Location Scouting County Grounds

Our first Imagine MKE project is going to be about the County Grounds so we wandered through the woods looking for the things that make the area cool and visual.

Here are my best guesses on where all the pictures were taken. Along with a note about parking and where to pick up the path into the woods.

Playing with a new toy

It's not mine, it's from work, but if I'm meant to be teaching it to the students then I'd better be pretty good at it myself, right? Also it's fun.

It's called a Ronin and it's a gimbal stabilizer. I think it probably works better with two people, because it comes with a remote so that you can force what direction it looks.

Movies I've seen over winter break

I try to catch up a bit when we're on break. I wonder if I can even remember them all.

Philomena
American Hustle
42 (rented)
The Hobbit (twice)
12 Years a Slave
The Book Thief

Also lots of Downton Abbey, Sherlock, and the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Good teaching means caring

I just met for a few minutes with my Cinematography professor and it reminded me just how much of a fantastic teacher John is. I gush about Debbie a lot because I find what I do for her particularly challenging so I would never get through without her guidance and encouragement. What strikes me about John is how much he cares about his students.

The views from above and below the line.

The Line, in movie making terms, is the line between creative people and craft people. You are "creative" if you've got a job like writer, producer, director, director of photography, production designer, actor. These are all creative decision-makers. You are "craft" if you have a job like Gaffer, Key Grip, Set Dresser, Prop Master, Assistant Camera, or any of the legions of worker bees in each of those departments.

Interesting and somewhat random things I've read

I'm reading a lot today. I have my exam for Line Producing on Tuesday so I'm trying to catch up on all the handouts for that class. At least I've got all the textbook stuff read. I also have a pile of reading for Adaptations: two sets of stories for workshops, plus a film that Debbie is going to talk about. Some interesting stuff is floating to the surface though, so here are a few quotes and ideas.

Night Shoot

So tonight was the big class night shoot for my cinematography class. It's slightly odd being the TA because I wanted to just jump in and do things and had to hold back so that the current kids get the chance to do things. It went very well for them, but the sound is going to be awful. There were endless helicopters. It seems like every media outlet has brought their own to cover the game, or maybe the anticipated craziness after. Some of the kids were talking about wanting to go out after the game to join the action. And one kid had checked out a camera and was "getting ready for the riots." It's the downside of being in a media program. They all want to get the story and I worry that they might get themselves hurt.

Not a new thought, but well said

I should be moved on to A Single Man by now for my Adaptations class, but I'm still lingering on Shawshank Redemption because a) I like that movie a lot, and b) there is so much good bonus material. I'm listening to the director's commentary and he's talking about a scene in the mess hall about half way through the film. There are a lot of people talking, but he didn't have a lot of time to shoot it. So rather than shoot each individual who speaks they did a long drifting take that slowly moves in to just the two main characters.

"I thought that was such an elegant solution. And not just a great concession to the amount of time I had to shoot it, but also just a more positive creative solution. Sometimes when you have to make those decisions under duress you wind up doing more elegant things than you would have otherwise if you had all the time in the world to shoot it. And I have Roger Deakins [the DP] to thank for that lesson. It was a wonderful learning experience working with him." -- Frank Darabont (writer/director)

When casually watching you won't even notice that shot. If anything you'll notice that it starts with a lot of people talking, but when it gets to the heart of the matter and it's really just the two of them you will only see the two of them and you see them up close to really get into their eyes and their hearts. But probably most of you won't even notice that, you'll just be caught up in the story. Even I didn't notice it until it was pointed out. But once he said it I thought, oh, that was beautiful.

When you're shooting a film you have to sit down and make decisions for every image that people are going to see. To be so elegant that nobody sees the effort you put into it is really the goal.

Trying to keep my energy up

I knew this was going to be a difficult week, and it is. I had a long day of shooting on Sunday, a long night of shooting Monday. Then up early for meetings Tuesday morning and then class Tuesday night. Up early for class on Wednesday and all the stress that day entailed when my actress sent me an email at 9am saying she had a fever and wouldn't be able to make it. Though in the end Wednesday went very well. I found a last minute replacement actress who did a fine job, our group presentation in Thesis Prep and the discussion that ensued was really interesting. The shoot for Cinematography went well enough that I got an email from John the next morning saying good job. And there was a potential incoming grad student who was sitting in on that class who I sat and talked with for a while after. She was nice, I hope she comes next year.

How to Pass a Test

I have done more writing in this production program than I ever expected. Here's the up side: I seem to be getting better and faster at it.

Director vs Director of Photography

So this question got posed in my earlier post about the lack of women cinematographers:

hate to sound naive but... whats the difference between cinematographer and director? 

And answering it will also give me the chance to talk about my 4th class which I haven't mentioned yet which is Advanced Directing. I find it kind of entertaining that they call it Advanced Directing since none of us have had beginning directing. Unless they count all the stumbling around self taught directing that we've all done on our films so far.

Monet or Degas?

For Cinematography we have an assignment to go to the Museum of Fine Arts, select a painting with a landscape orientation (so similar to how our cameras shoot) and then do a 1 page write up about what you see that's interesting and why you picked it - a clinical look and a personal look.

I found it entertaining to wander around the MFA this morning for homework. I had a really hard time picking though. I managed to only take pictures of 7 paintings (we have to have a copy of the painting along with the write up). And now I've narrowed it down to 2.

where are the women?

For Cinematography we are going to have to do a report on a cinematographer of our choice. As I'm not the kind of person to memorize crew names of films, I don't really know any apart from Haskell Wexler from last term's film studies presentation. So I've arbitrarily decided I want to pick an American woman working in fiction film. WHY ARE THEY SO HARD TO FIND?

And we're back

First day of classes. I woke up to snow. I love snow in theory. I don't so much like it when I'm biking to campus. Fortunately the roads were clear enough (Mom), but the freezing rain stinging my eyes was unpleasant. But I am happy to report that my waterproof pants and my waterproof boots held up well so I think I'm actually ready for the winter. And I'd still rather have a cold winter than a hot summer.

But anyway, classes. It was good to see the fellas this morning. Everyone seemed refreshed, happy, and ready to go. I know I am. I think we all took a look at what's on the line up for the next few months and thought this is going to be fun, let's have at it.