End of the Semester

This class really pushed me forward not only as a filmmaker, but also as a creative person. I had to find ways around limitations, learn to adapt to changes, and also figure out my role in each project.

My favorite was the music video. I discovered how much I love Art/Hair & Make up, and how that would really fit me as a person. I also realized that I actually like to pretend to be someone else for a few hours. It spices up my life.

My least favorite was the soundscape, but only because it scared me so much. Once I was doing it and in the process of finding a pattern of noise, I ended up loving it.

I'm so thankful that I took this class this semester because I really connected with my classmates--more than I typically do in a class. I've made a lot of friends and hopefully we keep working on projects together. I'm also very thankful I took this class because I think I'm a better problem solver. I've learned how to work with what I have, and how to make and expression with it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Cucalorus for the First Time: 2014

My Cucalorus experience was rushed. It went by so quickly! I had a hell of a weekend traveling from work, home, and downtown several times per day (as well as finding parking.. haha).

My first film was Children of Salt, where I also met Caleb Ward. It was great to see a UNCW graduate's production. Although the sound mixing could've been improved a little, for a low-budget film, this was spectacular! The narrative was revealed and paced in a gratifying way, and the story was captivating.

My second screening was the Minorca Shorts block. I had gotten off of work early, and forced my co-worker to come with me to this screening. I knew where TheaterNOW was this time, so we made it (and both got in for free!). I particularly enjoyed Bloodhounds, as well as Trouble and the Shadowy Deathblow. We stayed for the Q&A, which gave another perspective behind the decisions made--I always love hearing stories about how/where/why certain shorts and films are made.

My third screening was Living Stars, which was a delight. Kids, Adults, and Seniors all participated in a compilation of dancing in Buenos Aires. Some were very good, some were a little unsynchopated, but all of them depicted dancing as a way to live life. In outer-textual analysis, this could be a metaphor for accepting the music given, and breaking up the daily routine. While I sat at Jengo's watching this, I just thought about how every culture connects to music and dance of some form.

My fourth screening was Stomping Ground, which I kid you not, was one of the best films I have seen in a long time. It had the dark humor of Zombieland, but no narration. I was engaged and entertained throughout the whole film. After the Q&A, I forced myself to go and talk to the director (Dan) and the lead actress (Tarah), which was probably good for my social skills. I just seriously want this thing to come on Netflix now.

My fifth screening was The Return.
This was such a powerful way to start my day, I often found myself reflecting on my identity throughout the rest of my day. Although the other viewers were mostly either a) older than 60, or b) Jewish, I felt that I got a lot out from seeing this documentary. I think it spoke to the young feminist in me, searching for her own truth.

I really enjoyed Cucalorus; it was my first real film festival and I know now that I will never work on Cucalorus weekend again. Hopefully the next film festival I go to takes me to NYC. That would be chaotic but amazing.

Installation Concerns

I'm thankful for the installation project. I believe that this will be a great way to end the semester, and ever since I watched the Gossip Girl episode where some artsy-mysterious-bad boy woos Serena by creating a snow-themed installation project as her Christmas present, I wanted to be exposed to more moving, living art (yes, I watch Gossip Girl often. They have great music and clothes. Sue me.).

I'm really excited for our idea of mirrors everywhere! I think if we can project our found (?) footage off of the shed and reflect/refract it amongst the mirrors, the response would be awesome. I'm concerned about getting mirrors, though. I can contribute about three good sized mirrors, but even if we each bring three, that would not be enough to get the effect we are going for.

I'm also concerned about how we will project it (where we will get a projector), and how to make our project more "filmic". I think I would like to portray the elements through film--a digitalized version of fire, maybe water, and maybe behind the scenes of fans pretending to be "real" wind. I'm personally at a loss for earth, though.
Maybe we could explain through mirrors and projections how film distorts and exploits the elements....

