shoot with the URSA Mini (finally!) and between that and the lighting it looked pretty good!

I think from here on out I'm going to dial it back and not go all out for lighting because now it's mainly just shooting everything and getting plenty of B-Roll. No need to setup a light to shine through a window for better dynamic range. In fact, I may go with some darker backgrounds, maybe even all black backgrounds, for the remainder of the interviews we do. The reason I wanted to have the auditions look so good is because I wanted a sense that it was staged, but also being 100% real at the same time. I believe we'll show audition clips towards the middle-end of the film, so it'll be transitioning from a false mockumentary into a behind-the-scenes documentary.

As for our next interview, I want to film our actor, who is Anthony, as himself talking about what he expects out of this experience, why he wants to do this, and even what he thinks will happen. Just a very simple interview setup and hopefully after that we can officially move onto marketing his performance and start getting the word around about this "ghost writer" for SNL and part-time stand up comic.

Blog #3

So this Friday we have our first ‘real’ shoot day. I’m going to start filming in class everyday so those technically will count, but I won’t have loads of equipment to set up with. It’ll just be with my phone to keep the load light. But we’re going down to Dead Crow Comedy Room this Friday afternoon to discuss with the owner about our idea. Hopefully he’ll be in on it. If so, that’s great! Then we can move on to casting our comedian and start conducting interviews.

I’d like for everyone to talk directly into the camera when discussing their progress in this film. Sure they’ll be questions, but I’d like the setup to be more us freely talking to the audience. Maybe I can get the Dead Crow owner to partake in this. It would be a basic setup, however lighting will be the one thing that’ll give the shots an interesting look. I know in the look book I stated I may want a textured background, like a brick wall, but now I’m starting to reconsider that. I may want a plain gray/white background and have contrast on the subjects’ face. I’ve seen many straight-on setups in low-budget projects and they all look low-budget and amateur because of the lack of interesting lighting. I want to have contrast in my shots and not have the shot so plainly lit. I know they say you can’t have enough lighting, but I want to urge DP’s to maybe pull back a little and see what they can do with little lighting. If you’re shooting digitally, then you can easily fix color and exposure in post. Unless your image is pitch black. Then you’re kind of screwed.

Blog #2

So week 2 has just passed and I’ve now got a clear style that I want to shoot the film. I don’t think I did a very good job of explaining it in class, but here’s what I what to do: I want to make the film appear to have similar lighting qualities to Dead Crow Comedy, which is very dim, warmly lit, and has lots of contrast. My main inspiration is Rock-Docs (Rock N Roll Documentaries). I’ve watched those for many years and if I was selected to direct, I would’ve made a Rock-Doc. But The History of the Eagles (2013) documentary inspired me with planning the pre-vis for this film. As did Sunset Strip (2012). Very stylized for a simple subject.

As for budgeting, I know it’s mainly a producer’s job on a short film, but I want to do the budget for all of the equipment. I hate to toot my own horn here, but I know more about the equipment than they do, and I’ll be using more of the equipment, so it’s only natural that I work on that part of it. I’ve already made a list of the equipment that I want to use (which is in the Pre-Production folder on Google Drive). Plus I think it’s fair because Aedan and Jack are both in Visions, and I should take some of the load off from them. And I don’t have much to do anyway. I planned to focus more on this project this semester.

I know documentaries don’t require loads of equipment and setting up, but I want to make this film look good. My ultimate goal for myself as a DP is to make each film look better than the last. I try to step up my game with each new project because I’m learning more so I want to use that knowledge more. A semester of 301 will not go to waste!

Other updates? I'm even starting to plan the opening sequence and title card. 'Tis will be fun!