MY LAST POST-- Review of Course? And the Wayne's World Trailer????

Wow what a semester this has been...

Anyways, instead of boring you to death about how much I loved this class, I should probably review something! How about the lessons I learned during the production of this trailer and other projects in general?

This trailer did take a while to make even though we did not finish it all. Through the process of the creation of this trailer, I have learned 5 unique things about the production of a project.

Lesson Number One: Cast The Right Wayne

Many students in my class wanted to be Wayne in this trailer, however, I am so thrilled about the actor we have chosen for such a big role. When I showed the finished project to my family, they all said that Carter played Wayne exceptionally well. His energy poured through into the trailer, always leaving me and anyone else who watches it smiling and laughing along with him. I could not be more happy about this casting decision.

I have learned to always wait until the perfect person for the role presents itself.

Lesson Number Two: Kaitlin Salole is not Meant to be a Director (or a narrator for that matter)

I love media and creating videos, do not get me wrong. I just hate directing people, bossing them around, telling them what to do and when to do it, how loud they have to be and for how long. I do not like controlling people (or at least trying to). I am a much better producer. While editing the footage I captured for the trailer, I felt sorry for everyone because I was so repetitive with what I was saying, "3.... 2.... quiet on set!...1... action!". I felt like I was too bossy and too "in charge". I much prefer to be the one behind the camera listening to somebody else take charge of the shot.

As for being a narrator? No. I cant. I would much rather be a news anchor.

Lesson Number Three: Always Save Your Work as Much as Possible

I CAN NOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH.

SAVE YOUR WORK AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

Why?

This was not the first version of the trailer. My computer crashed in the middle of the first exporting of the file, and without a reason, refused to open up the original trailer.

Just take my word for it and save your work all the time.

Lesson Number Four: Take, Re-Take, Repeat

Fun fact, I took over 150 takes for this trailer that is not even two minutes long. Never underestimate the amount of takes you should take for each scene. Always change up the lighting, the settings on your camera and experiment to see what works best with your project. Get creative with the technicalities of the movie and have fun, after all, thats what it is all about, isn't it?

Lesson Number Five: Have Fun

As I said previously, have with the project you are creating. Have fun from the very beginning. When you are told that you have the chance to work with some of your friends on a movie of your own, have fun brainstorming ideas. Think of the most wild, insane, creative idea that you could possibly imagine and look forwards to having the chance to bring it into reality through film. Write the screenplay. Take your time with the script and have fun imagining what each character is supposed to say and how they will say it. Make your characters come alive within the screenplay. Have fun with it. Have fun with the storyboards for your project. Embrace that inner Hitchcock and pour your heart and soul into the drawings of your characters. Find the right people to work with. Be a team player. Work as hard as everyone else, take a step back and let others run with your ideas for a bit and see where it takes them and your characters. Cast the right people for the role. It may take awhile to find someone who matches the idea of your character in your head, but you will find your actor. But do not limit yourself and close your mind to someone who matches the character completely. If you are feeling risky, cast a fantastic actor who takes the role and adapts it to their own personality and makes the character their own. Sometimes change is good. Have fun with your actors, be patient with them. Not everyone is born a star, but if you work with them long enough and well enough, you can transform them and you will see them evolve into someone completely different (in a good way- trust me) by the end of the project. Have fun with that. Have fun with the filming. Use your storyboards but do not limit yourself to them. Look at the shots you thought of and then have fun coming up with different ones. Take in other peoples opinions too, you will need it. Have fun with that. Have fun with the endless hours of shooting one scene. Try different lighting, different angles, different anything until you get the perfect shot that you have been waiting for. Have fun bonding with your actors and building memories that you will remember forever. Have fun in post production. Have fun importing all of your clips to your project and being the first one to see the raw footage. Remember what this footage looks like before you work your magic and transform it into your masterpiece. Have fun spending hours and hours on your videos, putting off all of your math or chemistry homework so that you can edit a video. Tell your friends that this class is so much more than just an open class and the homework deserves more time than your university level classes because you know that this is so much more valuable to you than math or chemistry ever will be in your future. Its more than homework or a school project, its a life style. Learn from your profs (even if they mock your favourite artists). They know more than you do, so always have fun listening to all of the wacky stories that they have to offer. You will find inspiration in them. Have fun with that. Have fun editing and editing the footage, knocking it down to every last perfect transition between clips. Spend hours finding the perfect song. Once you hear it you will know. Have fun with the nights you lose tons of sleep so that you can do a power edit with coffee by your side because those are the best nights. Have fun showing your friends and family the finished project before you export it because there will always be something that you should change, or a change that has to be made. They have not seen it as many times as you have and fresh eyes and ears always catch mistakes. When you're happy with your project and you know its your best work, find the perfect title. Let it play around in your mind for a few days, have fun waiting and waiting for the perfect title to pop into your mind, it is on its way, trust me. Have fun exporting it and posting it on social media for all of your friends and family to see. Be proud of your work. You did this. You created this wonderful video that you have took the time and effort to make. You have earned all the praise that is coming your way. Have fun showing your family members and your friends. Have fun watching your old work and seeing how far you have come. Have fun and with every single living fibre in your body and experience your film. Make sure that you have expressed yourself through your medium of text because thats important. Almost as important as being happy and having fun with creating videos. Because after all, having fun is the most important part. And if you are not having fun, then what is the point of making the video in the first place?


