Schedule's Up!

We finally got the schedule for when we'll be directing our D1 film. What that's told me is that it's very, very close. And I don't know whether to be really excited or really nervous. Excited, I think. I watched some of the D1 movies from last year, and they were pretty good. But they didn't intimidate me. So that's a start.

Anyway, turns out I direct my film the first week of production, on October 21, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it should be the most stressful job, and I can get it over with. Bad because everyone's going to be just starting out, including myself. So both. But at least I know. We meet our actors tomorrow and Monday, and I think we get to pick out scripts soon. I have my fingers crossed for a good thriller or mystery to pick from, because I really want to direct a film noir.

I had editing today, and our actual professor started teaching us. Until now, we've had this other guy who may be a TA or just a BFA professor, I'm not sure. Anyway, our professor, April, is extremely cool and has this magnetic personality. And she knows a lot about editing. She has an experimental documentary at the NY Film Festival. 

We learned how to do J and L cuts, which are cuts where you bring in sound or dialogue before the previous scene is over. They're used a lot in arguments and other situations, and you can make it seem like people are interrupting each other. It's a little hard to explain here, but I'll try.

So, an L cut is when you have a clip of someone yelling at someone else, and you play that sound footage while the image of the other person plays over it (a reaction shot, perhaps). The previous sound goes into the next video clip. Does that make sense? I hope so. And a J cut is just the other way around. Sounds complicated, I know. But now I know how to do it, and I feel very smart.

I may be able to post my project on here so you can see what I mean. I don't know, though. I'll try to remember to do that. 

Anyway, we edited this footage from a movie called Heartwood with Hilary Swank when she was like, fifteen. Ok, she was like 18, but still. Anyway, it was really, really fun. 

Today we also made this scene in cine lab and it was incredibly fun. We all had different jobs assigned; I was production designer. It took us like 4 hours to set up this scene with all the lights and everything. It was nuts. But it went by really fast, and it was really, really fun. 

Production designer decorates the set. So I had to put furniture on set and props and make the room look like a room. I'm excited to do that job on D1. I'll also be in charge of costumes. Yes.

I also found out that the production designer takes all sorts of behind-the-scene footage on set, so I'm excited for being director, so I can get a ton of pictures of myself directing my one and only time. I was going to swindle a BFA student volunteer into doing it, but I guess now I don't have to.