Filming (Notes from “How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck”)

In history our third-quarter project gave us absolute freedom to do whatever we wanted. My friends and I (who have already made a movie together) decided to pull together and create a second masterpiece. In preparation, I skimmed the book  How to Shoot Video that Doesn't Suck and made notes for myself and our other camera lady. 
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When the camera is placed in your hands, you are now the filmographer and the director. It is up to you to make sure that the scene you film is as good as it can possibly be. Here are some tips from my film book:

Think in shots

• Is what you’re filming interesting? How can you make the scene more interesting?
• What is the point of focus?
• How can you convey the emotion/dynamic/action/plot of the shot better?

Avoid super long panoramic views

• Mostly because we want to keep this video under 10 minutes (though it may have to be longer simply because we need to have 10 hours each, and since some of y’all aren’t writing/editing)
• One or two might be nice to set a scene or whatever, and it wouldn’t kill us to film them, but a 10 second view of the landscape isn’t that interesting.

Keep shots under 10 seconds

• unless it’s ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, do not shoot the same shot for more than 10/15 seconds.
• It becomes boring and the action of the scene is broken. I know that for us most of our shots will probably be a little long (that’s ok) but we don’t want to slow it down.

Close ups & zooming

• Don’t stand 5 feet away from the person and then zoom in with the screen.
• it makes the footage more unstable
• it makes the footage loose quality
• neither of those will get us an A
• If we are doing a close face shot, actually stand close enough to make the shot without zooming. It may be a little uncomfortable and awkward, but we don't want to zoom too much. If we really need to, I can zoom later in editing.

Keep the light behind you

• Unless we have a reason to have the light behind the character, it’s usually best to keep everything in the shot well-lit

Turn off ALL digital effects

• Unless it’s something we can only do on the phone, then please let Amanda deal with it after in the editing process. It makes life simpler.

Stand still while filming

Remember the intent of the scene

• Is the character happy/sad/angry/at war/waiting for news of the war/listening to the radio... the actor needs to do their part to convey the scene, it’s the filmers part to make sure that nothings lost between face and film
• Know the story and the scene, it will make this part much easier

Plan a shot list

• We’ll plan a few specific shots in the writing meeting, but the rest of the shots will be decided on-site.
• So basically make sure you know what you’re filming

Make the star look great

• If they obviously have no clue what is going on, stop the video, stop them, and save us a the embarrassment of turning in a bad movie
• Make sure they actually look good. Sometimes cameras picu up weird lighting or whatever,  so make sure they’re not too washed out/shadowed.

COMMIT YOURSELF TO A STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE

Remember how I went to Europe in 2012?

Well, now I bring you, a little over two years later, pictures from the trip. Idk why I didn't post these sooner, but whatever. Have fun! (and these arent' in chronological order)

Croatia

Venice, Italy

Ceva, Italy

Dubrovnik, Croatia
story behind this: if you could balance on that brick, it would bring you good luck. The tradition started back in the late 90s or so when a guy asked a girl if she would go out with him if he could stand on the brick. He could so she did. Ever since, locals and tourists alike have found it as a symbol of good luck  (I think theres a few other versions of the meaning/story, but that's the one I heard)

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Same as above

Sistine Chapel, Rome, Italy

Idk where this was, but there were 598 stairs that my Dad and I walked down to get to the port
We could have just taken the gondola

Ephesus, Turkey

Lake Como, Italy
Fun Fact: This is the Lake House that Anakin and Padme got married at

Lucca, Italy

Ephesus, Turkey??  I think??

I think this was Athens?

November and December Art 2013

Wow, I can't believe the year is already over! It's been a good year, especially in art. I feel that I have really improved, and hope to get even better next year!

Well, here's the last art entry of the year!

Many Faces

Lost Tail/Agony

Sif Cosplay

Censored

Royai Painting

"Let it Go"

Pacific Rim: The Entire Plot

Hazel Lavesque

bby Royai

Azula Cosplay

 I cleaned my room! Here's a picture of my cork board

 (My CVI passes, Ahsoka Padawan Braid, and some other random things)

Grand (my Mom's mom) gave me a bracelet for Christmas. It is probably one of the best gifts I've ever received (I wrote this down right after getting it):

I received the most amazing gift today. Here's what happened: one of the last few gifts under the tree. It as a small box, it looked something like jewelry. I looked at the card, it was from Grand. Under the wrapping was a magnet that said "anyone can be cool, being awesome takes practice". Under the magnet was a Macy's jewelry box. Inside was a silver bracelet "hmm cute" I take it out to get a bit of a better look. It seems to say joy on it. 

