Cable Car Connections

Pitch for next video

A retired Cold War vet who resides at a veterans hospital due to Post traumatic stress and amnesia is sitting in room and watching the news. As he critiques the news and its host, he is then subdued from behind by unknown figures. He struggles with his captors for a few seconds before he is tied up and taken away. The scene switches to an interrogation room where we meet the two Gov. Agents that abducted him. An argument breaks out between the man and the agents as to why he was kidnapped. He then threatens to call the cops. An agent takes a cell phone out his pocket (this phone was taken from the veteran during the kidnapping) and throws it into the trash can. In a cold voice the agents explains their reasons for kidnapping him, stating that they suspect him of being a traitor to the U.S. and working with the Russians. The man has no recollection of any of this and thinks the agents are foolish. This irritates and angers the agents and they take him to another room, the struggling to get away. The room is lit with only one light over a wooden chair and a bucket of water. The veteran knows what is about to happen and tries to break away from the agents but to no avail. He is then strapped into the chair and EKGs (electrocardiographs) are placed on his body. One agent then repeats his question and the man cannot answer. The agent gives a signal a dial is turned on the EKG which sends the veteran spasming. The agent repeats his question; breathing hard the veteran begs for mercy in Russian. He is shocked and asked a question again to where he then pleads in Korean. This is repeated three more times (different question, different language begging the agent to stop, and being shocked again) Seeing this as the last straw the agent turns up the voltage and as the vet he spasming he begins to scream for mercy in an unknown language. This surprises the agents and they begin to suspect that they are dealing with more than just normal man.

Assignment Write Up

So the assignment went by pretty smoothly considering we had to make a character replacement at the last minute. We also had a few issues with the sun light, as there was some glare troubles in a two of the shots. But those were worked around with a few adjustments. A lessoned learned, personally for me was, to always stop the video RIGHT AFTER reviewing a take, and not let it get to blue.

So It's Kenny and I for this project.

CONCEPT: How to jump-start your car

PROP LIST:
• 2 cars
• 2 actors
• 1 Jumper cable
• 1 Parking Lot

LOCATION: The (Now) BIG student parking lot behind parkside

(old photo that's not up to date. House behind parkside gone and parking lot in place) Sun is only source of light durring day. Will have to talk to Susan or Carla for permission.

SHOT LIST:

(Camera inside car) Man gets in car. Turns key. Car doesn't start. Man pulls out cell phone and calls someone.

(Camera outside car and to the right) Car pulls into parking lot (camera tracks car) and stops in front of first car. Second man gets out of his car. greets first man who left his car.

(Cuts to inside car view) 1st man pulls lever to pop the hood.

(Cuts to another car interior view) 2nd man pulls lever to pop other hood.

(Cuts to outside view with car hood in frame) 1st man walks into frame and lifts hood up, setting rod in place to keep the hood up. (Camera pans right) 2nd man lifts his car hood up and props it up.

(Cuts to 1st man with jumper cables. Hands 2nd man one end of cables.

(Close up of 1st car's engine) 1st man attaches positive end to the positive nub of the battery.

(Close up of 2nd car's engine) 2nd man attaches positive end to the positive nub of the battery followed by the negative end to the negative nub of the battery.

(Close up of the 2nd car's engine) 1st man attaches negative end to metal nut of 1st car's engine.

(Camera further out) 2nd man gets in 2nd car (camera pans left) and 1st man gets in first car.

(Cuts to interior view of 2nd car) 2nd man starts his engine before slowly stepping on the gas

(Cuts to interior view of 1st car) 1st man starts his car.

(Cuts to outside) 1st man gets out of his car (pans right) 2nd man gets out of his car.

(Close up of 1st car's engine) 1st man detaches negative end.

(Close up of the 2nd car's engine) 2nd man detaches negative end then positive end.

(Close up of 1st car's engine) 1st man detaches positive end.

(Cuts to outside view with car hood in frame) 1st man closes 1st car hood. (Camera pans right) 2nd man closes 2nd car hood.

(Cuts to interior view of 1st car) 1st man tosses jumper cables onto back seat before getting in.

(Cuts to exterior shot of 2nd car) 2nd car drives away (Camera pans left)1st car pulls forward and drives away

ACTORS: (Confirmed but not released) Arron Radney, (neither confirmed or released) Nevil Williams

CALL TIME: Between 10am and 2pm

Notes

- - Try working with different viewpoints

- - Make video longer

- - Showing the transgression from one scene to another to give the video more flow

- - Maybe speed up character while transferring from one seen to another

- - Work with light more on characters with different skin complexions

Self Critique For 1st Project

Kenneth Walker

Digital Cinema

September 3, 2010

Self Critique

Claistro…philia???

The main idea that was originally planned for this piece was the exploration of the feeling of being comfortable in small, somewhat closed-in areas, or, claustrophilia as the title states.

The source of this idea came from a personal preference of comfort; which seems to be somewhat of a rarity as far as the statistics go for those who suffer from claustrophobia—the fear of being closed in—goes. As for the use of the title, I felt that the word “claustrophilia”, or, at least its suffix, -philia, made the word sound more like a mental sickness or wild obsession, like necrophilia—the lustful attraction to corpses— which made the word very questionable; so hence why the question marks had been included in the title. With that said, I thought this subject would be fun to explore, as well as non-cliché; since it would be more common to research the meaning for, and or, mental effects of claustrophobia more so than its opposite.

As for the audience, I didn’t think they would understand the subject matter at first, so the key emotions that were expected were something of deep thought and confusion. But seeing as they understood a lot quicker, the emotions that were then expected were those of being able to relate to the main character and the quest for solitude once in a while.

During the lunch hour, the main character sits at a table of the cafeteria as he tries to concentrate while fidgeting with his mp3. After a minute or so of the continued noises from the crowd of people around him, he becomes agitated and leaves the cafeteria in search of a quieter area. The scene switches to the main character now sitting on the steps of the school thinking to himself (Well…. at least this area is a lot quieter.), but still feeling irritated by the wide-open space and the chatter of the few people around him, he again gets up and heads to his car. After searching for a comfortable area he finds a spot in his car totally away from the crowd. Feeling at peace he sighs with relief and turns the volume up on his mp3.

The premise of this piece that was discovered after recording is that claustrophilia seems to be an introverted state of mind that everyone goes to at least once in a while when conflicted with emotions such as stress, anger, sadness, or the need to just hear themselves think.

For the strengths in this work, using claustrophilia felt unexpected as the subject instead of using its antonym; driving the film in a more creative direction. Instead of seeing people freaking out from a constant fear, you’re seeing a morphing of emotions from agitation, to contempt, then ending with a calm and happy disposition.

Problematic areas and what could’ve been done to improve this film included keeping the wardrobe the same throughout the taping, this seemed to throw off much of the audience’s attention to the main character in scene. Also with the wardrobe, make sure that there isn’t any visible writing or labels. Thought in wardrobe matters. Another suggestion that I got was to begin the clip with the headphones off and re-directing the scene to a corner in order to give the scenes more flow and also that the headphone should be bigger; since the iPod ear buds were to noticeable as a copyright problem. The audience also wanted to feel more apart of the characters journey, so a suggestion was to let them hear the music the main character was listening to.

Claustro...philia??? Pt Deux