Self Portrait thoughts

The first thing I did was post to both my facebook and instagram asking people what they think about me or what first comes to mind when they hear my name. I got things like "hair, coffee, smiles, happy, loyal, beautiful, follows the rules," "Explorer, wandering, originative," Perfect daughter," "artistic, beautiful, caring, intelligent," "you are the most down to earth, sweetest and most caring person I have ever met."
The list goes on. People had so much to say about me. So many kind words. I would be typing for a while if I recited all of what people have said so far!
One also said I remind her of a lion! I would like to do something with lions for my video. Maybe show how lions are confident and strong and relate it back to me. Most people call me a lion because of my hair or they are trying to call me fierce.
If I don't do that I want to do something revolving around little aspects about myself like how I am an artist, I love lightning, my fave colour is blue, etc.
Ooooor! I could do something around my addiction for concerts. I go to a lot of concerts, I am actually going to an EDM festival in Orlando call the Electric Daisy Carnival here soon and I am so pumped! Then two weeks after that I am going to a small show in Richmond! Concerts are the best.
I'm not sure which direction I will take but I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever I do.

Music Video Role

I am given the opportunity to be the director of a music video. Most my music friends are in Boone or Charlotte, so I know their music and how to work with it the best. Danet said she would get back to us with Wilmington musical talent through ACE.
We eventually found Gnarly Feat. By looking at a couple songs from my friend in Boone and Gnarly Feat, I figure we would do a memories type story line. I'm not sure yet how to go about it without being a cliche. Me and Danet, the producer/Art director, will be working out some design kinks to lead us in the right direct. I am super excited for this project though and I think my group will be able to coordinate on ideas really well.

What I learned while shooting film?

Good question. Our group (Paul, David, Lauren, and myself) have had a lot of issues while shooting film. We started out a head of the game and some how we have fallen so far behind. The first day the Pentax k1000 were shown to us, I was excited, until I saw our duct tape neck strap. I knew it was trouble at first sight.
In class we briefly learned how it and the light meter works. Then not long after my group got together to start filming. When we first started we did not have the sheet so we got set back, but once we were ready, we went to the forrest preserve to begin our photo journey.
We took day and night photos. I learned that during the day it is really easy to use the light meter and not so easy at night. We may have used our phone flashlights at night to light the image but the light meter could not register well what we were doing. We also did not think about the bulb setting while shooting at night - it could have made for some really great shots. Eventually I was able to understand the bulb setting and will more than likely use it again during reshoots for the project.
We have had to reshoot twice now. With this experience, I know how to load the film properly and I understand better what film to use and what settings work best for it. I also know how to rewind the film without complication after having complications. I also learned that the people at Southeastern Camera are pretty understanding and willing to work with you when something goes wrong. They also do a student discount and have a ton of film product that I will further use.
Despite all our issues, I am grateful for the experience because at the very least it has made me appreciate film and it's delicacy a lot more.

The Forest Preserve

This one was fascinating in itself. It was day time, but the forest is very full and shadowy because of the trees. It created this dark ambiance that just felt right. For example, Lauren has red hair and in the light against the trees in was the perfect contrast because light was not overpowering any part of the visual. As we moved further, we went to the pond, and subtle bits of light shimmer on the waters. Over all it was very calming until you got bit by a mosquito.

The beach

This was another night adventure and the only light was the light in the distance. We had light coming in from the street lamp through a sandy path passed the gazebo. Beyond that there was light from the buildings along the shore and that created layers in the sky. The skyline was cloudy but it had different shades of purple and it looked like mountains in the distance. Everything against it looked like a silhouette, you can especially see that with the cattails. This was a beautiful sight.

Downtown Wilmington

This was my favourite light observation. We were walking down the street that is against the river in downtown Wilmington and I decided to walk to through two buildings because of the stars. I approached the railing and it was beautiful. You can see a line of lights similar to the ones on Chancellors against the railing all the way to the end. Then in the distance you can see the lights on the bridge. The stars are there but they are not as clustered because of light pollution but it was a peaceful scene.

What did I learn about sound design?

Sound design is an interesting concept because sound is all around us. Every sound we hear is an ambient sound because it is all just background noise usually. What makes that sound different from sound design? If you think about it, design is well, a design. Sound design is manipulated sound. For example, we had a sound called metal hits and another called clicks. These two sounds separate were very different sounds and we decided to overlap them to attempt a clicking similar to that of a camera. Instead we accidentally created a clock ticking sound and it worked out a lot better than what we were planning for. These types of adjustments in the real sound are what sound design basically is - creating sound for some type of format so it can be heard a certain way.
My favourite type of sound design is foley art. Foley art is a physical manipulation of sound. For example in Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, they used (if I remember correctly) wet cloth balled up dropped on the ground to create the sound of burgers dropping when they were on the dock. Foley art is a productive way to create emphasized, more vivid sounds. This is effective because majority of the time you have to record your sounds post filming because while on set the sounds do not always sound the best.
From this project I learned a quite a bit about how to change sound for the best within the program. I especially learned how to work with the sounds you have and use them to your benefit because it was a challenge at first. Our concept set us up for a lot of film sounds and we did not have a whole lot of those. We had to use sounds from a blender, a switch, metal hitting something, etc to create the kinds of sounds we needed. I'd like to think if someone was listening to our soundscape they would not be able to tell where the sound originated, but could only hear the sound that was meant to be heard.