A-dios Ahhmigos

So my plan for the final is pretty much set, so I spent some time making a mixtape for all of you nerds. I've enjoyed my time with all of you so if you never see me again here is a couple of songs for you.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLwPWdVEH8TTKFCPOyehbXOVtAO9vSz5u

Big Pineapple

I'm running out of ways to introduce myself,

Here is a gif from the greatest achievement of American Film making......The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. It is an unpretentious and honest look on societies dependence of fast food, the cult of manhood, and icon worship. Easily overshadowing Citizen Kane by millions of critical miles, this and Shrek 2 will be heralded in the history books.

I find that I like the idea of Microcinema's very much. I love the sense of community that it has. I have always been a sucker for exotic communities. It's half the reason I play video games, and it also dictates which documentaries or books I spend my free time with. I like the idea that for one night we get to bring our weird little 6x1 community together to silently judge each others films while heaping of praise. Lol, nah most of us are pretty damn honest with each other. If you look at the concept of Microcinema's the thing that sticks out is that it is a community built out of a love for film (or movies if you want to attack the intellectual establishment). That excites me because for the majority of my life I have never been able to share what I loved to a fully willing and understanding crowd. Most people have other passions and aren't willing to devote their time to understanding something new. So I guess it feels like I'm part of an event for my people. I'm looking forward for catering it for you all too.

Knox

Song Recommends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf66Lmrqk00

Film Recommends: Theme: Better than Citizen Kane
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie
Shrek 2
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Stargate
9 1/2 Weeks
Blade 2
Space Jam
Mama Mia!
The Aristocats
The Fairly Odd Parents : Game Over
The Edd Ed and Eddy Movie
The Room

Plans have Changed

Hi,

Well shooting was hella interesting this weekend. I think I should have known that the plan was going to be thrown out the window when Maura showed up with a Too-to on. What we ended up with was like if the zombie apocalypse was performed by avant garde performance artists with a futuristic architecture. All I know is that no matter what the final product is, it will be fun and interesting. I enjoyed the audio mix but I have to admit, Maura and Arianna haven't heard many zombies. Most of my audio tracks sounded like it was part of some quality lesbian porn, but one the third take they finally started to sound like zombies.

I found that our group dynamic was quite interesting. Ian's directorial approach was subtle but consistent. Paul was our negative Nelly who grounded the rest of em. Viet kept us on track like a tired parent. I think I kept to myself and made sure that the film sounded good. Maura and Arianna had the time of their lives though. Looking forward to showing our hot mess of a project!

Knox

Song Recommend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTvhR0lEtZM
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCwEMrMk29c

Film Recommends:
Possession : The film that reminds me of our film the most. Also a great batshit crazy horror film about love.
The Devil's Backbone: My personal favorite del Toro film.

Crash n' Burn

Hello again,

Today was embarrassing. I spent a whole ten exports trying to make sure my audio didn't screw up. I checked it the night before and the audio worked fine. BUT LO-AND BEHOLD TODAY IT DECIDED TO SCREW ME OVER. I spent like three hours on a one minute audio mix for it to cut out at the best part. Whatever, things happen.

Anyways I really enjoyed every bodies films today. I can't wait for the inevitable conversation about which ones we cut out. This one will be quite competitive seeing as every bodies was pretty good. I am quite pleased with my group currently. Ian is interesting to work with and he always has colorful ideas, Viet gets shit done, Paul is my favorite sarcastic man, and Maura is always interesting. I plan on making 100000000000000% sure that the audio is amazing this time. I'm a little bit annoyed by the musical aspect but I know that I can make it work. Our group decided on the Annie Hall shot, I decided to keep my mouth shut on my absolute hatred of Woody Allen, but I think these pictures sum my feelings up quite well.

That was for those of you who don't know and don't understand my hatred of him. Also I just want to punch him whenever he says a word....no biggie. My teams idea is to make a musical with two zombie main characters who are in the future. They grunt and moan their musical number and subtitles translate zombie language for us. It's simple but I like it. I will be employing a mix of shotgun mic recording and Iphone recording for the audio. It isn't ideal but I enjoy a challenge. The majority of the editing will be in the audio, so that will also be fun. We hope to film Saturday.

Knox

For Cori,

Pilgrim starts on the path of life. He is fascinated by the world around him but feels like there is nobody to share it with. Maybe biology will find a remedy? (I know it's shitty, just go with it)

Song Recommends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC7ii3Ir-no

and 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chw-pLg3yyE

Film Recommends:

Memories of Murder : A South Korean police procedural / dark comedy

Peppermint Candy - The uber depressing tale about a Korean man pushed to the edge

Hard to be a God - A dense mind numbing Russian dadaist sci-fi

Rumble in the Bronx - The greatest film ever made....ever.....of all time.

