This week, we spent about 20-minutes of class time painting on about 17 feet of clear leader 16mm film, projected and videotaped the result. This is the last in a series of class exercises dealing with film manipulation techniques (the other two were scratching on scrap footage and magazine transfers).
September 7, 2007
Week 3: Film Painting Exercyzzzze
This week, we spent about 20-minutes of class time painting on about 17 feet of clear leader 16mm film, projected and videotaped the result. This is the last in a series of class exercises dealing with film manipulation techniques (the other two were scratching on scrap footage and magazine transfers).
August 30, 2007
Week 2: Fall 07 Magazine Transfer Projectoravaganza
16mm clear leader was rolled across a group of long tables and students from UNCW's FST 398 006 ("6X1") class slapped strips of wet packaging tape that had absorbed ink from magazines, phonebooks, etc. onto the film. Since the strips were still a bit wet, they had trouble staying on the clear leader as it ran through the projector but the result of this was still pretty cool.
The music was uploaded from our media (http://ourmedia.org/node/345971) - rights free - but quite a bit of reverb was added.
August 26, 2007
Week 2 Prep: 16mm Film Magazine Transfer
This week, we will be tearing up bits of magazines, newspapers, phonebooks etc. and sticking these bits onto clear packaging tape.
Then, we will cut the packaging tape into strips, dunk the strips into buckets of warm to hot water, leave the strips immersed for about 3-5 minutes and then rub the magazine pulp off the tape.
Only the ink remains on the tape. Then, just slap the strips of tape onto 16mm clear leader film (avoid the sprocket holes) and project.
See an EXAMPLE of what we collectively made in last semester's class.
August 21, 2007
Week1: welcometosixbyone fall07
Hi Fall Sixbyoners (and any curious observers)
Our first assignment involves painting, scratching, bleaching etc. 16mm film (i.e. film manipulation). I've included, below, an image of film sizes. It's good to think about these differences as we explore the idea of film manipulation. For example, if I make a mark with a sharpie on a 35mm frame and another mark with the same sharpie (same thickness) on an 8mm frame, the mark on the 8mm frame will take up a larger percentage of the frame and thus be projected as much thicker than the mark that is projected on the 35mm strip.
Needless to say, our choice of film stock size affects style and the amount of control we have over the frame. There's no ideal stock size. It just depends what you're going for.
Our first assignment involves painting, scratching, bleaching etc. 16mm film (i.e. film manipulation). I've included, below, an image of film sizes. It's good to think about these differences as we explore the idea of film manipulation. For example, if I make a mark with a sharpie on a 35mm frame and another mark with the same sharpie (same thickness) on an 8mm frame, the mark on the 8mm frame will take up a larger percentage of the frame and thus be projected as much thicker than the mark that is projected on the 35mm strip.
Needless to say, our choice of film stock size affects style and the amount of control we have over the frame. There's no ideal stock size. It just depends what you're going for.
May 1, 2007
thassit!
Well, the semester has come to a close. We've made a lot of 1-minute films - 43 films to be exact. That's a lot of films produced by 15 students in four months. It's been an experience. Below is the class project (assignment #3), "Sport and Light," which will play on a much larger screen at the UNCW Film Studies Spring Semester student screening on May 5.
Watch the Video
Watch the Video
April 11, 2007
One-Minute One-Shots
Below are the 4 one-shots created by the Spring07 6X1 class.
By one-shot, we mean that the film is composed of only one shot with not even in-camera editing. The film begins when the camera starts rolling and ends when the camera stops rolling.
For this assignment, students used 16mm Bolex cameras and some hi-contrast film. The Bolex cameras are hand-wound, rather than battery powered and each wind has roughly 28 seconds. Since this class is all about making one-minute films and this assignment was all about a one-minute take, we had to cheat a little.
We slowed the frame rate of the Bolex to half the normal frame rate. This meant that when projected, the film would play twice the normal speed but it also meant that we could shoot for a full minute because the camera wind was running at half the speed.
Then, we processed the hi-con film using a red safelight. f4 and f5.6 seemed to yeild the best results for the sunny mid-afternoon light with which we had to work.
Then, the film was transferred to video. As I mentioned, the film ran twice as fast in the projector, so we had to slow it down to half the speed in Final Cut Pro. Also, since the film was processed as a negative, we also had to invert (or change to a positive) the video transfer.
Enjoy!
By one-shot, we mean that the film is composed of only one shot with not even in-camera editing. The film begins when the camera starts rolling and ends when the camera stops rolling.
For this assignment, students used 16mm Bolex cameras and some hi-contrast film. The Bolex cameras are hand-wound, rather than battery powered and each wind has roughly 28 seconds. Since this class is all about making one-minute films and this assignment was all about a one-minute take, we had to cheat a little.