#FunFactOfTheBlog-- I love making videos. It is as simple as that.


See you all later,

Kaitlin Salole

Blake Shelton Is Not BS!

I have no idea why, but my Media Studies class likes to make fun of Blake Shelton, and yes, I am going to review their wrong and inappropriate comments made targeted at the one and only Blake Shelton. I know that their rude comments towards Blake are actually them denying the ultimate truth- that they wish that they are as awesome as the man himself. Blake Shelton

Let me start off by saying that Blake Shelton is one of the best artists in the world. He is one of the very few artists who show the public their true self instead of hiding behind a mask. Blake is open and is not afraid to tell his audience that he is under the influence of different substances. Surely Blake has to be one of the most proud, gutsy people in the world. I know that I would never have the guts to tell the whole world that I am drunk or high. We must respect Blake for this reason, and I do believe that the involuntary rude remarks made by my classmates are them secretly admitting to the fact that they will never be as brave as Blake Shelton.

My "teacher" Mr. Sir Edwards likes to make rude comments towards
Blake Shelton's songs, saying that they are terrible. Yet, in the mean time, my teacher has previously attempted to create a country song. It did not go so well, and  quite frankly, I am not surprised. The issue here is that my teacher has not been blessed with the awesome talent that Blake Shelton has and uses to make country songs. Blake's songs are not all about trucks, booze and guitars (like my teachers), but they actually have a meaning behind them. Most of Blake Shelton's songs tell a story and have a story behind them. He has deep messages within his songs that have inspired his audience members to live life keeping in mind the lessons he had planted within his songs. Check out one of his biggest hits from his recent album that has a strong positive message!

Click Here! 

I would like to see Mr Edwards write something that impactful.

Obviously, my media class likes to hide behind rude comments towards an individual that they admire and aspire to grow up to be like the one and only Blake Shelton.

Talk to you later,

Kaitlin

#FunFactofTheBlog-- I am extremely tired right now and I have one more post to go up....

Everything Is Shining about The Shining, Well Except One Thing

 The Shining. Well what more can I say? This movie was incredible. In my opinion, all but one aspect of a great movie was achieved throughout Stanley Kubrick’s work of art.

This movie was indeed wonderful. It had an awesome director (that doesn’t even begin to explain how marvellous his work is) that worked so hard on this movie. His dedication from the very beginning of shooting to the end of postproduction remained consistent throughout. The screenplay, written by Diane Johnson and Stanley Kubrick was inspirational. The dialogue was true to the character assigned to it. The setting and the props used in the movie were incredibly detailed (well obviously, it’s a Kubrick film right?). Everything in the movie had to be just right for Kubrick. If something wasn’t right, if one picture was not hung straight, or if a flower was missing from a garden, the production crew would have to re film the entire scene.

