My film is about a man whose first video camera breaks. He relives all his old memories through the home movies and his first films that the broken camera captured years ago. I filmed in my grandmother’s ancient basement to give the film an old fashion feel. I also used my father and cousin as actors because I didn’t have access to real actors, and they suited the roles well. I actually destroyed the camera in the film. It was an already broken camera i used in middle school and 9th grade to shoot my own films so I thought it was fitting. As a matter of fact, I have the shattered camera sitting in my dorm room. All of the “home movie” footage is actually my family’s. Luckily the old tapes were converted to DVD’s several years ago so i just ripped the discs to get all the old footage. Overall, I am happy with the film. I also can’t wait to show my family all our old footage and see how we’ve all grown up so much.
Foundations Project Proposal
Concept Narrative
In one sentence, my film is about an old camera breaking and showing the old footage that was on it. In the first scene, a dad asks his son, Danny, to go get the family camera from the office to shoot the family Easter Egg Hunt. The opening shot will be a close up of the camera sitting on a shelf in the office. Maybe one or two other objects will be sitting next to the camera. All of the dialogue between the father and the son can be heard in the distance. Eventually, the son will make his way to the camera and pick it up off the shelf. Unfortunately, it slips out of his hands and crashes to the floor shattering. With any luck I will be able to shoot this at 60fps and slow it down slightly in Final Cut Pro 7. The father, hearing the crash, comes into the office to see what happened. He is devastated to see what happened. The son apologizes, but it takes the father a second to come to grips with what happened. He accepts his son’s apology as he picks up the camera to give it a look over. It is truly broken beyond repair. Although sad, the father tells his son to go get ready with his sister while he cleans up the mess. Danny leaves and the father continues scrutinize the camera. He opens the viewfinder and slowly brings it to his eye. A point of view shot will bring us into the world of the camera through the viewfinder. The old footage that the camera captured from years past is now on screen. For a few seconds, we can see what look like cracks on the screen from the broken viewfinder but they quickly fade as the old footage takes over the film.
The footage is of old family home videos. Events like weddings, childhood memories, and school performances are all shown. Eventually, within the old footage, a small boy takes over the camera on Easter morning 2003. He starts to make short movies with his friends and brother. Eventually it is revealed that the dad in real life is the boy from the old footage and that the broken camera is his original movie camera that got him into filmmaking.
Now for the logistics. I am going to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving break along with most of my extending family. There I will film the short opening scene using one of my younger cousins and one of my uncle’s for the actors. I will also have my parents bring fly up all our old home movie footage that has been transferred to DVDs. The way I will get all the old footage for the film is by using some of my family’s old movie footage. Also, I actually took over my family’s old video camera when I was a child so I can also use all my old movies from way back when to use as the ones in he film.
For editing, I will edit together the footage I shot with the old home video footage (most of which I would have shot from a decade ago) for the film in Final Cut Pro 7. I will color grade in Apple’s Color 1.5 and I will add glitchy/old footage affects to some of the old footage in Final Cut. I will find an instrumental song to use to when the old footage is playing.
I am guessing this film will be between 3-4 minutes.
Script
INT. OFFICE
A CU of a camera on a shelf fades in along with dialogue of a father asking his son to retrieve that camera. The shot holds as the child runs up to the camera and picks it up off the shelf.
DAD
Ok so do you want to film the Easter
Egg hunt again this year.
DANNY
Yeah yeah
DAD
Ok how about you go get it while I set up.
DANNY
Is it in the office.
DAD
Yup.
DANNY
Where is… Oh I…
Danny picks up the camera and pulls it out of frame. However, it slips out of his hands and crashes on the floor. He gasps and the dad walks in wondering what all the noise was.
DAD
Danny what has th…
He exhales in disbelief and slowly walks up to it. Danny stands shocked in horror.
DANNY
I’m so sorry dad.
There is a short silence as the dad picks up the broken camera and stares at it.
DAD
No its ok Danny. How about you go
get ready with your sister.
DANNY
Ok. Sorry dad.
Danny walks out of the room. The dad stays and looks over his old camera. He dusts it off and opens the viewfinder. He looks through it as we are transported back into his old footage. The old camera’s footage plays in full screen. It consists of old home videos: weddings, family reunions, school performances, and other footage of young families starting. Eventually, a young boy picks up the camera and walks around his house with it. Next, he starts to make home made short movies with his friends and bother. Eventually it is found out that the boy making the videos in the camera footage is the dad, and the film ends.
Storyboards
Foundations Soundscapes Project
“The Big Idea”
My soundscape is the audio and foley for a mock scene in which a man enters his room, tries to draw out an idea, fails multiple times, and finally achieves his goal. In his many failed attempts, the man gets frustrated. Eventually, he pulls through and creates the art he wanted to create.
Description: In the beginning, the man enters his room, takes off his back pack and retrieves a notebook from it. He then opens it, takes writing utensils from his desk, and starts drawing. Upset with his first several drawings, he rips them out, crumples them, and throws them away. After many attempts, he finally succeeds in drawing out his “big idea” and is thoroughly satisfied.
Evaluation: I would evaluated this scene as one in which the man’s anger is overpowered by his drive to accomplish his goal. After so many failures he could have given up and walked away, but he stayed committed and followed through. I think his perseverance is more powerful than his urge to quit.
Interpretation: I interpreted this scene as one in which the man becomes angry. The “montage” of the paper getting ripped out and crumpled shows his true anger. I think that with the last paper being ripped out but not crumpled shows that he finally accomplished his goal.
