Anna Akatherine

Having hated group work in high school, I feared that the collaboration so vital to the film world would be an issue for me. After taking this class however, I have grown tremendously in the confidence I have in my abilities to organize and work with people. I have strengthened my work ethic and have improved my organization overall, which I've found is increasingly important when you're managing the schedules and responsibilities of others as well. I learned about myself as a filmmaker that I enjoy just going to a location with my camera and seeing what I can make out of it as a cinematography/editing exercise. I also discovered that the people you work with has a tremendous effect on the final product, and I've been thankful not to have any group catastrophes and to have had four happy working experiences with every group in this course.

My plans for next semester are still very up in the air considering I was unable to get into any classes - I just have an overabundance of waitlists sitting in my seanet. I had originally planned to take Russian II, but after both being unable to get into the class before it filled up and realizing that it won’t fulfill my degree requirements, I’m unsure about it. I could always take it as an easier elective, but I’m not sure that’s not going to be a waste of time. I had also planned to take another film production course, but every class in the film program was completely full by the time I could register. I also planned to take a life drawing course, which I am currently waitlisted for but I had the teacher before and he agreed to let me into the course if I don’t get off the waitlist before then, so i can safely plan on taking that one. I also need to take an American History class and an English class, so my days will be heavy with writing next semester.

I was really interested in seeing a lot of the films playing at Cucalorus - particularly ones like Princess Cyd, Mr. Roosevelt, Porcupine Lake , and Life as Zucchini . Unfortunately I found the process of attending them very difficult. While being significantly outside of the price range I have to spare every month, when I did indeed hand over the amount required to buy tickets on the first floor of Thalian - as soon as I made it to the second floor I was told that the theater was filled to its fire safety capacity and I wouldn’t be allowed in. I understand that fire codes must be respected and they’re doing their job to ensure the safety of everyone in the theater, but I have to admit it was disappointing to have to walk back downstairs and drive all the way home, having lost the gas to get there and back, and having to miss out on the plans I refused in order to go to the festival without actually getting to see the film. The first time this happened I just resolved to go the next d...

Editing was somewhat of a challenge concerning the audio - because the water was so loud in the background of each dialogue clip, when we cut between them, you can hear the water changing places. We did solve this though, for the most part, by cross-dissolving the audio at each cut and using a high-pass to block out some of the boat engine noises. We had to color it to carry the transition of colors through sunset, and the actor's skin came out a little green, so we color corrected that. The shot placement was fairly straightforwards since we had storyboarded so carefully - we just had to drop things into place and judge the pacing. Some of the cuts are difficult to judge the pacing for - I learned things like you should cut before the actor looks away, because when they look at something, it prepares the audience to see what they're looking at as the next shot, and when this doesn't happen, it becomes misleading.

The Master Shot scene went well I think - I got to the location at 1 pm and began setting up the equipment - everyone was on set by 4, and we started filming at 5 - before we were rehearsing and managing equipment. We filmed just around sunset, wrapping up right after. Everyone left by 8 pm. I brought water for the cast and crew but in retrospect next time we should bring a cooler to keep it cold, it was very hot. We had a last minute actor cancellation for the executioner so he had to learn his lines very quickly, but he ddi well under the circumstances. I'm very satisfied with the actress's performance. It was extremely difficult to do sound with the wind and the water being so loud, but I think we still managed to get some alright audio. It will just require a bit more care in post-production.

I was in charge of the storyboards, overheads, and the shot list. Storyboarding was fun because I got to visualize the sequence of shots in my head and think about how I want to reveal the information, and the overheads and shotlist appear to be pretty straight forwards. I have an idea for the editing where all of the dialogue is shown solely in close-ups at first, so the audience is unsure of what’s happening, intermingled with ominous sounds of ropes being tied and the river rushing and crows, until the final line, where Bran (the witch) says she might need it (the dead language) someday, and then it cuts to a long shot of her about to be drowned, and it’s revealed what’s been happening. I think this editing style might add some humor to the situation, so I’m hoping that it can work well with the shooting style meant for coverage.