MY Photo

This picture sums me up because I love traveling, and I constantly quote movie. But credit is due to my sister, Megan, for this snapchat--which sends me to my other point... I LOVE MY FAMILY. And we have a great sense of humor.
This was a really hard assignment for me, but I decided to practice no attachments by choosing a picture depending on the content from a deeper meaning (and not limit myself to only aesthetic beauty).

My Cucalorus Plan

Friday: Yokohama Shorts (if I can make it), Children of Salt

Saturday: Living Stars & Stomping Ground

Sunday: The Return & Rosecomb Shorts?

Self Portrait Ideas

It finally hit me what I would like to portray in my self portrait:

the emotional responses to my fears and gratifications.

I believe this assignment is the perfect timing for this point of my life because I feel like my fears control me, and recently my gratifications have given me release to pursue my happiness. I'm not completely sure how this will be executed, but I was wondering if this could be a rhythmic edit of a sort?

Perhaps a parallel action, or just shot-reverse shot if not the case. All I'm attempting to do is create an emotional reaction/understanding within the audience's perception.

It will be really challenging for me not to use anytime of MUSIC musical background, but maybe that could be exposed as another fear of mine. Now that I sit and think about it, this assignment is an oxymoron: I'm exposing my fears within a fear. But filmmaking is more than a fear (most of the time), it's a thrill!

At the moment, I plan on solely using my phone for all recording (sounds, pictures, etc). My phone directly reflects my thoughts, and unfortunately, it's where I spend much of my time anyways (part of the instant gratification era?). I will create a list of my fears and things I enjoy, and then several different ways this could be portrayed. I could attempt at taking three fears, three hobbies, and then several portrayals of each. But that might be too much...

I would like to practice a bit of color correction, so if I have the opportunity to do so, I might try to figure that out. It has a good chance of ending up a bit botched, but hey, this is an experimental class! 

Art Deptartment in Music Video

My role in the music video production included women's chorus vocals, Art Department (including hair & wardrobe), and actress.

Making the song was a really great experience. I had no idea how to go about this, and Michael really led the group well, considering many of us had no previous recording skills. I sat in his living room, listening to the same several bars of music on repeat for several minutes before my humming made a small melody, to which he fine-tuned, and then we recorded. Then we recorded again so that it sounded like multiple people/mixed, and then we did the harmony two times as well.
Michael was really great with helping everyone get comfortable to what we were doing--he walked us through the steps and was forgiving when we didn't understand or messed up while recording.

For my role as Art Department, Kevin and I talked over aesthetics, and how this would supposedly turn out using the camera and film stock that we had. At our big meeting before the shoot, we discussed color scheme for wardrobe as well as final listing of props necessary. Then, I went home and made six masks using flour, water, and ripped magazines, as well as researched drug addicts "before" and after pictures to get make up inspiration.

On set I acted the role of a girl fighting/indulging/contemplating her drug addictions. Although I haven't had a ton of experience with acting besides summer plays and funny videos with my friends, this was a great experience. I feel like our group vibes together really well, and I know I've definitely made friends that I'll likely work with again through this project. I'm really lucky and grateful!

-lizzie

Art House Cinema

The subject of art house cinemas always reminds me of Cuba because Castro was apparently (maybe he still is--if the conspiracy theories of his death are false) a big advocator of them. Even though they were often propaganda... ?
sometimes I also connect art houses with traveling shows or one of those old-fashioned wagon medicine men. Touring through cities, but in a "hipster" esque way.. basements, old churches, etc.
When I took 205 with Dr. Palmer, we discussed this concept somewhat; I think what we have at school is the closest thing, besides film festivals. But while festivals are a short period of time, film studies classes take place almost year-round!
I love people who are passionate about things. Even if it's potatoes, I hope they're so passionate, that they want to find the best hybrid of a potato possible. In the matter of this reading, I found a smile on my face when I read the part about the man standing up and demanding for a forum about the movie--even though he hated it! I love it!
It's people like him who get society moving forward. Even though you hate something, you have to lose your ego of "being right" and demand to discuss said thing. Either you or someone else will become enlightened, and hopefully the next step from there would be either revolution or evolution.