Many people would say that this movie was bang on. Every little detail was considered into the making of The Shining. I would have to agree, except, there was one aspect to The Shining that I find questionably wrong almost.

Yes the movie did have an incredible soundtrack, an exciting setting and creative props with a creative director, but I do question one of the casting choices.

Steven King and I have one thing in common. We believe that Shelley Duvall should not have been casted as Wendy Torrance. I absolutely adored every other casting decision Kubrick made. For example, Jack Nicholson was an incredible actor to cast as the lead role. He matched the image of Jack Torrance that I made up in my mind while I was reading the novel. However, Shelley Duvall was not the actress for the role of Wendy. Heck I am almost certain that Danny Lloyd could have played Wendy better than her.

The problem with Shelley is that she seemed almost too weak and too helpless. I know that the character is supposed to be weak and helpless but I feel almost as if Shelley was over-acting and exaggerating everything. And then when she over exaggerated everything and is supposed (notice the word supposed) to be traumatized by her husband’s actions and intentions, she looks like she is quite frankly (and I hate to say this, but) constipated throughout her entire time on camera.  I found myself laughing out loud during the time I should be scared shitless.

IM SORRY FOR THE SWEARING BUT THAT PUN WAS GREAT WASN’T IT?

#FunFactOfTheBlog – I am a pun master

What I do not understand though, is that Stanley Kubrick kept Shelley, even though he hated her. Kubrick hated the way that she acted and knew that her performance was weak. Stanley actually had to taunt and traumatize Shelly to coach her and show her how she is supposed to act in the film.

Anyways, so as you can see, Stanley Kubrick was almost spot on with yet another one of his famous movies, and I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a horror movie that will not be distracted by the poor casting decision.   

Trailer!!

Psycho for Psycho

Psycho is a masterpiece that took the infamous Alfred Hitchcock and his crew 30 days to shoot, edit and produce. Psycho is said to have validated modern horror through its unique filming techniques.

Personally, I cannot get enough of this movie. From its insanely rich backstory, dedication from the director, to the acting provided by all of the cast members this movie will always be one of my favourites.

The effort that the production crew put into Psycho’s technicalities is absolutely phenomenal. The camera angles that Alfred Hitchcock sketched in the storyboards were so unique and fabulous. Anyone who watched Psycho can and will notice all of the hard work Hitchcock put into the shots. One of my favourite scenes in the movie where you can clearly see all of the hard work Hitchcock put into the camera framing is when Norman Bates and Marion Crane are sitting down in the motel lobby getting to know one another.  Throughout this scene, the camera takes turns showing each character individually throughout the painfully awkward conversation they are having. When the camera shows Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins—Perfect casting choice by the way! I never knew a folk singer could act like an insane young fellow as well as Perkins did) it was through an awkward low cantend angle. This gave me a set of un-ease when he appeared on screen as these angles occurred when the audience is just starting to get to know Norman. Now, if the audience members are as crazy as I am and like to analiyse the silly little things like camera angles, they will get an un-easy feeling about Norman Bates and suspicion from the audience members should arise. When the camera focus’ on Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh) the use of level angles conveys to the audience that Marion is a very calm, proper lady. This is just one of the very many times that Alfred Hitchcock uses camera angling to portray his character, well, character.

Alfred Hitchcock knew what he wanted to be in the finished project from the first day of shooting. He knew what everything was going to look like and would not settle because of a no from anyone. He worked as hard as he could and his admirable work and effort he poured into his creation certainly payed off. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys horror movies that have a bit of a twist.

#FunFactOfTheBlog -- When this movie was premiered in the theatres, there was a rule that Alfred Hitchcock enforced for the audience members. That rule is that everyone seeing the movie had to see it from start to end, that means that you could not buy a ticket after the movie had already started showing.

#FunFactOfTheBlog-- (#2) -- After seeing this movie, Walt Disney banned Alfred Hitchcock from Disney World because of (and I quote) "That disgusting film Psycho!"

Guess it just was not Walts cup of tea eh?

Anyways Adios,

Kait


CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRAILER!