Closing Artist Statement

Well it’s the end of the semester; my how time flies. At the start of the semester I never made any type of film or audio projects but through all of the projects and assignments that we were given to complete I was able to produce media I never thought I had the knowledge or skill set to create. I had only wanted to promote works of media not create it. But I had a very enriching experience in the world of film and media throughout the semester. I have always had a passion for film, media, and television; they are the main mediums that represent and tell the story of our culture and society. The media is fast paced and something new is always developing which is perfect for my easily bored disposition. During the course of the semester I was able to work in various parts of the media industry and create work which I am proud of.

Moreover, through the content that I created this semester I was able to finally express some of my hidden creativity and I was able to channel it through different forms of media like my sound interview, short film, and various written blog posts. Through my sound interview I got the privilege of sharing a very personal story of one of my classmates and was able to spotlight the all too common social issue of domestic abuse which she had gone through. I was also able to portray my passion for comedy through the short film that I co-created; which showed a very exaggerated and comedic portrayal of registering for classes at Hunter. Producing these assignments gave me the opportunity to be a legitimate media maker and allowed me to explore some of my interests and passions.

Finally, I am graduating this semester and through the skills and knowledge I gained in Media 160 and my great internship at 20^th Century Fox I can leave college proud with my head held high knowing  I can concur the media industry I so desperately so want to be a part of. I am hoping to use all of the work I created this semester as a beginning portfolio while on my job hunt and I hope to nurture and build what I have already created and add even more of my passions and interests to it. This class was the icing on the cake to my last semester in college and I will use all the skills, knowledge and creativity that has been sparked in me to become a great media professional. #mediamogul

Re-edited Interview

https://soundcloud.com/myrslo76-1/interview-2

Final Project - "The Hunger Games"

For my 160 final project I partnered with Abigail Torres. We worked well together on our sound projects, so I was happy we got to work on our video project together. For this project our strategy was to evenly split the tasks. In pre-production Abigail wrote the script and treatment and I used my armature cinematography skills to draw the storyboard. After we got our concept down it was too late to find an actor to be in the film so we decide that I should play the actor. I put the skills from the one acting class I ever took to good use. Since I would be busy acting Abigail directed and shot any scenes that I was in and I shot the detail and environment shots. We also split tasks in post-production; Abigail edited the shots and I came up with the music and sound effects that is used throughout the film.

 Our short film is called the Hunter Games, the title obviously a play on the Hollywood Blockbuster the Hunger Games. We wanted to portray a funny and overdramatic story of something boring and mundane as registering for classes at Hunter. We also wanted to dramatize the issues that Hunter students face with registration every semester. I am featured as the frustrated Hunter student running around campus trying to register for classes before the deadline. Abigail is featured as an extra in one of the shots; Kind of like Stan Lee in every Marvel movie. This film is funny, overdramatic, and a situation that every Hunter student can easily relate to. I am proud of what Abigail and me put together and I want to give special thanks to Flonia for all the help and encouragement along the way.

Thank You and Enjoy!

Tribeca Film Festival

A few weeks ago I went to the Tribeca Film Festival. This event is an extremely popular event founded by Robert De Niro and has become a New York City staple. I always wanted to attend this festival but I either wasn’t in New York or other plans came up at the time. However, this year I was determined to go. Especially since I’m taking 160 which is a film class and since I’m interning at 20^th Century Fox Film, I felt this was the most appropriate time in my life to have an enriching film experience. While at Tribeca I went to see a showing of a documentary called A Faster Horse at The Regal Cinema in Battery Park in the heart of the festival. The theatre itself was beautiful and had such intricate architecture that isn’t found in most movie theatres in New York. It was the perfect location for such a huge artistic event such as Tribeca. I even suggested to my colleagues at my internship that we use that space for future film screenings.

A Faster Horse is about the making of the new 2015 Mustang car. I dragged along a friend and former class mate who is a documentary concentration at Hunter and he suggested this film. This film opened my eyes to something new; which is what I look for in a good film. To me a good film broadens my horizons and shows me a slice of life that I was never aware of before. The film had a very dramatic feel to it and it shows the long strenuous process that goes into making just one model of a car. I never realized how serious the making of a car was. I mean the car literally has to be made perfectly or it can put thousands of lives at risk. This documentary also shows the surprisingly large Mustang fan community who treats the Mustang as if it is a celebrity or a sports team; they have their own conventions and everything.  One of the Mustang fans featured in the film sat in the same showing I was in and she would shriek every time she appeared in a scene; that was so funny. This film turned something like the making of a car that most people don’t even think about into something dramatic and exciting. It gave me a new found appreciation for documentary film style. I really enjoyed my experience at Tribeca and I hope to go back every single year.