Taking Perspective

Olleh,

I rather enjoyed working together with Tristan today. I think he and I make a good team, we both are pretty laid back so all went well. For his portrait I decided to go with the mood and vibe he often gives off when you are around him. He is pretty chill so I went with that. He also seems slightly lost all the time so that is the other thing I worked into his portrait. I enjoyed creating the soundscape. I layers a song and an original soundscape over each other and I quite like the results.

I am very much looking forward to people's projects tomorrow. Today I discovered that I very much enjoy the look of emptiness. Like the horizon or the sky, I find the lack of things to be amazing.

Knox

(For Cori) The name of the animation is The Pilgrim, the name of the group is Hypeman Jones and the Eldritch Horrors

Song Rec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfguhnvECc

Movie Reccomendation:
Stalker -Andrei Tarkovsky's best film.
Fallen Angel's - My personal favorite Wai film.

Silent Lucidity

Well here I am again,

I've always been fascinated by alternate editing techniques. I love it when films make you feel the weight of time, or minimize information in the image to maximize impact. So the chance to make something rhythmically intrigues me very much. My first experience with rhythmic editing is from Trainspotting. The reason I believe for that film's success is that the movie feels like one long punk song interspersed with Lou Reed ballads. Since that film I have identified many other favorites that edit rhythmically. I'll put a list of them bellow.

The great part about this is that I get to apply a technical use to a concept I have very much been fascinated with. That is the medium of film used as portraiture. Portraits are often considered one of the most intimate of art forms. It is often used to focus and isolate aspects about an often human subject. I think they are often more revealing than most people notice. Now film can be intimate, but I also believe it can be intimate on a larger scale. One example of this is the amazing Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait. While it is essentially more of an art piece than a film I find the idea provided by it to be fascinating. The film follows a single football (soccer) player throughout the course of an important match with multiple cameras. It never cuts away from him and we see the entire proceedings. As the film continues we begin to feel what Zidane feels. The film is stunning, and it has a beautiful score by my favorite band Mogwai.

The examples in class were quite nice, if a little intimidating. I am shite with a camera, all I can do is edit, sound stuff, and write. So this project will be a challenge, but I plan to meet it head on with my partner.

Knox

Song Recommend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITYVXUvMtHI
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhat-xUQ6dw

The list of films this time are not as readily available but I still suggest seeking them out:

• LITERALLY ANY FILM BY SATOHI KON: (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika)
• Amadeus: An amazing epic film about Mozart
• Dancer in the Dark : The most soul crushing musical of all time
• Enter the Void : Drugs and questionable morality
• Adrift in Tokyo: The chillest little road trip movie since Wim Wenders
• Mommy - The greatest film that everybody my age should see. 

Sloppy Seconds

Well here I am,

I had a tough weekend this time. A lot of work, personal projects, and other personal stuff. Despite this my group and I took the time to finish our animation film. I found out a lot about my camera/.
1. When taking photos make sure you are on photo mode.
2.When filming an animation keep the ISO low so that the image isn't too saturated.
3. The typical animation frame is 3 frames.

I am very happy about the final product and I can't wait to share it with you guys. I worked hard on the sound design and even brought my friends in for consultation. I would say more but I can't wait for you all to see it. Also Maura's is amazing and I am 100% jealous of their group.

Knox Gray

Song Recommend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l25t9lSaIJ0:

Film Recommends:
The Impostor: (Brilliant True Crime Documentary)

Final Laugh

Ya Ken,
 This screenshot is from the amazing Takishi Kitano film Sonatine. The most pleasant Yakuza film you will ever see!

Anyways I very much enjoyed my day today working with Ian and Natalie. We decided to use sand exclusively for our project, I was secretly happy about this because sand seemed like the most interesting of the three mediums when I got my hands on it yesterday. I find that sand is the most fluid and emotive of the three designs. It's almost like doing shadow puppets but with tiny grains of sediment. Each grain is visible and creates a million textures. Maura said something today that stuck with me (as she often does). Each grain of sand is like a tiny galaxy. I don't know what exactly she meant by that but my small mind will take a stab at it. What I took away from her comment was that each grain has thousands of emotive possibilities. Much like musical notes or letters each grain carries an infinite number of possibilities.

