When we talk about filmmaking, we talk about actors moving on screen. The topic of SCREEN DIRECTION is important because it determines what direction your actors are moving on screen. It also determines where you can (and cannot) place your camera on location. Watch this short video about the importance of screen direction as it is relevant in recent film history. Now, I implore you to read through this short article produced by No Film School. It summarizes the relevance of screen direction even further. When you're filming a scene, you need to know where to put the camera in relation to your actors, and then how that shot setup will look on screen. Everything in filmmaking comes down to where the camera is, what it captures, and how that looks on a television or theater projector. Screen direction tells you that once you've established that your actor should be facing LEFT TO RIGHT then you must leave the camera close-up on him/her on that side. If you jump to another side then suddenly your actor's face will jump directions on screen. It will look to viewers as though your actor is moving around when he or she is actually sitting in a chair.
Practice with screen direction by putting up a camera, moving it around a subject, and then looking at the footage cut together in an NLE (Premiere Pro). You can also draw out your ideas on paper as an overhead and then see how your plan pans out.
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When I grow up, I want to be happy. I'm not sure what that looks like, yet. But, here are some of my searches and steps towards figuring it all out. Take a look. Locations I'm really interested in living in a few places, so I looked into each using Zillow.com. Here's what I found.
Transportation
HousingI am going for a two-bedroom apartment because I know I'll need a roommate. I think that the rate per room is between $700 and $1000 per person. That would be a total of $1400 or $2000 for the full apartment. Renter's insurance is something that you'll have to have as well, required by many apartment rental companies. This typically comes in around $125 for a year or at $11/month. UtilitiesInternet and TV Electricity / Gas / Oil
This looks like $119 (Cable/Internet), $183 (Electric), ($82 (Gas) = $384 *Note: Not all apartments require you to pay for all utilities; some are included in rent. Check Zillow! HealthcareUsing this website, type in and determine YOUR likely premium rate for health insurance. Remember that everyone is required to have health insurance now. You face a fine at the end of the year if you or someone you live with does not have health insurance for the year (at any point throughout the year). Remember that! You all are able to stay on your parent health insurance until, I believe, age 26. This can change at any moment though with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Calculate your health insurance costs if you went into the pool for ACA, now. See what your benefit would be so you can calculate this estimated cost going forward. Retirement
How much should you be starting to save each year for retirement? Calculate this out now so you can see how slow money grows. Decide on a number for what you will begin saving when you get your first job. Example = $5,500 a year (maximum for a ROTH IRA), plus 7,000 into pension. This breaks out to roughly a $1000 a month. Food & DrinkHow much do you think you spend on food each week? I typically spend (very little) around $140 a week. This comes to roughly $550 or $600 a month. This is incredibly and unrealistically low for someone who lives alone and is in their early 20s. See how much you spend my adding up your meals throughout each week. Remember that if you're living alone or with a roommate that you have to pay for food and drinks yourself. Planning for KidsHow many kids do you want to have? How much will each kid cost per year with the above math? Formula: Number of Kids you Want ____ X Annual Cost ____ = Total Cost for Kids $______ Career PlanningWhat job will pay you the living wage you need?Now that you know how much life will cost where you want to live, and with the people you want to live with, you can start to think about the money you will need to make to make this all happen. What you should do is create a 3-5 year plan. This should be a financial plan for when you are graduating from high school. You can dream big and go for the plan you want to have when you're 30 or 40, but that's likely going to be less useful to you as plans change. Now that you have the living wage, how much do have to pay back in taxes...?What Now?Figure out where you want to work, how much you might be paid, and what qualifications you need to get that job. Notice at the bottom of this above post that a Bachelor's degree is required (BA or BS) plus three years of related experience. These qualifications are what you need to start working towards, now.
My SummaryBased on the estimated costs to live as I've laid out above, I need to pay $3,228 a month to live. Just to be clear, this is not actually my exact cost of living. The good news is that I have a job that pays me enough to do this. The bad news is that for those of you interested in going to college, I pay as I have student loans I'm also paying off. More on student loans another time!
When it comes to taking "good" pictures, photographers really need to consider some key compositions to keep viewers engaged. Composition is the placement of elements in a frame to draw your viewer in and to create meaning. Some example compositions are listed and shown below. I have images that I find inspiring and then images that I've taken myself to show my understanding. RULE OF THIRDS
LEADING LINES
FRAMING
BALANCE
REPETITION
BACKGROUND
DEPTH
CROPPING
VIEWPOINT
I am practicing storytelling using GIFs. I found images online and downloaded them to combine together. I used the site GIPHY.com to create the GIF you see below. My goal was to create a short GIF on the history of computers.
These are my zoetrope animations from our class on film history. The zoetrope is a small toy that plays back drawings (8-10) and gives the illusion of being a short film. This is because the mirror acts like a film frame, stopping and starting the action for viewers. Viewers simply spin the disk and are able to see the animation play out. The more drawings the smoother the animation. The fewer the drawings the more choppy the animation. The zoetrope is an interesting tool/toy because you're limited to only 8-10 frames. You can only do some much with a drawing in that period of time. (Or maybe that isn't true at all #GIF)
When we talk about film we talk about frames per second, meaning the number of individual pictures (or drawn animations) that appear in one second of video. The more frames (pictures/animations) per second the faster they must go and the smoother the animation appears. The fewer frames (pictures/animations) per second the slower they must go and the more choppy the animation appears. Take a look at this flipbook example below to see how you might create a simple animation with quite a few frames per second (drawings). Reflect on how this animation would be much more choppy with fewer drawings (rewind to see how the creator made this.) GIFs as Works of Art
GIFs are the ultimate short silent film. They're just a few frames long, have simple stories, and they rely upon your visual incites only. Let's take a look at what some artists have done with some really cool GIFs over the years.
History of GIFs...the transformation
Studying GIFs, there are so many different styles to chose from. It's important to understand the history of GIFs to see how they've evolved over the years. Here's a snapshot of the history of GIFs.
This is my original GIF (not really original because I've used all images found online) made through GIPHY and uploaded through their site. I took the embed code and embedded it here.
GIPHY (Online GIF Maker)
CREDITS
In class this week, we made zoetrope animations using an old school zoetrope my teacher brought in. It looked like the device below! The idea is that we draw a progression of action (a ball bouncing, a flower blooming, etc.) to create the illusion of movement. Then our teacher places our drawings into this zoetrope and spins the disk. Our animations swirl around. The mirrors (on the left) and the slits (on the right) act as a frame break for viewers as they watch the animation play back. The process of creating and capturing motion here is possible because of persistence of vision. This is something that happens in our brains that bridges the gap between frames to motion appears smooth. For my animation, I chose to draw a rock splashing across water and then a boy getting hit in the face by a rock. Take a look below.
You are able to edit your clips in another editing software and then bring them into DaVinci Resolve using a travel file format such as an EDL. You can also edit directly in DaVinci Resolve using the timeline feature. The tutorial starts with a short demo on editing in Resolve. You can jump ahead if you've already transferred in a sequence you're going to correct. GETTING A SEQUENCE OUT OF PREMIERE INTO RESOLVE |
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