Finally, I just want to point out that there's a Parks & Rec episode about this where Leslie accidentally starts a porn shop and has to show cinephilia-esque films at the town hall once a week :)
#parks&recfacts

Collective Filmmaking

As I understand, I went about my presentation in a different way than what I should have done to help understand collective filmmaking, and for that I apologize.

Miranda July was a great believer in joining filmmakers and creating projects in a collective group. Lesser known people would make connections and expand their knowledge by joining with other people.
Kind of like we do! We bounce ideas off of each other, constantly switch roles and get to work with new people for a week or so on another project. In a way, that's a huge part of film school: making connections.
Like Miranda's role in one of her projects, Learning to Love You More (2002-2009), Shannon is the director assigning the individual filmmakers roles. We are the filmmakers completing the assignments, in an "ever-changing series of exhibitions". Although we may not have a book of our work completed (as Miranda did), nor have it projected in museums (also as Miranda had), we share it with each other (and if you're like me, your moms).
A great thing about collective filmmaking is that it totally puts you out of your comfort zone, which is where you probably should be. While it is nice to know what the heck is going on, learning how to adapt to your situation is so much more applicable to life in general. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN. No matter how hard we try to control life, it just doesn't work that way. You can plan a film, or a career goal, but the sole purpose of life is evolution. Therefore, change is inevitable. You will change your mind many times. You will lose sleep and cry and possibly throw up. But, you will constantly meet many people who will collaborate on your perspective of all things about your film/style (and probably even transfer it to your life)! And better yet, some of these collaborators will end up being your greatest friends and alliances in life.

This past week has been eye-opening for me in many radical ways, and although it's incredibly scary, once the shock is gone, breaking down your own guarded walls is a feeling of freedom like no other. This class helps us be free and be okay with our freedom. Be comfortable in your "mistakes", and let the knowledge splash over you!

Shooting on Film

I learned pretty much about everything while shooting on film...

I would really like to take up photography for fun as soon as I can afford the camera that I would like (which might be a while for that dream to happen... lol). Reviewing aperture was refreshing, and learning about a sekonic was really cool! I've always seen behind the scenes footage of it being used, but I never really understood why. I plan on investing in a sekonic as well, someday...

I know that to take it a step further with digital editing, the photographer would overlay all three exposures to get the "most dimensional" photo in the after effects part, but I think that by doing this on film by hand, I can appreciate the skill of a good shot through these efforts:
-a steady hand
-an accurate sekonic reading
-shifting light (unless a night shoot... find ENOUGH light!)
-finding focus
-waiting patiently to see your work
-being satisfied

I think the waiting part was both easy and hard. I wanted to see how the film turned out, but I was afraid that it would not be how I wanted it to--I was worried that I'd be disappointed.

But in the end I was really happy with the knowledge I gained no matter what. I have time to develop these skills, and then someday I'll see them in many different aspects through many different photos of my dog on the wall.
Did we learn in this class about the favorite subject? Typically it used to be of other people, but unfortunately the vain/narcissist generation of today think they are their favorite subject to photograph. aka the "selfie". Mostly because people hate to interact with each other.