Today I also learned to relinquish control a bit. I was very disturbed the other day when it was pointed out that I was a bit controlling. My view of a creative environment is that it should be collaborative, but I guess that isn't always the case. To facilitate that ideal today I said as little as possible. Natalie assumed a position of power and I couldn't help but poke fun at it (cuz I'm a jackass). Along the way Ian, Natalie and I found tiny happy accidents within the sand configurations itself. The sand is a lot harder to control than expected and we were scared at first that our story wouldn't get across. Slowly yet surely these happy accidents started to tell and new story and we are now following that one.

Thankya much,
Knox

Here is my daily song recommendation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AetrEfWgk7s

Here are some movie recommendations as well (they are all on Netflix Instant except for one):
Sonatine : A calm Yakuza film from the nineties
Tropical Malady : One of the best films about love of all time, Thailand, magical (in the library)
Ravenous : The funnest movie about Cannibalism ever!

Day Two

Hi there people!

So since I don't have my expansive photo library anymore I'll be taking screenshots from films that I love. This is from the Argentinian film Jauja. It's on Netflix streaming and it is astounding. A surrealistic coming of a age story helmed by two great leads and beautiful cinematography!

Today I learned that Charcoal is very temperamental. It is extremely responsive, but it is so responsive that I found myself trying to tone down my touch. It needs a light touch to be distinguishable in my opinion. I found that sand was surprisingly rewarding. I seem to be obsessed with texture in image and sound and sand's texture is surprisingly present in the images we created today. It feels like a puzzle made of tiny microscopic pieces, the puzzle has no end game and is kind of timeless, and I honestly love that. The paints were interesting but I found everybody else's contributions with it to be much farther and greater than my own.

I do take an issue though with the ideal of being in a role. I don't like clear definition with my own purpose on a set. I know that putting a person into a role in a machine of artistic intent makes the opporation a lot smoother but I never feel quite comfortable. I feel like Ian and Natalie have as much (if not more) potential than me in any role that they so choose. So in my proceedings forth I'll try to reign myself in a bit. I don't want controll, maybe understanding, but not control.

Knox

Here is another song for ya nerds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzKPFuLplE

Film Suggestions: (all on Netflix streaming)
Jauja : Argentinian Western Psychedelic coming of age story.
Mind Game : Puzzle Box Anime Film
Happy Go Lucky: Mike Leigh's happiest film.

Painting in Shadow

So my laptop broke this weekend! It's so awesome that I know have to do my work on my friends piece of crap laptop! Anyways it's taken me a couple of days to get this out for that reason. I very much enjoyed the reading by Caroline Leaf. She seems like somebody I would enjoy spending time with. You can tell her technical prowess just by the way she talks. I really didn't think somebody could know so much about sand as she does. I think the real treat though was William Kentridge. I've seen two of his films this weekend alone and I've got to say, I really love the dude. The way he paints is so stylistic. It's almost like painting with shadows. Because of him I am super excited to use charcoal in the upcoming project. The films I saw by him are Journey to the Moon and Automatic Writing. I had to dig deep and pirate them to find the films but it was worthit (Shannon if you are reading this I would very much like to see more by him)

Knox

Here is another song for all ya'll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UznHTBZIa8E

Journal Marsh

Hya!

Today was pretty fun. I recorded stuff, came up with elaborate sitcom solutions to my life problems, and finally finished reading Jaques Cousteau's research notes. I learnt that another book that I planned on adapting has been taken by a mediocre crew and director. So that is soul crushingly depressing. Also Shannon wasn't here today so I taught the class. We learned Pilates.



1: Marshland
The frogs are fucking loud. Like really loud. Their reverb echos off the water into my ears. They almost overpower the sound of the power supply behind me. The large metal structure lets off a deep hum to tell me that it is powering an entire small suburb. A stork moves gracefully through the marsh. I can hear it push reeds and algae through the water with its twig legs. Cicadas use their string like accompaniment to intertwine with the frogs moans. I can hear trash burning a couple yards over. The sound of cardboard smoldering attacks everything in the vicinity. The frogs grow quieter. I hear the stork fly out of the water. It's wings gracefully moving the air.

2: Raul's Place
There is a constant trap beat in the background. I can hear the ambient noise of Comedy Bang Bang emanating from the T.V. The overhead fan lazily catches the air and smoke and creates a swiveling sound, like a loose screw. The refrigerator groans to say "kill me" in a single medium pained tone. The bathroom light buzzes with an irregular frequency, begging to be shut off. In this land of decadence I can't help but hear Raul's dog Joseph drink from his water bowl. The tongue lapping up the water in quick wet bursts.

Knox

Here is another song nerds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INWZy3-Vw80

Self Evaluation.

     Well I know that I'm amazing but I guess that won't do for a self evaluation.