I’ll be fulfilling the role of director for our master shot scene. We talked about ideas and one that my producer had that I think we’ll go with is to shoot the dialogue as if it was between an accused witch and the executioner during the Salem witch trials. I’ve seen a lot of short films use this script, and the delivery always came off as inevitably awkward to me, no matter how the actors tried to say the lines, so I think setting it in an already awkward and slightly humorous interaction might suit the tone better. I found an actress to play our witch (Bran), my friend Mack - she has really large and wide eyes, so I think the likability and innocence of her face will work well on screen as the accused witch. I’ve scouted the location of the Carolina Beach State Park twice - once with my producer - and we’ve decided to shoot there to work with the creepy, swampy, feel of the trees and river.

We visited a Saberfit Club meeting on Monday night to shoot our Vox-pops and B-roll. We decided to include B-roll of the club practices in the background of our Vox-pops to give it some playful movement. I’m glad that our director chose to go with a shallow depth of field for these vox-pops, so that the lightsabers almost created bokeh in the background of these shots. We interviewed club members as our population, and they provided quality material I’m sure we will not struggle to use in the editing lab. As producer, I got all of the talent release forms signed as well as coordinating the checkout of equipment and returning it on time. I’m gaining confidence in handling forms and I scanned them to my google drive so I’m positive about the organization of them. It was interesting to watch the Saberfit practice - I didn’t expect their lightsabers to actually light up, so it was fun to watch, especially outside at night, where they look even more luminous.

Reflection on the Expert Interview The expert interview took place at Rory’s aunt and uncle’s house the Sunday before last. Our interview subject, Chris, the founder of lightsaber club, did very well as a speaker. He definitely liked to talk so we had no difficulty in trying to make him comfortable or getting him to open up. You can tell he really believes in the club and has researched its origins extensively. We got around a half an hour of footage, so I’m sure we will have no issue finding information in the data. I have checked out and returned the equipment twice now, and although I was slightly intimidated by how important the pick up time is at first, I’ve discovered that it isn’t an issue, so I’ve gained confidence in doing so. We got the talent release forms signed along with the other necessary paperwork. I thought it was interesting to discover there is so much more to the origins of saber fit than I had initially assumed.

Documentary Plan Our expert interview will be with Chris, the founder and head of Saber Fit, the lightsaber fitness club on campus. We shot on Sunday afternoon at Rory’s aunt and uncle’s house, and we went for a familiar, upbeat, tone. I imagine that the documentary will act as something of an advertisement for the club. Interview Questions What is the club? What was the idea/purpose behind the club? How did you come up with different styles of choreography? What does a typical practice look like? What are the requirements for joining? How do you organize leadership roles? What is your favorite part of the club? How would you describe the energy of the club? How much does the club have to do with Star Wars? What do you hope for the future of the club? We plan to do our vox pops at the next club meeting, by briefly interviewing various club members. What do you think of the club? Why would you recommend others join or not? What do yo...

Light Observations Airlie Gardens - 9/4/2017, 4:54 pm Under a trellis, the sun is two and a half hours from setting, the archways and the vines cast harsh shadows on the ground, creating high contrast with low key lighting. The light is very intense, considering that the sun is the sole light source. Beyond the archways, harsh light falls on the fountain and the water - I think the color temperature is around 3000 °k - 4000 °k, it’s quite warm, the sun is between late afternoon and dusk. The way the sun streams through the vines creates warm toned leaf cutouts in the shadows on the ground and the pillars. Downtown Wilmington - 9/3/2017, 5:31 pm From the roof of a parking garage, the intense direct sunlight casts harsh light on surrounding rooftops. Shadows are cast by air conditioning units and telephone wires - cast down and towards the viewer, some rooftops are fully in the shade of their neighbor buildings. The color temperature may be growing towards 2000°k, dusk is...

Blog Assignment #1: Filmmakers Statement – What film related experiences have you had? What do you hope to learn in this course? Where do you hope to be in 10 years as a filmmaker/artist? What is something unique (not film related) that we don’t know about you? I have never worked on a set, but I’ve been getting really into photography lately - I shoot on a Nikon d3400 in manual mode, so I’m familiar with how to properly expose a shot with the shutter, aperture, and iso. I have a background in traditional art (painting, drawing) so I’m familiar with composition. I really enjoy following my friends around on their errands and trying to frame what they’re doing with my camera. I feel like it allows me to appreciate the beauty in our world more - it’s always there but it’s much more apparent when framed well. In this course I hope to learn how to make things look good with a camera (well composed, properly exposed, etc.) and edit it in premiere, as well as strengthen my ability to ...