We slowed the frame rate of the Bolex to half the normal frame rate. This meant that when projected, the film would play twice the normal speed but it also meant that we could shoot for a full minute because the camera wind was running at half the speed.
Then, we processed the hi-con film using a red safelight. f4 and f5.6 seemed to yeild the best results for the sunny mid-afternoon light with which we had to work.
Then, the film was transferred to video. As I mentioned, the film ran twice as fast in the projector, so we had to slow it down to half the speed in Final Cut Pro. Also, since the film was processed as a negative, we also had to invert (or change to a positive) the video transfer.
Enjoy!
One-Minute SuperDuper8 Animations
Below are all of the four group animations for the Spring 6X1 class. These were filmed using Super 8 cameras and Ektachrome film and the project utilized a multiplane animation technique.
For the multiplane setup, an 18X24 inch glass panel was propped up by two apple boxes so that the ground below the pane was visible through the glass. The ground level served as a background and was often decorated by a backdrop. This first pane was a mid-stage of sorts. Then a second glass panel was propped up about 8 inches above the first panel. This top panel served as a front stage. Finally, the scene was decorated with props, lit and a Super 8 camera hovered about 4 feet above the glass panel.
To see some pictures of the actual class shoot visit the post on the animation shoot
But don't forget to also check out the mini-epic animations, right here!
For the multiplane setup, an 18X24 inch glass panel was propped up by two apple boxes so that the ground below the pane was visible through the glass. The ground level served as a background and was often decorated by a backdrop. This first pane was a mid-stage of sorts. Then a second glass panel was propped up about 8 inches above the first panel. This top panel served as a front stage. Finally, the scene was decorated with props, lit and a Super 8 camera hovered about 4 feet above the glass panel.
To see some pictures of the actual class shoot visit the post on the animation shoot
But don't forget to also check out the mini-epic animations, right here!
April 4, 2007
Extremely Short Festivals for Extremely Short Filmz
So, soon you will have left this class having completed six one-minute projects. Six fun, challenging and I'm sure at times frustrating projects.
So now what?
Well, of course you have a few films to add to your reel . . . AND you can also choose to enter these films into festivals.
Right now, Drucilla (Dru), our Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund) dog is curled up in my lap. She's got a tiny dog collar for her tiny dog body and a tiny leash, some tiny dog toys and so on. There's a whole market for tiny dogs out there that caters to providing things for these wee creatures.
Likewise, there is a film festival market out there for your tiny films (epic in content as they may be). There are festivals such as the Aurora Picture Show Extremely Short Shorts for any film 3 minutes or under (postmark deadline May 1).
Stay tuned to the Sixty-Second Film Festival which is currently joking that it will "be back in a minute."
There are also festivals that cater to films that originated on film (you will have four of these film films by the end of the semester).
For example, there are several Flicker film screenings aroud the world. These screenings are more informal than your average festival screening though no less fun. The only rules are that your film be under 15 minutes and that it originate on film (though it can be, and in many cases is, shown on video) A great place to start your Flicker curcuit tour is with the founding Flicker in Chapel Hill. The next screening is May 7. There is NO ENTRY FEE for entering the Flicker screenings.
In general, one-minute films are great for festivals. Though they may not serve as the meat and potatoes of any shorts festival (outside of the extremely short shorts category), they are easy for festivals to program because of their length and are nice bursts of fresh air.
So now what?
Well, of course you have a few films to add to your reel . . . AND you can also choose to enter these films into festivals.
Right now, Drucilla (Dru), our Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund) dog is curled up in my lap. She's got a tiny dog collar for her tiny dog body and a tiny leash, some tiny dog toys and so on. There's a whole market for tiny dogs out there that caters to providing things for these wee creatures.
Likewise, there is a film festival market out there for your tiny films (epic in content as they may be). There are festivals such as the Aurora Picture Show Extremely Short Shorts for any film 3 minutes or under (postmark deadline May 1).
Stay tuned to the Sixty-Second Film Festival which is currently joking that it will "be back in a minute."
There are also festivals that cater to films that originated on film (you will have four of these film films by the end of the semester).
For example, there are several Flicker film screenings aroud the world. These screenings are more informal than your average festival screening though no less fun. The only rules are that your film be under 15 minutes and that it originate on film (though it can be, and in many cases is, shown on video) A great place to start your Flicker curcuit tour is with the founding Flicker in Chapel Hill. The next screening is May 7. There is NO ENTRY FEE for entering the Flicker screenings.
In general, one-minute films are great for festivals. Though they may not serve as the meat and potatoes of any shorts festival (outside of the extremely short shorts category), they are easy for festivals to program because of their length and are nice bursts of fresh air.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