1. I think that Tristan and my film conveys the sensation of prickliness by creating a soundscape with many sharp and sudden textures. We created a bed sound, such as the ocean or Maura's singing. Then added percussive hits, or crinkling sharp sounds.

2. The piece could be strengthened by allowing at least a ten second longer run time, and the use of tape audio recording. With the tape record I could manually add peaks that sound more tonal then what Audition or Premiere can do. Conceptually it would be nice to have access to percussive instruments, or a longer recording time with the specific concept in mind.

3. The most challenging part of this project is that Tristan hit the power supply, erasing ten minutes of work. I dealt with it my suppressing my rage. (Being sarcastic here, all is fine.)

4. Layering sound is a lot more effective than people let on. Most films never move past three tracks of sound, but I find that having up to six or eight is even better.

Listening to the World

Heyyoooo!

Today I recorded sound with Kyndall and another person who I feel guilty about forgetting their name. (Sorry!) I had a lot of fun. We recorded at the park, the beach, a laundromat, and in class. I like to put a lot of effort into the recording of sound. If you don't find just the right sound the emotion of the moment can be thrown off.





Sound Journal 1: Costco

The dense air conditioning fills the warehouse with a dull low resonance. It reverberates of the metal ceiling and causes a calm noise, almost like a sleep machine. The wheels on all the carts cause that calming drone to be broken with the shrill squeaks of wheels realigning. Middle class white families talk aimlessly. Taxes, children, moms, desires, bosses, girlfriends, boyfriends. The ideas and desires of men and women are laid bare across the tiled floor. The produce coolers make the air flow in circles around the isles. This creates almost inaudible wind tunnels. Like tiny little chords each isle plays a different dissonant note. The checkout clerk caps off the noise with the percussive beat of her price gun, creating order to the beautiful chaos.


Sound Journal 2: Wrightsville Beach Pier

The surf crashes against the concrete stands below me. They move at a predictable beat, providing lead up with the waters movement. Each crash feels like a opening to a march. The fisherman talk about women, jobs, real estate, and fish. One man won't stop talking about a tiger shark he caught. The wind caresses my ear drum, bending over it and whispering to me illogical secrets about that will take a lifetime to figure out. The knife going throw the gut of bait fish feels like a serrated violin. Some how timeless in history. I begin to think about the fishermen of the past, how their lives depended on faith. Faith that something was under the murky water below them, faith that the thing that they might catch is edible, and faith the the thing would even bite their line at all. Cicadas sound from the shoreline far behind us. Their chirps seem to match with the surf, forming a melody to the oceans march.

Knox

Here is another song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vko4cMJzOF8&index=2&list=PL7OWc7G-JJW2BkZLczBwWYHxMxyP96iUd

Little Places

Guten Morgen,

I love working with sound. I've been obsessed with it ever since my dad showed my Amadeus when I was ten. Sound is capable of being more visceral and emotive than any of the other components of cinema.

Each sound is like a thousand images seen at once, and unlike imagery it is often more subjective. So now I sit here challenged by making something by not making the sounds but by finding them.

The assignment didn't seem that challenging until I started to think about it. Everything that I've worked on until this point involved me making the sounds for the film and editing them together in a logical order. Now I get to throw that out the window with some guidelines.

Chion:
I think I regularly lapse into Reduced listening. I never really had a word for it but I've always been more sensitive to the sonic realm then most other ones. When I'm in the wilderness I find that this is especially true. I find myself isolating and focusing on every sound in it's own pace and time.

Cummings:
I agree with Cummings views on the sonic world being a little too cluttered. We should all take the time to listen to the world. I'm often surprised about what I find when I do.

Knox


Here is another song for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwCgBhvck8

Welcome to Earth

Hallo!
I've had an eventful weekend! I started a virtual drug ring on the video game Arma III, wrote a short film, seen the excellent The Nice Guys, and finished the first film project for this class.

While I really want to talk about my cartel I'll just stick to film stuff for now. I never really seemed to get Brakhage's film style when I was just cursorily watching it in 200 and 205. It seemed too scattershot and  unfocused. Well I watched Dog Star Man in it's entirety and I'll be the first to tell you that I was wrong.

I loved the film. It felt like pure invention, like Holy Motors or Fantastic Planet. This caused me to look back on my project with Paul. We didn't know where we were going with it, we were just creating. There was no creative mooring and it felt strange and uncomfortable at first. I grew to enjoy it while working with the class on Friday. I loved talking to everybody and getting into their artistic head spaces. I hope that what I learned from them will help my film in the end but I guess that I'll find out tomorrow.

This project taught me to be comfortable venturing forth into the artistic unknown. Also Cory has a great taste in music. Let her DJ the class.