"Do you like it? It says Ivy on it. There's a story behind it... Larry Strickland, a friend of mine in highschool gave it to me. A few weeks later, he died in a car crash. I figured since I don't really have any use for it any more, I'd pass it on to you."

Of corse I like it! The history behind it makes me like it 10 times more.

I hope you all have a fun (and safe!) New Years Eve, and I'll see you next year!
~Shaak

Dickens Fair

Very fun. Much steampunk. So wow.

Haha, ok, so I've probably mentioned this before, but one of my favorite Christmas traditions is going up to the Dickens Fair in San Francisco. We had a good amount of people go up this year... Anne and her boyfriend Anthony, Padfoot, Lauren (she's Padfoot's friend, I don't really know her much...), and Alana. Anne's mom drove us up.

Teh Ride Up

A lot of Whovians go to the event, so we decided to dress up from Doctor Who! Padfoot went as Fem!Ten, Anne went as Clara, Alana went as Rose, and I went as the TARDIS (the same dress I made for the 50th). 

The ride up was pretty fun. We stopped at Starbucks. We sang a few Christmas songs. I tried to not  react too much to Anne and Anthony's "omg i love you so much" attitude. I just can't do the puppy eyes/hand holding/various other borderline PDA! I just... bleh. I just... well, you get the idea. I had to sit with them for over two hours.

You're 15. You can't possibly be that serious about your relationship.

BUT THEN WE ARRIVED! AND THERE WAS GENERAL EPICNESS! AND PADFOOT WAS THERE! I already mentioned that... didn't I. Oh, well, I don't see her that often anymore, so yeah, being able to spend time with her is a precious gift. Yep. I forgot my real camera, so you get a bunch of pic's from my phone (which was dying, so the quality's not the best. Sorry.)

We made it!

We walked around for a while and looked at the various vendors in the isles before looking in any shops. They mostly sold accessories and such. Sometimes food. Yep. Not much to talk about there. We pretty much stuck in a group, but sometimes Anne and Anthony wouldn't realize we moved on and we'd be all like "OMG WHERE'D THEY GO". That happened to us quite often :p

Crowns!

Pretty headbands!

And now for the shops... I was in Steampunk heaven! Soooo many amazing things! Padfoot and I had to go check out the wand shop, of corse. They sell hand-made wands, and the guy even makes some Harry Potter replicas with a secret compartment! I got one of the replicas last year. There was also a super cool mask shop with leather masks. I wish I had gotten a picture of it! My absolute favorite shop of the entire fair, though, was the book store. They sold old books, leather bound books, out of print books, small books, huge books, illustrated books, music books, and tea cups (bet you weren't expecting that, were you?).

Go take a look at his stuff here

Books! Beautiful books!

There was also a music shop. I got to try playing a violin! 

We also went to a few clothes shops. Most places sold hats and accessories, but a few shops were corsets, dresses, skirts, and Victorian-inspired clothes. Yep. Obviously I had to try on a corset, even though I would never pay $400 for one. Oh, well, a girl can dream, can't she? 

Padfoot and I tried on dresses at another shop. Her's had a red/green scheme to it, and mine was dark blue with a silvery skirt. With my red wig I looked like Ariel! It was awesome wearing Victorian styled clothes :)

This place had some beautiful clothes. It's where I tried on the dress. Their Website is in construction right now, but if you want to check it out, here it is.

A jewelry shop had these necklaces. We got a kick out of them!

Like I said, Whovians! Isn't that a brilliant dress? 

Here are some other random pictures from the fair.

Santa

I think this is where people would paint ceramic plates/cups/ornaments and such

Steampunk robot! 

When we left the fair, we went into the city because Lauren and Anthony had never been to San Francisco before. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge and took some pictures... it was freezing, but fun. It reminded me of my Girl Scout Bridging a few years ago, where we walked across the bridge for our Cadettes Rank. Good times, good times.

After the bridge, we ended up getting lost in the city for an hour, and then we went to eat at Togos on the way home. We sang 70's rock, Christamas Carols, and Alana and I fangirld over Peeta and Katniss.

When we stopped on the way home, Alana and I thought it would be funny to take the back seat and see how Anne and Antony would react. We sat down, and waited for them to come out. Anthony opened the door for Anne, and they looked at us with shock and confusion.

Then they both sat in the front and that's when Alana and I decided that we needed to slightly embarrass them while telling them to not forget about us. So obviously we played "Sisters" from "A White Christmas." They started talking to us, so they must have gotten the point :p

Alright, that was a pretty long post. Until next time, my friends! And Merry Christmas!