We are literally less that a week away from the showing of this documentary... So what's left?
I have a slid rough cut done and finished up, but you better believe that it is not done yet. Even when this showing is done, I will probably edit it 100 more times. What I see already though is that this documentary has a very strong emotional appeal and resonance amongst viewers. I only allowed two people to view it this far; myelf and my character, Brooke. We both ageed that this is a message that hits home with everyone and it truly touches you in one way or another whether it sparks you to join this movement or even feel bad as a human species. (That's a good thing). As of now, it needs a few adjustments. First, I will be spending the next few days really adjusting and tweaking the audio levels so that they are exact across the board with all of the other audio tracks. I really focused on allowing the audio to fade in and out of each scene so there are no rough cuts in the audio. Audio is sooooo important and thankfully I havea few extra days to really polish it. Another adjustement that I plan to make, time permitting, is my own voice overs. When I recorded this, I was very ill with a head cold. All of my voice overs sort of sound like kermit the frog... I plan to re-record them ASAP. Don't worry. The video itself looks strong. Of course I will go through and correct some color adjustments and color depths, but I plan to not touch that too much. With less than a week away, you should consider coming to check my, along with 4 of my classmates, senior documentaries out in Mueller Theatre at Westminster College at 2PM on Saturda the 3rd. Here's a screen grab to hopefully rope you in!
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What's the most important element when it comes to advertising and promoting for a film? That's right! you guessed it; the movie poster along with other graphical elements. A movie poster is used across all social media platforms to help advertise for a production coming up, and I was set on producing a powerful poster. Something that was simple, but it still portrayed the message I was trying to get across. I planned to use a warm color pallete with plenty of white space to really let the center image shine through. To me, a well-done poster really sets the mood and gives a hint as to what is going to happen in the production, but does not truly give it away. My concept was created with this very thinking in mind. As I stated above, I wanted to use plenty of white space so your eye was really drawn to the center attention of the poster. After some experimenting and testing ideas, I came up with a powerful image. The poster begins your eye's journey at the top with a solid, sans serif font for you to read, "What's Behind the Trres". Next you are directed to an image right in the center of the poster. The image is the outline of a tree, but inside the tree is a photo of smoke stacks simply dumping pollution into the air. The tree has a sort of inner shadow to it to really show what is "behind the trees". At the bottom, all of the credits are displayed that it took to create tsi project. Although it is not 100% done, I feel that this poster really relays what the documentary will be about. On a side note, the poster retained some awesome feedback. Many people who commented were fond of the use of white space and the metaphorical meaning behind the graphic. Besides that, many people commented on how the colors make them feel uneasy. Success!
I had another idea of a poster that, upon taking a peer vote, did not win but I decided to show you anyway! My second consultant, Aaron Lee just recently made the move from Costa Rica back to where he lives in Mexico City, continuing to work as a biologist but this did not effect our communication. As Aaron has a knowledge in media arts and productions he stood as more of a "fact checker" for me. Along the process, and with a documentary like this, it is sooooo important that all of the facts stated are correct, credible, and match up with the video. The thought process behind this is, the fin all of the facts I would like to include, write them up in a narraration style format, and send them to Aaron to be approved and agreed upon. As of now, nearly all of my facts are correct. I chose to keep this documentary more personal than factual though so it made his job easy. Aaron actually provided me with a fact sheet about random rainforest facts of species and the destruction. From a technical standpoint, Aaron is a huge fan of a certain sequence I am working on; the reality of Anakin. Aaron served as Anakin's "father" while working at Kids Saving the Rainforest so it really hits home with him. Aaron also agreed that the quality of the film to this point is very strong and professional looking. Stay tuned! We are down to 21 days. The pressure is setting in. There isn't much left to do, but yet there is so much to do. I decided to step back and take a break and share a quick snippet of the footage from my documentary. This snippet does not include the voice over or the music that will exist during this scene. It simply is a visual reference and a puzzle piece to help you connect my vision with yours. Enjoy! We are within a month away from showtime and things are coming together! With the footage in the timeline, the script almost fully developed, and the music and graphics in the works, I feel like I am in good shape. These project are something that we are very passionate about. They are also something that our school and our professors will be proud of, and stand behind us.
On December 3rd, all 5 of the student documentaries will be aired on Westminster's campus. The theatre will be packed, and include parents, students, professors, and spectators from all around. When it comes to my personal cheering section, my family and my actress's (Brooke) family will be present and ready to support. After some digging and searching, I also wanted to invite a professor that I look up to for personal support. Kandice Hartner is an adjunct Media Art professor that has come into the position that she has with a tall task. The Media Art program was destroyed, but she remained to help guide us to the end. She has been invited and will be at the viewing to support, watch, and later critique the project that I have been working on. Unfortunately, neither of my consultants will be able to make it. Aaron Lee lives in Mexico City, and that would be a bit of a drive. Doug Michaels will be on the West Coast shooting for the National Geographic channel during this time. If you are in the area, come see the work that myself and my fellow students have put into our selected video projects on December 3rd at Mueller Theatre! We are closing in on a month before the showing, and it seems to be running smoothly. By my personal critiques and feelings, I THINK that I am on track with where I would like to be. With some blogs under my belt, some ideas as to script development, and a slight "trailer", for-say, done it was time to reach out to my first consultant Doug Michaels.
As a reminder, Doug is a very succesful Media Producer and has recently been putting in work with some big time TV networks such as National Geographic and the Esquire network on the set of "Friday Night Tikes". Honestly, my communication with Doug wasn't as plentiful as I would have wished due to the un-alignement of our schedules but we had to do what we could! Upon running my ideas by Doug, he seemed all on board. As being a world traveler, he completely stood by the topic and the message that I was trying to portray. From a technical standpoint, Doug agreed that I have a stong talent when my hands are on a camera, so he left most of that up to my personal interpretation. There wasn't much that Doug disagreed with as this project progresses, but we will see how the final product fixes his fancy. Stay tuned! |
AuthorDoltyn Snedden Archives
December 2016
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