Knox

P.S
Here is the film I was talking to you about Shannon. If anybody else wants to watch it, its and exceptional experimental documentary.

Atomic Living in Dread and Promise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1ID50UWE9Q

Also here is a song for you guys!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB7E1D_3Na4

Come on Die Young

HI ERRYBODY!

Today in class we did magazine transfers and I accidentally wasted five strips of tape. Don't tell Silva, and if she is reading this well don't pay attention.

I found the process to be enjoyable. I found myself focusing on words that I liked the sound of like "Yonkers" or "Lake Waccamaw". I also found some really cool blue textures in the magazines. Overall I'm having fun. In large part too my partner Paul. Today he won the fondly given title of "Most sarcastic asshole on earth". I'm honestly surprised he beat me to the title but I've got to hand it to him.

Paul managed to exacerbate every mistake that I made. When I managed to stick an entire page onto my tape he said "well that's stuck". When I managed to fold my tape in half he said "well that's bent". This guy is a great partner. (Not being sarcastic here)

I think that today I discovered a confirmation on something that I've been thinking about film for a long time.
One of the most important aspects of any image is it's texture. Filmmakers like Don Herdtzfeldt, Andrei Tarkovsky and , Wong Kar-wai gave me the inkling of this idea but now it is proven to me. Thank you class!

Knox

Here is another song 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoMqEGI79MI

Death Rays

Hey,

So I've always thought that the best part of creating something is the act of destroying. Destruction is the most fascinating creative idea for me. I'm intrigued by what is left after we strip away all the artifice and posturing that comes with ideas and physical manifestations. I guess it's why I'm obsessed with apocalyptic narratives and disasters.

Because of this fascination today class was especially interesting for me. When our activity started and I saw the four strips of film before Paul and I there was a weird instinctual desire to see what my pencil would do to the film strips. I first tried with the blank one. The pencil created faded but noticeable marks to the film stock. Next I ground the graphite into the film stock and I was given a more rugged texture to the image.

The black and white film stock is the most noticeable with the graphite staining and marking. I believe that it is because of the inherit lack of color in the film stock that the pencil's grey's are noticeable. Next I tried to mix the glitter glue and the ink. I made a mistake and applied the ink first, causing the glue to have nothing to stick too. Overall today was very fun, and I am very interested in seeing everybody's films.

Knox

Here is a song you guys might like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY4j8Ow-CTs

Don't stare long.

Hy there!
My name is Knox. I'm a guy who can't quite decide all the things he's going to do in his life. All that I know is that I want to tell stories. I grew up in Belmont N.C and learned many things.Things like how much Sundrop is too much Sundrop, the ins in outs of gentrified sewer structures, the average amount of lemonade needed at a renewal of vowels, and how to outrun a train. I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker after watching movies my entire life and realizing that I knew how they worked. I knew how character worked in Serenity, how style conveyed meaning in Heat, and how editing created shock in The Thing. So now I'm here in Wilmington. I now spend my days writing scripts, reading books, listening to Mogwai and making films. I've made a couple already and the link to them will be attached bellow.

Now for the important part.

Maya Deren:
"The major obstacle for amateur film-makers is
their own sense of inferiority vis-a-vis professional
productions. The very classification “amateur”
has an apologetic ring. But that very word - from
the Latin “amateur” - “lover” means one who does
something for the love of the thing rather than for
economic reasons or necessity."

This is an awesome quote. I love how she opened with this honest but inspirational statement. Despite the few films I have made my consensus is that my films are frankly shit. Now I do realize that my film making ability has been slowly improving. Yet, even with that nice platitude I still feel dwarfed by my heroes. I mean there are people literally two years older than me winning Jury Prizes at Canne! That's discouraging. Mrs. Deren's words though ring true to me. I continue to make crap films because I love to do it. I love to sit in front of the computer screen for hours trying to find the perfect cut. I love finding that perfect lighting set up. I love recording sound on set that wasn't planned to be in the mix but ends up in there anyways. My love of storytelling and the medium of film are what keep me going.

Stan Brakhage:

Brakhage's piece really feels like it's technical wisdom passed down by a wise old master. Like an ancient monk who spent his formative years in the mountains with nothing but film stock, a camera, and a dangerous amount of chemicals.....oh wait he did. The technical wizardry and know how doesn't feel overbearing though. It feels like it comes from a teacher who genuinely cares for his students but isn't afraid of poking fun at them and himself. He genuinely feels like he is passing down his art to help the next generation share their experience through film.

Here is my Vimeo account and a link to a song that you folks might like
https://vimeo.com/user33898228
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mrVYi751SU