student project

D

dvxgary

New member
this is just my student project for my class

we were supposed to be working on it for 4 weeks but i didnt even start till the night b4 it was due
yes i procrastinate alot
this was done in about 4 hours

comments
suggestions?
would be great

http://www.vimeo.com/2507313
 
If you hate AE so much that you can't bring yourself to even sit in front of it until the last possible second then perhaps you should pick something you actually like.

Eric Chauvin had to practically have his fingers pryed from his workstation so he'd go home and get some sleep once in a while. But then, Eric is one of the best and he still spends every second he can improving himself.
 
naw son its not like that
im on AE everyday or watching tutorials
thanks for putting words in my mouth but
just the class was really boring bc he tryed to make us do alot of cheesy stuff that wasnt what i was in too
 
dvxgary said:
just the class was really boring bc he tryed to make us do alot of cheesy stuff that wasnt what i was in too
Click to expand...

Maybe in that really "boring" and "cheesy stuff" there were lessons to be had. Most teachers never teach with what are considered "cool" projects, but the skills learned are what's important, not necessarily the final output.

As to critique your project, well, I can clearly see you didn't put any time or thought into it. I'm pretty much bored right off the bat. There's no logical reason for having your video play out within a film contact sheet. On top of that it's Ilford FP4 Plus, black and white film, yet your video plays out in color. Granted you have all the stills in b&w, but there's just no conceptual connection there. Your use of a 4 color gradient background and a heavy vignette has no real reason to be there except that you thought it looked cool and it's used all the time. On top of all that, you use fonts that do not compliment each other, and the motion tracked font is akin to Comic Sans and Curls in it's immaturity and complete lack of relevance to the subject matter.

As far as technical, your motion tracking slides all over the place and is poorly done. You have completely linear camera moves with no easing. Your time remapping suffers from the same problem. The camera motion bores me and isn't dynamic at all.

Overall, it's clear you only spent 4 hours on this, but you could have spent 3 of those 4 making at least one part really good, but you used it to make the entire piece mediocre and forgettable.
 
dvxgary said:
this is just my student project for my class

we were supposed to be working on it for 4 weeks but i didnt even start till the night b4 it was due
yes i procrastinate alot
this was done in about 4 hours

comments
suggestions?
would be great

http://www.vimeo.com/2507313
Click to expand...

Initially I liked the proofsheet idea... but the pacing of the movements, etc., seemed 'slow' for a 'skateboard' type presentation. For 'sports', I do like the rather agressive style of quick motion, clipped cuts, etc.

So the movement from one proofsheet frame to another could be quickened... and perhaps a few slow mo deals, but also some time ramping (available in AE...), to 'faster' than realtime as well. For example, there' sa shot of a skatboarder who falls. I could see the lead up to the fall in 'hyperspeed' time, then slomo for the fall along with frame blending enhance the emotional 'time'...

Which seem to be in vogue currently.
 
oneinfiniteloop said:
As to critique your project, well, I can clearly see you didn't put any time or thought into it. I'm pretty much bored right off the bat. There's no logical reason for having your video play out within a film contact sheet. On top of that it's Ilford FP4 Plus, black and white film, yet your video plays out in color. Granted you have all the stills in b&w, but there's just no conceptual connection there. .
Click to expand...

i understand that contact sheets are for photos
but i contact sheet is a reference of the film that you have shot
so thats what i was trying to do with video ,show some of the footage i shot as a refrence
so there was a thought there.
maybe it wasnt a full thought but there was one
 
dvxgary said:
i understand that contact sheets are for photos
but i contact sheet is a reference of the film that you have shot
so thats what i was trying to do with video ,show some of the footage i shot as a refrence
so there was a thought there.
maybe it wasnt a full thought but there was one
Click to expand...

I'm a 'student' too... just old...

One of my observations on taking classes is how different things seem to me now, viewing 'young' students, than when I was a 'young' student... Late 60's early 70's... There were classes that were boring, that students tried desperately to put off taking or only show up enough to get a grade... usually Math and English were such classes.

There were at the time, few 'film production' oriented classes. The expense of film just was too prohibitive for most schools outside of the industry standards, to support a real 'film' department. The school that I did get a BA from did not have a 'film' department so much as a Television department... which never thrilled me at all...