Assignment 1B

I learned a lot more about sound editing in part because I am in Intro to Editing... and it just so happened that this assignment was occurring the same week we had to use Lynda for sound design in that class.
So Lynda helped me with the tools of Premiere, but in another sense, I discovered just how much sound happens around me every moment that I don't even realize. On top of that, I learned that geographical distance of sound also plays a huge role in ambient noise, or something as simple as the noise of someone walking away.
I learned that my classmates are über-talented with sound design; especially in making the ordinary into eerie/creepy. So many of the soundscapes sounded like they belonged in a Hitchcock revival!
I especially find the sound of instruments playing backwards, or on repeat to be particularly fascinating. Even when you don't think that two or three sounds would fit together, a way could still be found somehow through editing the sound together...
I learned that sound needs editing so much more than video! There are so many fields to create, whereas with video, what you get is there, and you have to cut and glue what/where the pieces of your mind find them according.
I like rhythms and syncopation, so that was my goal. Each time I attempt to create/visualize/edit anything, I realize more and more that I lean towards music videos. I used to be a dancer, so I think that might be why I enjoy coordination and choreography of the visual elements combined with the audio elements.

This class is turning out differently than I thought it would, and it's even better.

Week 4

I thought that Eliza really set up the semester of presentations very well. Jonas Mekas seems to have begun the fad of vlogging and possibly even the concept of Youtube. Her presentation made me want to search the internships that you had mentioned. It also made my wanderlust for NYC even more painfully prominent.
Billy and Michael kept the ball rolling. I thought it was so interesting to learn more about the earlier experimentalists, because all I really hear about is Man Ray, Maya Deren, and Stan Brakhage. Not that anything is wrong with any of them, but I enjoy learning new perspectives!
I was originally a Studio Art major, so learning about early animations (or animations in general) are a particular interest of mine. In 6x1 this summer, I drew on a film to create a moving fire and fish and trees. It took forever and it lasted about 10 seconds (crying emoji).
Hans Richter's Rhythmus 21 must've been so cool to see premiered. How different than anything else! A little dry now compared to Jacob Black changing into a wolf, but still (only kidding, everyone knows Harry Potter has my affections).
Harry Smith seems like a hoot. I especially loved watching his work and wondering how many drugs, and what kind of drugs he was taking at the time. A 7 (?) hour film... with that crazy plot. Huh. Did he hang out with John, George, Paul, or Ringo?

The Absolute Film article pretty much reminded me of the Disney Fantasia movie from when I was little... I think the last time I watched it was when I was about 4. I hated it. There were no mermaids, no princesses, and nothing I could sing along too. Plus, I was a highly sensitive kid, and remembered there being some kind of conflict occurring--I don't even know if that was actually the case.
Maybe I should re-watch it. I wonder what I would think now....

Sound recording//Synesthesia & Cymatics Discussion

Sound recording was so much fun...
We learned more about each other's personality by hearing what noises they could bring to the table (Eliza has a killer alter-ego voice. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO NAME IT?!). We also heard each other's fake laughs, so now we know when they're being fake.
In all seriousness, it was really fun to connect with people who I've either only talked to on certain occasions, or whom I've never interacted with in my life. Although it's difficult to get together and create a sound library that would be a little creative as well as useful, I think that Billy, Eliza, Kevin, and I collaborated efficiently and timely... the final result was worthwhile, in my opinion, because now everyone in the class can play around with some of the silly recordings we surrendered.


I took 6x1 this summer, and we also watched this video, but I'm glad we watched it again. I feel like I focused more the second time around. Naturally, when I got home from class I went on Facebook (again, naturally), and saw that one of my friends from high school (in Wisconsin) had just posted something similar to the goofy youtube guys we watched! Coincidence? I think not.
Seeing sounds reminds me of people who see certain words in colors. It's fascinating to discover other people's levels of consciousness with the natural world.
Wait, people can see sounds and different colored words, right? Besides the videos with rice/sand forming patterns...? Did I dream that concept?
Anyways, when we watched the videos, and nearly every time I think of sound, my mind goes to two things:
1) Echolocation... batman, bats, blind people, blind mice. Their hearing is off the walls (get it?!), and although I love all of my senses, sometimes I get jealous.
2) The Lizzie McGuire Movie when Paolo and Lizzie are in the rehearsal auditorium. I think of this when I hear "Acousics" as well.

I just saw something on Pinterest about cats feeling vibrations. I wonder if they see sounds, because they always have that overwhelmed/on LSD look on their face...

