Third culture event

My third event I went to see Shepherd's Wind Ensemble concert. I have always been a big music fan since I played music for over ten years. This was a different type of concert where students got the chance to conduct the wind ensemble. This was a nice change to see and great for the students to gain experience.

The music selection was very interesting to see from every student. Each student got to choose a piece of music and rehearse it with the ensemble. There was a variety of songs; folk, classical, modern, fast, ballads, hymns, world music, chorales, and so on. There was at least one student from every section that conducted in front of the ensemble. I really enjoyed the whole concert and I had a few favorite pieces.

The first one I enjoyed was "On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss" by David Holsinger. This piece is a hymn and it is one my favorites every time I hear it. It calms me down every time I hear and when the refrain comes in I always hear the words, it is well with my soul. The second was "Prelude and Fugue in g minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach. I'm always a big fan of Bach and when they first started playing this song, I thought I knew it. Then I looked at the program and saw it was by Bach and then it made sense. The third one was "Morning in Madrid" by Bill Calhoun. I never heard of this piece but the Spanish theme behind it was done really well. The conductor had spent a great time preparing the piece for the concert. I saw the way he conducted and how the ensemble responded to him, everybody enjoyed this piece. The last favorite piece from this concert was "Abram's Pursuit" by David Holsinger. Again you could tell the conductor and ensemble were playing the song at a high intensity. I was really impressed with this piece and give props to the ensemble for making this song sound awesome.

The whole concert was great and giving students the chance to conduct is an awesome step for their future. I'm definitely going to see more Wind Ensemble performances in the future.   

Second culture event

With my second event, I went to see William Shakespeare's play "The Two Noble Kinsmen." I've been to operas, concerts, musicals and so on but never a play. This was a first for me and I was curious to see it, to be honest. It was very the program I received, it gave a little synopsis about the play and the story behind it.

I'll give the short version of it, two cousins (Palamon and Arcite) get sent to jail as prisoners of war. They both see Emilia, whose beauty is beyond what they have ever encounter in their lives. They both ended up getting out of jail, Palamon by escaping and Arcite by an exile of the kingdom. They both end up fighting for her hand in marriage and Arcite wins the fight. Palamon is about to be put to death before the news of Arcite; he has been killed by a horse that fell on him. Palamon takes Emilia's hand in marriage and the story ends as so. Emilia is the sister of the king and always has an attitude with him. Emilia doesn't want to marry either of the two cousins, but is forced to marry one. This play consists of comedy, tragedy, and of course the Renascence time.

I really enjoyed the play and it was nice to see a Shakespeare's play that I'm not familiar with. Everyone knows "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet" but maybe not this one. At first it was hard to follow along with the story, because of the old English talk. After a while, I got used to it and just enjoyed the play. I might be interested to see another one. The only thing I would possibly be a critic of is the music and sound effects. I felt if they are going to use it, then they better make sure that it's really good. I know how it is to rehearse something like this and get it ready to performance status. It's not easy and it's why I admire everyone that played part in it.

The next event is something that I'm more familiar with, a concert from the Shepherd Wind Ensemble...     

Culture event one

With my cultural events, I decided to attend different types of events and explore new things. The first one is normal to me, but I felt I could relate the film to my project. This past weekend, I went to the theaters to see the new Bond movie SKY FALL. My film is based on this character which he thinks he is a detective so I thought why not.

The Bond series has been going for so long, that it's impressive how they managed to keep it going. I really enjoyed this movie and two things stand out about it. This film seemed darker and kept me very attentive throughout the film. This is the first time where I saw Bond seem old or even vulnerable. It wasn't the Bond that we come to known over the years. Even a little more realistic in some cases, I almost thought that he could die. It didn't happen though, it would've been a short film if he did die.

A few key things I noted from the film; music, good vs bad, scenes. All the norms that come in spy/detective movies I saw in this film. It was really excited to compare my film with this one and see all the norms I put a twist on. I switched the music for the protagonist and his fellow opposite. Made a simple situation into a serious situation, but all as a perception. The use of objects to represent past events, in SKY FALL they brought back an old Bond car from the Gold finger movie.

It was definitely a different type of James Bond, but it was very well done. The next event I did was a play from the Shakespeare's time...... 

Capstone week nine

After my presentation on Monday, I have a better idea of what I can fix to make my film better. My director and me took some time to watch my film and talk about. I explained a few things I didn't like and wanted to change. He gave me a few ideas of different types of transitions I can use to make the film move smoother. So I'll probably take the next two weeks to edit and be really picking and nit picking. That's my plan for the next two weeks.