Relation: This scene reminds me of a scene from Wallace and Gromit A Grand Day Out. In the scene, Wallace goes into his basement to draw out plans for a spacecraft to go to the moon. He too, after several frustrating failures, finally comes up with a usable design.
Theorization: According to Freud psychoanalytic theory, if someone is hungry, they will picture food in their mind. I believe, while this man was trouble and almost quit, he pictured his final piece in his head. This driving force is powerful enough to accomplish goals. Freud also believed that much of human behavior was motivated by the life instincts and death instincts. For example, the man in this scene is driven to accomplish his goal by the want to achieve success for the pleasure of it and the fear of failure.
Foundations Montage Project
My project is my own take on the opening sequence for the british car show Top Gear. My friends and I were a bit ambitious last summer and tried to make an entire one hour episode with our own suburban twist. Unfortunately, all we ended up doing was shooting a lot of cool shots of cars driving and never finishing anything. So, once I learned that for this project you could use old footage, I had the idea of turning the old shots, plus the Top Gear theme song, into what would have been the opening sequence for our version of Top Gear. Side note: I included a side by side comparison at the end of my video of the two opening sequences just for comparison if you have not seen the original. I feel my project is self contained, but the extra knowledge could be add to the experience, I suppose.
I am going to try to critique myself without sounding pompous.
Description: This video stylistically combines original shots of cars driving with footage from an episode of Top Gear to recreate Top Gear’s opening sequence. It contains the song Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band and graphics of gears spinning from Top Gear. Multiple shots of cars driving quickly, turning hard, and following the camera car are shown on the screen at once in a geometric fashion. The aspect ratio of some shots are not the standard 16:9 but more squarish or even wider rectangles. The shots cut to the beat of the fast paced rock song.
Evaluation: As far as replicating the original opening sequence, I strayed a little from it. For most of the times when there are multiple shots on screen, I changed the geometric placement of my shots; however, the cuts for all of the shots are on the same beats in the music as they are in the original. Obviously, I shot all of the car shots, but I used the graphics of the gears spinning, the footage and voiceover of the description of the episode, the opening shot in the studio, and the song from the original sequence.
Interpretation: I interpreted this opening sequence as that being for a fast paced, down to earth, manly car show. The fast cuts imply the need for speed, and the grittiness of the shots (shakycam or fast camera movements) implies the realism of fast racing. The manly rock song is a beckoning to the good old day of hard rock and fast, loud muscle cars.
Relation: The relation of my video is clearly to the original Top Gear opening sequence. I tried to copy the style of showing multiple shots on the screen at once, but at the same time give it my own twist by switching the geometric placement of the multi-shot sequences.
Theorization: If I were to see this video for the first time without having made it, judging by the title I would guess that it was made for a show that had a great deal to do with cars. The name “Top Gear” even implies top speed because you need to be in your highest gear to go top speed. The show I would assume have something to do with driving quickly, aggressively, and loudly. However, the opening sequence does not give you the best idea of what the show is about completely, however I think this is true for most every show. There are too few seconds to explain too many minute facts.
Foundations Sequence, Time, & Space Project
My film is about a freshman’s struggle to start college. Going in with high hopes and a good spirit, he his quickly overwhelmed with work, and his inability to conquer the new tasks shows. Eventually, he finds new friends who help him back on his feet. With some studying, hard work, and laughs, he fights back and is able to live on his own at school effectively.
I employed several different techniques to tell the story. For the hall shots, the amount of light dictates the mood the student is in. Bright, well lit hallways make for a fun, energetic student. Conversely, pockets of darkness cause signs of weakness for the student. Another trick I used was to really focus on the facial expressions of the student. Ear to ear smiles fill the screen in moments of triumph while wider shots and turned faces are used in shots to convey doubt in the student. Finally, the color scheme of the film changes over the course of the students journey. At first, bright, inviting yellow toned images bring a sense of security and happiness to the student. But, when he starts to slip, low key, pale blue lighting is used to convey sadness and loss of drive.
Music: Dead Island Theme composed by Giles Lamb
Foundations Semiotics Project
Signifier: The writing on the mirror.
Signified: The writing conveys the man’s true feelings about himself.
Context: Because the writing is not on him, the man feels even more distant from society and weaker as an individual.
Signifier: The cop staring at the young hoodlum.
Signified: The cop feels poorly about society. His scowl clearly shows his dislike of the new generation.
Context: Being from another generation, particularly a more strict and morally upholding one (probably a baby boomer growing up with 1950’s ideology), the cop is genuinely disgusted.
Signifier: Both the cigarette smoke and the smoke from the industrial factory.
Signified: Both types of smoke cause harm to the body and the environment respectively.
Context: Both types of smoke are seen by the majority of society as problamatic issues that should be eradicated. Typically, these acts are met with disapproval.
Signifier: The crowd smoking marijuana at Hemp Fest.
Signified: The crowd symbolizes the ongoing battle between marijuana users and the government about the legalization of marijuana.
Context: In the current situation, the war on drugs is really heating up. These protesters will do whatever it takes to win their battle.
Signifier: The car in the distance shining its headlights.
Signified: The car represents me entering a new stage of my life. Gone is everything I knew as I approach the future with my eyes forward on the lookout for whatever may come.
Context: Because everything is new to me, including Boston, my eyes are as wide open as a baby’s; approaching graduation from a distance, I have a long way to go.
Nathan Carolan 