MOMI Trip

 This class trip was my first time visiting MOMI. I never even knew it existed before we were told about it in class. I always like to take any opportunity to learn about film and television so I was pleasantly surprised to find out the class was going to this museum. Going to MOMI was a great way for us to learn about film and television in a fun and interactive way. The demos that we participated in correlated to everything that we are learning in lecture in regards to sound effects and music; but going to MOMI took our lessons a step further and allowed the class to see how sound effects are used up close.

In my group we first went to see the demo where the tour guide showed us a clip from the movie Vertigo. I am not familiar with this movie but the clip came from a scene were a woman is looking at a painting and a man is standing a few feet behind her staring at her intensely. We watched the clip a few times and each time a different song played in the background and the tour guide had the group guess which song matched the scene the best. It was really interesting to see how each song evoked a different feeling in the scene and it shows how important music is in a film; the wrong song can throw off an entire scene.

The next demo my group went to was really fun. In this demo the guide showed us a clip from the classic cartoon the Simpsons to show us how sound effects work and how to properly use them. This clip is from a scene where Lisa is nervously taking a test and all the characters in the classroom is silent and we can only hear the sounds of the environment around her. This demo was somewhat of a game in that our group had to go through a list of sound effects and pick the best sounds to match the environment around Lisa like the sound of her furiously erasing an answer, her heart beating, the lights flickering, the clock ticking, a boy outside jumping on a pogo stick, and Milhouse flirtatiously raising his eye brows at Lisa- this one always got a big laugh. Some of the sounds that were used were a baby crying to make the sound of the pogo sick and the roar of a cheetah to make the sound of the eraser. These seem like odd choices for the object they were used for but it actually matched perfectly with the object.

In the last demo my group visited at MOMI we learned about foley and editing. Like the other demos our guide showed us a clip, the clip in this demo was from the movie Titanic. This clip was of the famous sinking of the Titanic ship. The tour guide shared with us the many different sounds that were use to make the ship sinking sound realistic. Like in the Simpsons demo many unlikely sounds were used but it worked in the scene. For example, the sound of a rifle was used when the ships ropes snapped, a lions roar played backward was used in sync with a sink draining to create the sound of water being sucked into the ship, and the sound of an elephant was used the create the sound of a tower falling. It was so fascinating to find this out since I watched Titanic many times and never knew that foley was used to make these sounds. Also, a fun fact that the tour guide shared with the group is that the actors voices were edited into the sinking scene after the scene was shot because there was too much going on for the camera to pick up the actors voices.

I learned a lot of useful tid bits about film, television, sound effects, music, and foley. I'm really glad I got to find out about MOMI and had the experience to learn all that I learned. I enjoyed MOMI so much that I went back the next day with a friend to visit the Mad Men exhibit that recently opened up; and I'm sure I'll be taking a lot more trips back to MOMI in the near future.

Relationships Between Shots

Scene Clip

The scene that I will be examining is a scene from my all time favorite movie – Mrs. Doubtfire. The scene that I examined is the part of the film where Robin Williams character gets transformed into a woman; this scene is hilarious! I believe the editing techniques that the film makers used helped to make this scene funny for audiences. This scene is broken up into different shots; each shot shows the progression of Robins transformation into a woman. The first few shots are close ups of Robin's face where we can see the different looks he tries out. Using close ups through out the process is great because the audience gets to see the transformation clearly.

Also, there isn't a whole lot of sound effects and Foley used in this scene so the background music that was used helped to create a different mood in each of Robin's transformation looks. Each look matched the music being played. For example, in Robins first look he plays a spicy Latin woman so the there is lively calypso music being played in that shot. In Robin's next look he plays an old Jewish looking woman, during this shot the audience can hear old Yiddish music playing. Next, in one of Robins last looks he plays a woman who looks strikingly similar to Barbra Streisand so in this shot we hear music that can be heard in a Broadway orchestra which matches perfectly with the Streisand song Robin breaks out and sings while he is in this look. In the last shots Robin transforms into his final look; while this transformation is being made we hear the Frank Sinatra song Luck be a Lady, adding this song in the scene is perfect because Robin is being transformed into a “Lady” as the song is being played. It's also important to point out that at the start of each shot where Robin is being transformed the camera pans up to a close up of Robins face or Robin turns to the camera to reveal his look. Making a reveal like this adds some suspense to what crazy look Robin is going to appear in next and adds to the shock and entertainment value that this scene gives to the audience.

Mrs. Doubtfire is one of the funniest movies of all time and this scene is indicative of how funny the rest of the movie is; and it's all thanks to the editing.

Inteview

https://soundcloud.com/myrslo76-1/media-160-interview