My parent's cat, Kitty, theoretically seeing sounds

Okay, now I'm sick of going off of this not knowing, so I'm going to research.

Intelligent British Research

So it turns out I didn't know that Synesthesia was "cross-wiring" of all the senses.
I'm going to bed now happy. And you're probably going to bed wondering if I'm sober and sane. The answer is yes and possibly (scatter-brained thoughts are a form of intelligence..?).

The Pin I referred to earlier

-lizzie

(wo)manifesto

Soooo I just realized I never gave a bio... I edited the one that I had as my blogger/google (?) profile, but I'll do another one here I guess.

I am lizzie warfield.
I like listing things off in this way because like many, I really hate describing myself.....
I am originally from Wisconsin.
I am a dog lady.
I love traveling--next will hopefully be either Costa Rica or Thailand.
I used to play the flute in 5th grade, but the one I rented kept on breaking (six times) so I took it as a sign from God (I went to parochial school as well during that time).
I used to play piano, but I hated practicing.
I used to play guitar but then life got in the way.
I practice yoga daily.
I instagram (from now on "IG") daily. (A lot of yoga. A lot.)
I'm afraid that if I skip my morning coffee, I'd die.
I have a Cockapoo named Little Dog. Little Dawg. Lil Dogg. (the spelling is inconclusive yet)
I walk my dog several times around the racine/college acres area, but if you honk and I don't recognize you/your car, there's a good chance I'll possibly flip you off.
I'm a feminist.
Seriously.
I'm a senior Film Major.
I like writing sometimes, but I really love watching foreign films or silent/early American cinema films.
Buñuel, Hitchcock, Scorcese, and Luhrmann films tend to captivate my interest.
I support Lena Dunham in nearly everything she does.
I have no idea what I want to do with my life, but I want to be happy, so I'll just go from there.
Parks & Rec and The Office are my two favorite comedy shows.
Otherwise it's Gossip Girl. Yes. GG.

XOXO
lizzie

The Salon

As some of you may also know, I work in a salon as a Receptionist. I thought this would be the perfect opposite of my other place of hearing...

Pandora station is turned on.. Ben Howard? Alt-J? John Mayer? Lorde? Damien Rice? Florence and the Machines? I don't know..
The coffee maker is brewing and snarling and gurgling
When the stylists arrive I hear:::
laughter. Really enthusiastic laughter :)
blow dryers running along hair on top of a round-brush, and then air dryers drying nothing but air.
faucets running, and then the softening sound of the water head close to a client's scalp
crinkling of aluminum foils as they are folded, and later as they are removed
the wash machine turning and spinning
the dryer clunking and clunking as it lifts the capes and hair towels.
phones ringing
the computer mouse clicks
tapping of the keyboard keys
receipts coming out of the little receipt printer
high heels clicking and clacking around the floor. Sometimes softly, sometimes quickly.
trays being rolled over to the stylists stations
tubes squshing and mixing brushes mixing colors
the door opens and shuts
cabinets open and close

-lizzie

The Studio

As many of my friends, classmates, and everyone who follows me on IG/is a facebook friend knows, I hangout around my local yoga studio quite often.

Here is what I decided to hear at the beginning of meditation on several occasions:

the air conditioning shut off
the fan over by the door is clicking at a fast rate.
the humming of something in the building--perhaps from another space that is rented out
the creaking of floorboards
the door occasionally opening and shutting
occasionally there will also be people talking in the lobby
the teacher tells us to absorb it all
my stomach might growl
someone is breathing really loudly (wait, that's me)
someone is walking across the floor in a soft, unobtrusive demeanor
my waterbottle makes a weird noise if I decide to sip from it. Remember to only sip with music in the background.