Now that this part is done, I'll start preparing for my presentation board. As I start brainstorming for what I want on it, I think I want to show my process in making this film. Show different steps I took for the completion of this film. Another part I would discuss about is probably my motivation for this film and why on this topic. The genre of parody and what I wanted to experiment with this film. I have a list of what I want to be tangible at my presentation; script, screen shots, film, props from film. These are just a few ideas and I'll thinking of what I want.

As I continue to edit my film, I will also finish my press kit about the film and everybody that helped me out. It has been a fun adventure seeing this movie coming to end and getting feedback from  a few people already. Now back to work........  

Image framing

Every comic has their own unique style of framing with the story. 300 and Essex County are prime examples of using different types of framing. Each comic has their own style and keep it consistent throughout the comic.

The first one I'll talk about is 300 and how they wanted to give this big interpretation towards you. A lot of the pages would be one frame but gives this massive feeling behind too. I felt that they did this to really show the brutality and manliness of the Spartans. Down below is an example of one of these massive frames.

This isn't a fight scene but I thought it was an interesting page anyway. When you first look at it, there is a lot of dialogue between the characters throughout the page. Your eyes are moving from the top of the page towards the bottom of it. Then there is a separate frame to the left of the page that reminds me of an old comic strip. This frame gave us a reminder of how disciplined the Spartans were and how brutal they treat each other. The one thing I love about this page is that its an aerial shot and we're seeing it from an angle above them.

The next book is Essex County and this is completely different style compared to 300. I felt these frames would be more logical to use in comics. Like every frame could speak for it self and you really didn't need much dialogue, which they did on occasions. Down below is an example.

Black and white color pages and pretty straight forward with the size of frames. Every frame is rectangle and everything fits nicely together. What I really enjoyed is how a small change in a frame could effect the mood in the story. There is two times that this happens on this page. The first is at top where the old man asks the boy why is he out alone. The boy stands there for a moment and answers back to him with the same question. The old man shakes his head in agreement, which would be the second. I felt with these frames they a lot simpler than those in 300 which seem to be in your face almost. Just my quick observation on these two comics......      

Week eight of capstone

Tomorrow is the day. This day has been creeping up on me all week long. It definitely was a busy week and I'm glad its over and done. I can easily say that it's been a fun adventure this past month making this movie. I'm thankful for everybody that helped me out and made this possible. I hope when they see this film, they can appreciate all the work we put in.

I did have a little scare while I was editing this past week. Somehow I manage to lose some of my audio and I had to replace it. It wasn't too big of a deal because, I had the original audio of the scene so I just had to put the audio back again. I can easily say that I spent about 25-30 hours just editing and tweaking my film this past week.

The only thing I didn't get done is a short flashback, so the film will be missing that. I will probably will get that scene done in the next couple of weeks. Other than that, I'm done with the film and I can't wait to show it tomorrow. The film now has a title, "Where's Haley?" I like it, so I'll stick with it. The only thing left to do is to unveil my film and get some reaction to it. I hope my professors can see all the work I put into it. Let Monday begin.............

Week seven of Capstone

As this is my last week before I get to show my work to professors, I can't wait to see my film in its final stages. I have everything I need for this week, the last scene I recorded Saturday and the music for it as well. This week will consist of me of doing lots of editing. I plan to do at least four days this week of editing and six to eight hours (each day) of devoted time to finish this project. I knew that editing would take some time and I made sure that I devoted enough time to get this project done.

I found it funny that I've been doing this project for over a month now and I haven't figured out a title for the film. Some ideas have gone through my head such as: Suits, Fine Vs Holmes, Black Panther but nothing I really like yet. This will be something I will think about this week and hopefully figure out as I'm editing. I do have one last scene to film this week and then I will have all the shots I want.

Music Sensation

Music was probably the one thing that I really enjoyed recording, because I could be creative. Whatever sound I wanted to use, I could do it. I found myself actually creating a nice little song but I'm not sure if I can use it in the film yet. The music I will use in the film will all be composed by me. There is a mixture of the Jazz sound and Classical throughout the film. Some of it might sound like another song but it won't exactly resemble it.

It's been an awesome time working on this film and I appreciate everybody that has helped me out. They have been great to work with and been pretty patience with me with the time they sacrificed for the film. Now its time to finish this movie and see the end product.......