'Relic'

A 24+ Hour Adventure

It's time for an epic tale. A tale of shovels, cheesy potatoes, sleep deprivation, and murder. I hope you enjoy.

Once upon a Friday, specifically at 2:00pm on Friday, October 16, 2015, three heroes/ film nerds, otherwise known as "The Trinity" (to no one but ourselves), met up at the house of one member, Miranda. We occupied ourselves with a PVRIS Q&A on the internet until 3:00, when the prompts for the Kansas High School 24-Hour Film Fest would be posted. We read through the prompts, overwhelmed by the complexity, and then set off to our school to get more equipment and pick up our actress, Peyton.

During the drive, we came up with an idea and asked Peyton to text her friends to get more actresses. We began filming scenes with just her at a park near my house. After climbing a tree several times, with a camera, and eating an entire bag of gummy sharks, Peyton informed us that none of her friends were available to help out. So we sat down in the park and had a second brainstorm session. 

We came up with a new idea and planned it out. We then headed back to Miranda's house to inform her mother that we would need her to act and to put black-eye makeup on Peyton that we ended up washing off because it looked like crap (no offense Alec). 

The Trinity then set off to the first location: a local community center with an awesome tree. We filmed for about an hour, fighting against the fading daylight. Alec got some amazing shots, Miranda got to test out her acting skills, and I proved my knowledge about audio recording.

We went back to Miranda's house for a nacho break (bless Miranda's mother for making us food), but when we started looking through our footage, Miranda and I decided we didn't like the idea anymore and wanted to change it. Alec was a little harder to convince, but he eventually agreed. It was 10 o'clock and we didn't have an idea.

Here's where we implemented an approach that probably helped us win our awards. We decided to treat this project as if it were a music video --something we as a group, and as individuals for that matter, are much more skilled at than short films. If you take nothing else away from this lengthy tale, at least remember that if one way isn't working out, try a different way. Use what you know. So we found a song first and then we based the story off that.

I won't tell you what our idea was because spoilers but I will tell you that the night proceeded with filming, passing a very sketchy RV with dogs inside, shovel murder, bad jokes, sleep-deprived hysterical laughter, and a 4:00 am trip to Perkins for cheesy potatoes.

We turned in the final video at 3:00pm the next day in Wichita, KS (one of my least favorite cities ever) and then proceeded to the live screening and judging of all entries and the following awards' ceremony. The Trinity took home two awards: Best Editing and Best Cinematography. Woot woot!

All in all it was an exhausting weekend and at the time I may have regretted it and wanted to quit, but in the end I'm glad we did it. I feel like we learned a lot and the best bonding happens at the butt crack of dawn. 

Link for 'Relic': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USj19HeWb0A

Prompts for 2015 24-Hour Film Fest: https://kansas12hrfilmfest.wordpress.com/this-years-prompt/

*Warning: 'Relic' turned out insanely more violent and twisted than we originally thought it would. Blame our 4 o'clock minds. *

How We Did The Last Dance Car Crash

The Method to Our Murder

Now that you've see Last Dance, you may be wondering "Tatty, how did you do the car crash? Did you actually crash the cars? Did you actually kill Maggie?" Well, blogpost reader, the answer to all your questions is no. Except the first one, that's not a yes or no question, but I will answer it right now. This is how we created the Last Dance car crash.

Step 1: Research. When we started this process, we had no clue how to create a realistic car crash, so we did some interweb investigating and discovered a fairly simple yet realistic looking method.

Step 2: Location. We had to find a place where we could film a fake car crash that 1) wouldn't have any other cars, 2) would be lit well enough to film at night, 3) wouldn't look too much like a parking lot, and 4) we wouldn't get busted for "suspicious activity." We settled on the parking lot of Miranda's old elementary school at 10 o'clock at night.

Step 3: Filming. How the heckle are we gonna actually film it? We knew the effect we had to create, but it would be dark, and we had to get close enough shots so you couldn't see the houses in the background. I ended up climbing in and on both cars in many uncomfortable positions to get the shots we needed.