But when I visited friends at UCLA or San Francisco State, two schools with active film departments... most of the students were spending as much time 'making films', learning how to manage the technical requirements... heck even dropping out to 'make real films'... or porn... but that would be better than things now... or at least staying up till dawn smoking cigarettes drinking coffee, talking 'film'...

Fast forward 35 years or so...

I took a film production class this last semester... it's like herding cats trying to get a quorum of students to work on a film, not just 'my' film, any film. Talk about 'film'... you got to be kidding... maybe it's the lack of smoking cigarettes...

I actually 'audited' the class, it was due to an administrative thing... but I digress... the point is, I didn't have to take tests, didn't really have to show up for class... didn't have to hand in projects... etc... the others in the class I would imagine were there for the grade... can I be blunt... there was a large drop out rate... my project, with the help of a few other students was handed in, and was complete... sure one could spend more time, do some reshoots, etc... but it was complete... title, music, credits, some audio processing, some sound design, etc...

The other projects... well, someone sort of 'threw' something together the night before, and sort of cut things together... sort of... another group had a little bit more done, but still had to 'explain' that well, this or that shot which gave better clues about the 'story', well, just didn't get the actors together to get those shots done, and the music they used, was performed by someone who acquired it via a mic on his computer... about the last 3 minutes of which had computer fan noise that sounded like a landing aircraft... One project the shooter for the b-roll took off with the footage and disappeared, and neeless to say, didn't give the tapes up to anyone else on the project...

This is not 'college', even for a 'junior college'... this is Kindergarten... I have no idea how the instructor could make any 'positive' comments, she did despite the apparently lack of effort/ability/evenremotedesiretodosomethinggood that was demostrated...

Anyway... this is a rant... but the point is I am very disappointed with the level of effort on the part of 'students' that I have interacted with over the last 10 years or so of sitting in on various college classes. About the only class participation that I've been 'impressed' with is at the grad level... and unfortunately in my area there are no 'grad' level film production classes...

It is as if 'highschool' behavior and attitudes have extended into the first 4 years of college...
 
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I know exactly what you are saying. It is the honest truth that the once expensive and exclusive art of film was only pursued by the ambitious and passionate. Those individuals still live on today, but the film/tv/media world has shifted becoming more inclusive, abundant, and accessible. Now almost every university/college has some sort of program.

You will see many who pursue this field of work with the lacking drive and ambition. I felt the same way about my film school, yet I was the same age. Not with your perspective of the past. I would look around and wonder how some students got where I was when they lacked every ounce of drive and passion I had.

BUT in all fairness. I was one of those kids at times. Many times I would shoot something the night before, or edit the night before and hand it in last min. Sometimes I wouldn't even turn a film in. I just wouldn't do the project.

But do you know why>? Most of the time I was busy shooting other films, learning, traveling with productions and etc. To the unaware observer... I looked like a slacker. Someone who lacked all ambition to learn. The reality was that I would rather skip a trivial class exercise or assignment, if a real short film, or production opportunity arose.

So as you are making a very good and accurate observation about the sad apathy which is arise in film programs... don't dismiss them all. Some of them may not be handing in their class assignment/project because they spent all weekend shooting a self motivated short film for a contest or festival.

As far as graduate students go. From what I can tell, their drive and ambition is usually higher but the talent is about the same.
 
drk3p said:
'Enough' with the 'air' quotes, 'please'? lol
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Actually, air quotes are when you use your fingers when you're speaking to someone...so...they're not air quotes in this case.

Ryan, I think that's a good observation...as a student also, I have learned this the hard way. When you are always putting in effort on your own projects, you sometimes leave the "less interesting" (oh yes, more quotation marks) stuff to the last minute.

BUT...I have learned from watching others that the patterns one sets in their educational career will carry on into the future: those who are motivated stay motivated. Those who are always missing class are always missing work. Those who do not take their responsibilities seriously in the classroom and are too interested in what they WANT rather than in what they OWE to others will be that way in the workplace also. We have all had jobs that required something of us we didn't like. Hopefully, we learned to just shut up and do it. Otherwise, we usually had to find a new job.

This generation is expanding the gap between our sense of entitlement and what responsibilites we see for ourselves. Society will ultimatley feel the impact of this.

Just a few lessons from my side of the teacher's podium...
 
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