-lizzie

Thoughts on Balazs' Article (Sound)

To begin, I love silent films. Especially silent horror films! I think it's because it's about all the horror I can take. Now, I'm not belittling early cinema horror--I just think that Nosferatu has more of a cinema of attractions/I-just-don't-want-to-look-away-from-the-creepiness compared to something with the likes of the Saw saga.

Reading Balazs' short paragraph about the silent film in relation to sound made me consider that maybe it's the way that I'm watching people and reading cards... I don't have to hear their voices, but have the option to make them up in my head, as though they were characters from a novel. Yet, I have a moving image as well as a background noise/symphony (or lack thereof) to provide me with emotional cues when the title cards are scarce.

Which brings me to another point that Balazs' brings to his essay: Silence. I capitalize the S because it is it's own entity. Silence has just as much of a character-like quality as the lead role. 

For me, Silence in a film gives me mostly anxiety. I become disoriented, and await for the moment where Silence leaves, and I'm attacked with Sound. 

As if they were Yin and Yang, an exceptional film contains both Sound and Silence. Even if Silence takes on the role of being in the background of a singular noise (like Balazs' example of a fly), or accentuating the proximity by hearing a singular noise in the far-off distance.

Sound is so cool. Silence is so cool.

Hearing is pretty cool too. 

I overheard two people from class talk about whether or not they would rather be deaf or blind.

Now because of this reading and the assignments (I'm posting them next!), I feel like I hear everything, and relate it back to sound (Echolocation! Bats! Nosferatu!)

-lizzie

Maya Deren

Maya Deren is such a phenomenal pep-talker. Her soliloquy "Amateur v. Professional" makes me feel like it's all do-able, even when deadlines, procrastination, projects/tests, and research become overwhelming.

It reminds me of what my mom always tells me, "do what you love, and the money will follow." This piece reminds me to get back to my root desire--why did I choose film studies? I love movies. I love seeing them in theaters, I love movie nights, I love discussion about how it affects our culture, I love critiquing and analyzing the sound/camera operations... it all thrills me.

So--imitate the old, with your own personal flair. Initiate new concepts so that others can also build off of you. Eventually someone (maybe just yourself?) will find something creating, innovative, and interesting about what you're attempting, and it's those people who we want in our life.

Which brings me back to another cheeseball saying, "be yourself, because everyone is taken."


I'm looking forward to this.

-lizzie

Fred Camper

Fred Camper's thoughts on experimental genre filmmaking makes me question, yet also re-iterates some of the concepts I've learned thus far in film school:

1) The first point of a small collective group/sole filmmaker with a "minuscule budget" could not be more akin with UNCW. We have worked in groups from the very first 201 Production class! And budget? I believe I had once spent $2.00 on a box of gushers to create another sensory dimension to a film, but otherwise it was whatever my group members and I could find around our homes.

2) This confuses me to some point--how do we decide who does what in each group, if we are supposed to kind of be doing them all? Are we all each other's assistants?

3) This just makes sense, because if it was easy to follow, what would be experimental with it? Unless we're talking about the first ever person to use back/forward flash... that would have been experimental for the time, right? Or do I sound like a young punk?

4) This is the part that gets me the most "amped" for class. In 6x1,  painting/scratching on the celluloid felt like arts and crafts, and seeing the projection of it was really interesting. It was rewarding, but also enlightening to try to figure out areas of improvement. It also gave me hands-on actualization of the time it takes to draw animations.

5) If I'm interpreting this correctly, it makes sense as well. Recycling used scenes? Like crowd sourcing from youtube to create something with a new context?

6) I would like to think that it's simply open to interpretation, like a classic book. This particular point made me think about how I tend to skip over author notes/Q&As. If the author wanted something in specific to be known, they should have put it in the published work. It's not fair to criticize a reader's interpretations on a book (or film) if an opposing concept was NOT included. There are no re-dos! Except sometimes there are (Star Wars? Star Trek? The Great Gatsby? How many times are these movies re-done? Star Wars never seems to end...).

-lizzie