FINAL PROJECT

FINALS WEEK

This project was probably the most fun one. The shooting process is my favorite part in a production, although editing and putting your work into order is also very fulfilling.
In order to accomplish this Tanya and I thought about an idea that would be relatable to all students at this time of the semester, The Finals. We couldn't find any actors so we were the actors in the project. First we developed the idea of an student having nightmares about a test, but I didn't want to see a person's face because the character represents all students. After the story we developed story boards, with shot by shot, step by step and decided on the kind of props we would need. We developed an story in which we would not need as extra person. Next we decided the location; library, Hunter entrance, hallway, stairs and inside the classroom. It was pretty tricky to shoot it all within the class period, but we did it. We needed two classes to shoot and two classes to finish the edit. For the scene in the classroom, we had to use a tripod, so I could also be on the frame. Apart from the classroom all the other shots were done handheld.
In the editing process, Tanya choose the music and the sound effect, and did the titles while I put the sequence together.  The most interesting part of the shooting process is that, a lot of the shots that ended up in the final cut were accidental, such as the paper ripping after the professor tries to take the test away. Other angles were experimental, but they looked good in the sequence. I also used fades, superimposition of images and sound.  At first I wanted people to find out it was all a dream at the end, but I didn't like the sequence so I added the student falling asleep at the very beginning. We both like the result, because I believe it portrays a little bit the type of stress students go through during finals exams.

EXTRA CREDIT RESEARCH

                                                                 MARA DEREN

She was one of the most important American experimental filmmakers and the promoting of avant-garde in the 40's and 50's. I actually studied her work last semester. She was also very much involved with dance, choreographer, lecturer, photographer, she was also interested in the occult.

Derek believed film to be an art form, made to create an experience. In her films she combined her dance, Haitian Vodou and the surreal to create such experiences along with camera techniques. Deren's films were black and white shorts, using editing, multiple exposures, jump cutting, superimposition, slow-motion and to forth which turned her vision into a stream of consciousness abandoning the physical space and time. Her most influential experimental film was Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), which portrayed a journey through a mythological dream.

Still from Battle of the Algiers 

directed by Gillo Pontecorvo

Gillo Pontecorvo was and Italian filmmaker who won and Oscar for his most famous work The Battle of the Algiers. This was a war film based on the Algerian War against the French government in North Africa. The movie was shot on location, black and white in documentary style type of editing, which is associated with Italian neorealism cinema. The film is on Empire's magazine top list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. It touches on the subject of socio-political controversy and it was only screened in France five years later after its release. 

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso)

directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

This still is from Cinema Paradiso, Tornatore's best known screen work, released in 1988. The film narrates the life of a successful film director who has returned to his native town in Sicily for the funeral of his mentor. The film was worldwide successful and it won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. 

Luiz Bunuel Portoles 

Portoles was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in Spain, Mexico and France. He was considered a revolutionary, leader of avant-garde surrealism. This association with  surrealism movement happened from the 20's to the 70's. His work includes experimental film, documentary, melodrama, satire, musical, erotica, comedy, romance, costume dramas, fantasy, crime film, adventure, and a western. Six of 

Bunuel 's films are included on the top 250 films of all time, and he ranks number 14 on their list of the top 250 directors.