So that's not really a tutorial, but I'll give it to you here:

In order to film a car crash without actually crashing cars, we parked the cars so they were nose to nose with only enough space between them for a person to walk through. Then we taught our actors how to act in reverse, starting with their bodies forward and their heads down, and then when they floored it in reverse, they shot back and looked happy again. In editing, we reversed the shots and sped them up so it looked like they were driving at each other. Then we did quick cuts between angles and a fade to white on "impact" so the viewers couldn't tell that the cars didn't actually crash.

Here are the Youtube tutorials we used to learn the technique: Film Riot https://youtu.be/oHXlMvWtfmw?t=9m16s and Pegleg Media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJF9bwY1CHo. 

Thanks for being awesome and crash your cars responsibly.

Last Dance

Music Video and Brain Child

Story time! About a year ago, I was searching through the depths of Youtube and I happened across an incredibly amazing song called Last Dance by Camera Can't Lie. I immediately fell in love with the song and for a solid week, it was the only thing I listened too. Then, on a Wednesday night in a loud, smelly skating rink in North Kansas City, I was struck by the inspiration bus. Images of dancing and fairy lights and roses filled my mind. And then I, being the cruel, heartless person that I am (not really), decided there needed to be a tragedy.

This is where I suggest you watch the video, so I don't spoil anything. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhC_hBw3G_I

So that was my idea, and about 6 or so months later, the squad (Miranda, Alec, and I) found the perfect opportunity to bring it to life. 

"The door to the heart is open and shut,
like the warmth of your breathe."

First, we wrote a pitch to present to the class, which they approved. We proceeded to the planning phase with me doing research on how to create certain effects and props, Miranda working on a schedule as well as creating the shortlist with Alec while I voiced my visions. We found actors (one of which ended up being Alec) and set our dates for shooting.

Day One came and it was way colder than we expected. Alec and I climbed on the roof to hang fairy lights over the patio while Miranda set up on the ground and Maggie (our lead actress) became more acquainted with the song and our plans. Then we taught our actors a basic dance sequence and set up to film. It was quite dark, so some of our night shots ended up a little grainy, and it was freezing (I felt especially bad about the weather because Maggie was in a tiny dress), but we powered through like the awesome filmmakers we are and were ready for our next location: an elementary school parking lot.

"If this was our last dance, I'd wait in the rain,
to see your face."

After several failed attempts at filming a car crash, a few car breaks to warm up, a group of guys driving by to make sure the (fake) bloodied up Maggie lying on the ground wasn't actually dead, and someone calling the cops on us, we finally wrapped for the day and went home to celebrate our success.

Day two was far less dramatic, consisting of "getting ready" shots, an infuriating twelve takes of a single, simple shot, and ending in a cemetery. So I guess it was a little dramatic, but it was far more fun and relaxing because we weren't fighting against darkness and coldness. And we stopped at a little corner Kool-Aid stand, so that was cool. We finished filming that day and started editing the next day at school.

Editing was fun, Miranda at the lead of course, and we made a few different videos: the Actual one which is the one in the link above, the "Alternate Ending" one which is only available with a link and is hilarious, and a Blooper Reel of us being stupid. We presented the Actual video and every seemed to like it. It's one of my favorite projects and I'm really proud of how it turned out. 

There are a few things I would change of course. I wish we had had more light in the night dancing scenes so it didn't have to be so grainy. I wish the fake blood looked more like blood and less like barbecue sauce (which it did in daylight, but night in streetlamp light). I wish Alec had worn nicer pants. 

But these are things I can live with, because I'm proud of Last Dance. I hope you enjoy it!

My House

A Music Video and an Epic Tale 

Once again, it's time for a long overdue post (though due to a recent opportunity, I'm glad I saved this post until now. So gather 'round and I'll tell you the story of our music video to the song My House by PVRIS.

Flashback to March 2015. The annual eMagine Media Festival hosted by my school was fast approaching and my partners (Miranda and Alec) and I were hustling to figure out what we were going to submit. We agreed on a music video, but to what song? The next day, we all came prepared with a few songs each and some key elements we would incorporate with each of them. Song after song we went through, some more promising than others, and then we heard it. Miranda had brought us the song My House by PVRIS and our minds were unanimously made up.

So we had a song. Now the video. And the fast-approaching deadline only a week away. 

(*Quick Tip: Procrastination is a terrible thing, especially in the film industry, and should be avoided at all costs. However, you will notice from many of my posts that it's easier said than done.*)

Anyways, we decided to stick to a recurring theme of our videos: strong independent women. We recruited Sarah (the same Sarah in the Old Scars/ Future Hearts imitation music video) and my friend Brigham as our actors, only giving Sarah two days to learn the song. We bought a bunch of cheap glass at a thrift store and tested many different ways to track Sarah as she walked (Alec ended up sitting in the trunk of his car and out Miranda's sunroof while we drove less than 2mph down the street). We also set up the studio at our school for the dark room shots.

It was a stressful week, but we managed to get the entire video planed, filmed, and edited in time for the deadline, and it turned out way better than we ever imagined. And when the night of imagine came, we ended up walking away with second place in the category. Quite an accomplishment I'd say. However, an even bigger opportunity was just around the corner, well, if it takes three months to round the corner.

Miranda and I meeting Lynn Gunn and Brian MacDonald
of PVRIS at Vans Warped Tour 2015

Miranda and I were checking the lineup for Warped Tour 2015 when we noticed PVRIS was playing this year. After both freaking out in excitement, I decided to ask one of my friends who just so happens to own a plug business that sponsors and travels with Warped Tour if she could figure out a way for us to meet PVRIS. She did. When the day of Warped came, Miranda and I were ecstatic. We were going to meet the band responsible for the song that we used and won an award with! And at the last second, I decided to grab a flash drive with the video on it to give to them. Well, the time came, and Miranda and I were nervous as we handed it over and explained it, but Lynn (the brilliant and gorgeous lead singer) seemed so impressed and excited and we walked away in disbelief that the whole exchange had actually happened. I don't know if they ever watched it, but it feels so amazing to know that something we made, made it's way back to the people who created the song.

So that's the grand story of our My House music video. From conception, to production, to award nights, to the hands of PVRIS, this video has been on quite a journey, and I'm glad I was along for the life-changing ride.

(Due to copyright laws, the video is no longer available on Youtube. When I figure out where and if I can post it without getting busted by the internet feds, I'll post the link here. Until then, thanks for imagining. Never stop.)

Music Video Imitation

A Very Loose Interpretation

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That's what they say. So what better way to pay homage to our favorite musicians, than to imitate their music videos. That was the mission, should we choose to accept it, and indeed we did.

First off, when I say "we," I'm usually referring to Miranda and myself due to the fact that she's my best buddy and we make a good team. Our skills and capabilities complement each other's and together we have everything we need, at least most everything. The challenge that came with this project lies not in lack of a certain skill, however, but in the shear abundance of music that we each listen to. We spent a solid day just trying to figure out a video to imitate and we ended up with "Na Na Na" by My Chemical Romance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egG7fiE89IU) and "Stay The Night" by Zedd feat. Hayley Williams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-gyZ35074k). We also picked a different song to set our imitation to, "Old Scars/ Future Hearts" by All Time Low (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnoJ_0lk_5w). With our resources decided, we could now begin planning.

Step 1: Watch the reference videos. Memorize the song. Choose elements you definitely wish to incorporate into the final product.

Step 2: Plan out the video. Making the shot list fell into Miranda's hands, while editing down the song fell into mine, which I was excited about (music editing is one of my favorite things!).

Step 3: Film the video. This is where we hit a few road blocks. First came the wonderful bipolar weather of Kansas that kept us from checking out equipment on the only day Miranda and I could've both filmed, only to completely stop as soon as we got home. That was fun. So then we ran into the issue of I now had to film everything by myself, and I have little confidence in my camera abilities, at least when there's no one else there to help me figure things out. But I did it anyways and two days of filming later, we had all we needed. 

"Na Na Na" by My Chemical Romance

Step 4: Edit the video. Miranda took on that task, as she usually does, for I am not a video editing person, rather a music editing person, as I've mentioned before (which I did have to employ during editing due to a tight deadline, and a little less footage than we planned for). But editing is where we greatly imitated the video: split screens and quick edits, etc. 

Our Video

Step 5: Share your video. Sharing in terms of this class consist of putting it on a server and then projecting it in the front of the room for everybody to watch, as well as posting it on Youtube (here's the link for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIEaQGjTiB8). 

Well, there's our process from start to finish. Now onto the part where I say all the things I wish we would've done instead of what we actually did. Initiate new list!

1. Our video increasingly became a looser and looser interpretation of our reference videos, and by the end, if we hadn't stated our inspiration, no one probably would've know we had any. Also, we started off with two reference videos, and in the final product, the second wasn't present at all.

2. Thing two I would change is the fact that we have an actress, emphasis on the tress, singing a song sung by a man. I didn't notice it until the end, but now it's all I notice.

3. If I could film it again, I'd try to get wider angles of the car driving, but that was just a lack of resources on our part. It would've been possible if we had had another car to follow Sarah's with someone else driving so I could move around in the car and film, but since it was just me, I figured it wouldn't be wise for me to try to drive and film at the same time. Safety first!

Well that's about it. It's not a terrible video. I actually quite like how it turned out, especially compared to some of our other projects. So you should check it out and let me know what you think!

Here's the link for our final product again, in case you missed it in Step 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIEaQGjTiB8

In The Turn

Directed by Erica Tremblay

On 18 April 2015, I had the great opportunity to go to KC Film Fest (kcfilmfest.org) with my roller derby league (kcrollerwarriors.com) to hand out flyers and answer questions about the sport in support of a documentary that was playing called In The Turn (intheturn.com). And let me just say: IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BLOODY AMAZING! In The Turn is a film about a ten year old transgender girl named Crystal and the international queer collective of roller derby players known as the Vagine Regime that strives to let every LGBTQ person know that there is a sport for them where they will not be questioned or judged for who they are. The film criss-crosses the US, following the stories of several queer derby girls and guys as well as hiking it up to Canada for Crystal's story. I don't want to give away too much, a) because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who's yet to see it, and b) because I can in no way do this film justice with just words, it is an experience that you need to witness to fully appreciate. So I will leave you with that. Look up In The Turn, and it should (hopefully) be available for purchase in Fall 2015. 

North By Northwest

A Review of a Movie I Admittedly Didn't Understand Very Well

Recently, we watched the film North By Northwest in film class, and let me just say, the punch sound effects in 1959 were quite unrealistic, and frankly, they were so bad it was comical. Now on to something a little more important than complaining about bad foley; the plot, which I will admit I had to look up on IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/?ref_=nv_sr_1) to fully understand. Turns out it's about a guy who becomes a victim of mistaken identity, causing foreign spies to plot his murder, and accusing him when he tries to crack the case. Insert complicated love interest who is more than she appears to be and end it with a chase scene across the faces of Mount Rushmore and you have the 1959 masterpiece that is North By Northwest. 

Now there is a set of questions that I need to answer, but I'll be honest, I don't even understand what the questions are asking. So I'm going to just write and hopefully you learn a little something about this film.

One of my new favorite things to do when I watch movies is to try to find where green screens are/start/stop. It's not the most fun hobby, but I find great satisfaction in being able to find the line where green screen meets floor. It's definitely less fun however in older movies, such as North By Northwest, because the green screen capabilities back then were not as precise as they are now (though I was surprised how easy it was to find the line in Mockingjay Part I) it was obvious what was real and what wasn't. Not to mention that the footage/graphics used for them were highly unrealistic, such as the entire Mount Rushmore final chase sequence. Alright, I need to stop the green screen talk and get back on track. 

Something I've been really trying to learn about/ focus on when watching films is the sound, due to the fact that I was totally clueless in my time spent in the Sound Department for As Though Lost, our class short film (post about that experience to come later). The few times there was music playing in the background, it really fit the scene, and the foley sounds they used (at least most of them, minus the punches) were fairly realistic, for the time period at least. However, there was fault in some elements of the sound for this film such as the sudden, noticeable volume drops of music when dialogue came up instead of gradual decreases and the occasional scene completely lacking any foley, making it seem flat and out of place. However, I must always take into account the technology that was available in the 1950s, and in regards to that, this movie is fairly impressive.

The film did very well in it's portrayal of the time period, in the midst of the Cold War with threat of Communists and spies around every corner. The infiltration of foreign threats into the US government as it actually happened, or at least as it was expected to be true made the film all the more realistic and probably helped fill the theatres when it was first released.

All in all, the movie was fairly decent and I'm glad we watched it.